Thought I’d share this with the group…
I have a SurfTech Hap Jacobs 9’0" perf., long board. I’m pretty good about keeping it clean, stowing it in a cool place, etc…but I live in S. Fla and keeping it “cool” is a bit of a challenge in the summer time. The board is ding free. Anyway, given the recent article about The Board Lady in Surfer mag and how to extend the life of your board, I’ve been paying real close attention to look for cracks, intrusion points, etc. I was cleaning the bottom of the board the other day when I noticed these little raised “bubbles” on the surface of the board. These bubbles are dense / solid, not like a thin walled paint blister. I took a pict, and sent it off to the board lady asking what the heck these bubbles are. There are about 4 of them on the bottom of the board only. Her answer is copied below in blue text, along with the pict that I sent her. Enjoy.
ah - those are not bubbles, they are “bonding-bumps”: when quality control goes over the freshly applied Divinycell sheet foam at the Cobra factory, and they find small areas of less-than-perfect adhesion, they send it back to be re-bonded - they drill holes through the Divinny into the cavity, inject a filled Epoxy, then vacuum-bag the board again. All’s well. Until the board gets warm: Divinycell starts to shrink slightly at about 115 degs or so, while the filled Epoxy used for re-bonding is thermally stable for all intents and purposes. So there is a circular column of Epoxy (stable), surrounded by sheet foam (shrinking), and what you will get is bumps printing through the outer fiberglass skin. Ugly as all get-go, but totally harmless, structurally… Keep it as cool as you can and enjoy! Eva