Surfing Waves

Fourth time surfing today - went down to Widemouth Bay and cracked the pop-up into a full-blown stand a number of times! Stoked for sure, but unfortunately this all happened after catching my first wave laying down and coasted straight into shore at ridiculous speed as the board trimmed out.

Not a problem except that as it bedded down into the sand one of the fins dug in, pulling the rear fin plug half way out of the board and forcing the front of the fin out of the plug which then meant that the back of the fin went in and cracked the glass through to the foam. Pushed it all back in and borrowed a fin key so that I could tighten it all up as much as possible which held for the next couple of hours.

So, I am left with two things to tackle: the crack in the glass I plan to just fill with two part epoxy resin that I have used to patch up other dings (hey, it's my first board so I'm not fussed about a perfect cosmetic job - far worse willl probably happen!), but more importantly, I need to sort the loose fin plug. I'm guessing that I will need to gently force it right out from the board and then hope that I can glue it back in, but what with? Any suggestions to what will do the job, or alternative approaches to sort my dilemma so that I can hit the waves again?

Please help... I'm sure it's not the end of the world (or the board), but it did taint an otherwise brilliant trip.

is the board an epoxy?

Looks like an easy fix just need to glass the plug back with resin what you use depends on whether the board is an epoxy or not

This is where my newbie status will show up - how do I tell? I presume it's an epoxy board (Graeme Bunt Local Hero Mini-Mal), but I guess I need to be sure. Any clues?

doesn't look too bad. i wouldn't have stayed in the water after that mind because water getting into the board isn't good but no worries about that now. best to let it dry out for a bit before doing the job but i'm not too good with repairs.

beachcomber wrote:This is where my newbie status will show up - how do I tell? I presume it's an epoxy board (Graeme Bunt Local Hero Mini-Mal), but I guess I need to be sure. Any clues?

an easy way to tell is if you look closely at the board you can see foam through the glass on a glass board and can't on an epoxy...

isaluteyou wrote:is the board an epoxy?

Looks like an easy fix just need to glass the plug back with resin what you use depends on whether the board is an epoxy or not

actually had a bit of a panic when i repaired a glass board with epoxy sun cure... emailed the sun cure manufacturer and they told me epoxy sun-cure could be used on both.... but that polyester sun-cure would rot the foam of an epoxy board.... doesn't look pretty but did the job...

that said.... next time i'll probably still use the right stuff for the job.

yeah, if you have an epoxy board DON'T use the fibreglass repair kits. the resins in fibreglass will melt the polystyrene foam of an epoxy board. thus the reason for epoxy boards

glad i read this...what do you do if you ding an epoxy board?

basic rule of thumb is you can fix a polyester board with either.. but you need the right gear to fix an epoxy board.

Koki Barrels wrote:glad i read this...what do you do if you ding an epoxy board?

suncure has a special repair kit for epoxy boards

garbarrage wrote:an easy way to tell is if you look closely at the board you can see foam through the glass on a glass board and can't on an epoxy...

Thanks for the help guys - you can clearly see the foam through the glass on the underside of the board... there's also a decal on the board for the glassing company - does that give any more clues?!

As I mentioned before, I've already used a Ding All Quik Stik to do a few ding repairs and it seems fine so presumably I can use this to repair the crack where the fin got pushed back into the board. But what should I stick the fin plug back into the board with

Got the fin plug out but the foam stuck to it also came out right through to the glassing on the top of the board. I guess I need to get a new plug and then fill the entire hole with something, then put the new plug in connected to the fin while it all sets hard. Am I right?

Thanks in advance

I'd recommend you get it repaired at the best place you can find to do it. I bust a fin out on my board once and had it repaired locally but it was about 1mm out of position and it totally screwed the board up so I had to sell it.

Yo BC,

just for the record, waht make board is thet there you have, and (if you want to answer) how much d'ya pay and where d'ya get it ?

ie : is a 'cheap' china board or not ?

my friend had that happen to his merrick once cuz he doesnt wear a leash when no one is really out, went to the closest shaper and got it fixed for $20

esonscar wrote:Yo BC,

just for the record, waht make board is thet there you have, and (if you want to answer) how much d'ya pay and where d'ya get it ?

ie : is a 'cheap' china board or not ?

It's a Graeme Bunt Local Hero board. 7'8" Mini mal. Bought it from a guy who had it up for sale on ebay. Why do you ask? Are you about to tell me that it's utter crap and I shouldn't have paid anything for it?!

Nooooo

esonscar wrote:Nooooo

Come on then - enough of the cryptics What are your thoughts

Got the fin plug out but the foam stuck to it also came out right through to the glassing on the top of the board. I guess I need to get a new plug and then fill the entire hole with something, then put the new plug in connected to the fin while it all sets hard. Am I right?

If its not an epoxy you take some resin and finely chopped up fibre glass and pour it in popping the plug back in you can use a fin too make sure it is correct just make sure you dont end up glassing the fin in basically you want to make sure the resin covers any access for water and keeps the plug nicely secure. Make sure you clean the hole of debri first that way you will get a better fit. Then after its all dry you gan finely apply some more resin just to cover the outside of the hole. Then sand smooth. Job Done

Thanks for the advice. I've got some polyester resin and hardener, plus a replacement FCS compatible plug from www.seabase.eu. This plug has a lip on the top for sanding down so I think I'm going to have to grind that off before I fit, either that or shell out for one of the emergency repair kits that have proper FCS plugs in them as I can't find a single rail plug anywhere...
I don't have a stash of chopped fibreglass - anything else I can use instead, or will the resin be okay on it's own seeing as there isn't that much space around the plug to fill?