Also, if you aren't satisfied with the sharpness of your tail edge, you can use the gloss coat as a second chance to square it up with a small tape-dam in that area. 4 Ways to Repair Surfboard Damage on Your Own. How to sand surfboard repair.com. Using a cheap brush, apply a coat of epoxy to the repair area, use a generous amount. DEALING WITH BURN THROUGHS. You will get them totally flat when you move on to your soft pad and higher grits.
Here's a quick beginner guide to fixing minor dings: 1. Using a scale the epoxy was weight to a 2 parts resin to 1 part hardener ratio. This spot would have been fine with just a touch of filler and a top patch, but I cut it out anyway to get the pictures for how to fix a spot like this. Sand it until the Q-Cell mixture that hardened is now flat with the board. 4 Ways to Repair Surfboard Damage on Your Own –. Using a slow stream of running water or a squirt bottle with slightly soapy water, sand by hand with 320 grit wet sandpaper. The extra benefit is that it doesn't make a mess, it can be easily cleaned from your hands and surfaces after application and it can be sanded for a perfect finish. Clear Ding Tape - Comes in a single roll with 12 feet of tape.
My friends call me McGeiver. I usually leave it for at least an hour, but you should leave it longer if it's a large ding or if it's cold outside. Hopefully I can get a few more years out of my Lunchtray surfboard 🙂. It's great to keep a roll of it in your car, in case you ding your board on the way to or from the beach, and you still want to surf without worrying about waterlogging the board. How to sand surfboard repair supplies. Apply the mixture from step 7. Sand rough using a coarse sand paper the patch area, then wipe down with denatured alcohol. Step 10: Final Step: Polishing. You can save a lot of money doing it on your own, not to mention save yourself from the hassles of waiting for weeks for the repair to finish. This step is only needed if there are large holes or voids in the board. It is much easier to sand down a high build up, than to have to apply a second coat to fill a low area. I use epoxy resin for just about everything.
The process for applying your gloss coat is nearly identical to applying a hot coat. It gives you lots of working time before it gels, and it has a very long shelf life (perhaps years). A close second bummer ding is a Tail Ding. These are pretty obvious.
Also, in order to sand polyester resin, you must add a wax surfacing agent. Keep the sander moving back and forth on the fin box, and remove the sander entirely every 20 seconds or so. Remove tape and use a razor to trim obvious excess away from damaged area to reduce necessary sanding in next step. If you're wondering, "what the hell is this? " Did you hit it on a rock or reef? Don't worry, if all of this info has just helped convince you that you have no interest in taking on your own repairs, our staff can get you patched up and back in the water in no-time. Section E. The ultimate bummer. How to repair a broken surfboard. Forget everything your mom ever told you about not picking scabs and get in there. Allow mixture to cure and become solid, but try to catch it before it gets totally hard. The pinlines can cover up any sloppy areas of the cut-lap, and also add an additional element of style to the board. Brands like Dark Arts and Varial Foam are doing crazy Vacuum Sealed Carbon Fiber wraps.
All you know is something's not right. I probably could have done this along the entire nose, but I didn't want to do more work than was necessary. If you're positive it's a break, head to Section E. If it's not really a break, keep reading. If you're a skateboarder, you know what I'm talking about. The resin will cure in the brush only allowing it one use and you don't want to ruin a nice brush. In the picture below, the cloth section that was going to make the rap around the nose was sliced so that there were three tabs. Greenlight Surfboard Building Guide - How to Sand a Surfboard. But you want it real smooth on the bottom. Is your fin removable or glassed in? Unfortunately, this requires making things a little worse in order to get a better final result. Most minor nicks, dings and cracks can be repaired at home by you, DIY style. Ain't nobody got time fo' dis! If it doesn't come out right the first time, just wipe off the cloth and resin with paper towels and try again. Squeeze it a tad to see if any water comes out.
Now that you have all of your cloth patches cut to size, mix up enough resin for all the patches. This will work if the board is dry inside, but may leave a bump, and may add a lot of weight if the filled area is large. Ok, so first, make sure you have all the proper tools, safety equipment, and materials. Make sure it isn't brushed on too thick so you don't create a bump in the pinline area. Take your time and be careful not to burn through again, and try to feather the edges of these patches smoothly into the existing glass job. If water gets into the foam, most foams will soak it up like a sponge and never be the same. Is it Polyurethane Foam or Expanded Polystyrene - PU or EPS Foam? These are rarer these days. These brushes are cheap for a reason and you don't want a loose strand in your finished ding. Who doesn't want to save money, surfer or not and who wants to be boardless, waiting for a repair to be finished, when the waves get good? Just make sure you never stay in one place and keep the sander moving. Mix laminating resin: Lam resin + catalyst for poly, Part A + Part B for epoxy. Sanding Resin (Or Surfacing Agent). At any point, the ding repair is questionable of whether you will be able to repair it back into working order without sealing the damage from water or structural issues, take it to a pro.
If you've got a larger ding or more of a "hole" situation, you'll need to add some Q-cell to your Sanding Resin/Catalyst mixture. If you want a smoother finish, you can lay a piece of plastic wrap over the uncured resin. Leash Plug Dings or String Box Dings. You want this mixture to be about the consistency of toothpaste. First we will cover small ding repairs such as nose and tail damage and small holes. You can do the whole thing with the power polisher. Learn to fix your own boards and you'll be stoked in so many ways. The fiberglass patch that was cut out was able to be salvaged as it was in excellent shape, however it was convex in shape so it needed to be flattened before being glued back to the surfboard. The basic steps that will be covered are: - Cut out the bad section of the board, in this case a large blister.
Then we will move on to repair techniques for small area delamination. CFLsurf Home Page || About this Site || Photo Galleries || Surf the Web || Return to Repair Series Page. If you can still see the edge lines, a lot of rigorous scrubbing with the 320 will make them disappear. The best bet is to obtain your resins from a surfboard shop or surf industry supplier. Materials Needed: Laminating Resin. It's pop, liveliness or spunk is most likely gone. Keep sanding with increasing grits until you've achieved a similar sheen to the rest of the board.
Head over to section B. Sand the surface about ¾ of an inch beyond the edge of the cloth. Step 8: Hotcoating the Patch. Sander or Sanding Blocks. Those who want more control of the glass, filler and general strength of the repair, will utilize the more manual process of a ding repair kit. Apply the resin just as though you were painting, brush it cross wise, length wise, and then at 45 degree angles to make the resin coverage complete and even over the entire taped area. If your fin box is dinged, see section B. Focusing on the edges of the fiberglass will help to blend your repair into the rest of the board. Just saturate the cloth patches to the board.