How bad is this damage to my soft top board?

[Mayday981]

Hi everybody,

Hope everybody is well.

I'm a newbie and I bought a 8 foot soft top board last Sunday. Well just today I was putting my board at my friend's house. The board slipped and it landed on a shoe rack. The slip caused a sizable dent on the top of the board. I have attached pictures of it.

I just have a couple questions:

1) Will I still be able to ride this board?

2) Should I or can I even repair this?

Thanks in advance for your help guys.

[kitesurfer]

If that was either pop out or a custom board then i would say that needs fixing before you take it out but i don't know what soft tops are made from and wether or not the foam is open or closed cell. I.e. wether or not it willtake on water.

KS

[Mayday981]

Hmm, I have no idea whether it's open or closed cell. I threw away the packaging after I got it.

I'm not sure if this helps, but this was the Wavestorm board that they sell at Costco.

[jaffa1949]

eek if you google wave storm surfboards they say they don't take water into the foam, but I would still repair it as often the skin is part of the structural strength. Most surfs shops sell a sealant gloop for body boards that maybe could fill the hole as the damage looks to have crumpled the skin to one side.
good luck.

[Mayday981]

Damn that's not good. I'll check the surf shops for sealant. Thanks for the advice jaffa1949.

[Rickyroughneck]

The foam is definitely closed cell, it has to be . It wont take on water, and a small dent like that probably wont affect the structure although you will do well to fill it in as Jaffa said to stop it spreading.

I see some of the foam hire boards covered in dents and gouges, pains me to see but it is mostly aesthetic.

[Mayday981]

Hey guys,

So, I went to a surf shop and they gave me a sealant that is used for body boarding. Well I put it in and it ate through the foam. It caused a big hole all the way to the bottom. I looked at the packaging and it said to not use it on polystyrene foam which is what the Wavestorm is made of.

Someone later told me to get Suncure Polyester Resin. I used that and it sealed everything perfected.

HOWEVER, after I sealed it I noticed the bottom of my board had a huge bump. I believe this is from that bodyboard sealant that I used. My question is will I be able to surf even with that huge bump. I did put all the Suncure resin into the hole to seal everything. My longboard that I bought is getting repaired and I really wanted to use this board as my backup.

[jaffa1949]

Hey guys,

So, I went to a surf shop and they gave me a sealant that is used for body boarding. Well I put it in and it ate through the foam. It caused a big hole all the way to the bottom. I looked at the packaging and it said to not use it on polystyrene foam which is what the Wavestorm is made of.

Someone later told me to get Suncure Polyester Resin. I used that and it sealed everything perfected.

HOWEVER, after I sealed it I noticed the bottom of my board had a huge bump. I believe this is from that bodyboard sealant that I used. My question is will I be able to surf even with that huge bump. I did put all the Suncure resin into the hole to seal everything. My longboard that I bought is getting repaired and I really wanted to use this board as my backup.

Bloody hell EEEK, on two counts,firstly that Uncle Jaffa got it wrong, and sorry, I'd looked at the Wavestorm site and there seemed no reason as to why the skin repair gloop for Body board shouldn't work but the evidence shows otherwise (guilty your honour).
Must have been scary to see your board bubbling away
It certainly points out several things, read the destructions ( instructions) on any thing you put near your board.
Soft tops are not a good option (this I've always said) as I have lots of doubts about the quality of their construction in China.
I read further on Wave storm and they take up water between the cells and get heavier so sealing was the correct option. Just lousy advice on the sealant.
How to proceed from here, the bubble probably won't effect the surfing so rather than suggest another repair, just go surfing
BTW post a picture of your repair from the top, I'd like to see that.

If you are thinking of repairing the bottom give it a poke or two to see if it is a bubble and can be pushed in. If it can I would consider making a nick and injecting polyester resin but with hardener mixed with it into the bubble and depressing the bubble with weights or clamps, I'd use only enough resin to provide a glue film between the skin and the foam any more and you will have made a resin bubble.

It is probably safer with my track record of advice for this board to ignore both the bubble and me, and just go surfing.

Let us know what you do because a lot of old hands have not had to deal with soft board issues and a lot of new surfers are going to have to.
You may just be able to help somebody else.

With your track record you'll be a dingmaster in no time

Just a link about delamination in a Wave storm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4pZZl8UlcI

I dug a little deeper and found the tech specs and why they are so cheap
Product

WaveStorm Surfboard this was for the 6ft model
Key Features:

➣ Deck : GFT graphic foam deck

➣ Core : Expanded beaded polystyrene

➣ Bottom : Polyethylene slick

➣ Foot traction pad

➣ Laminated-wood stringer system

➣ 3-TPE fins

➣ Straight leash

➣ Unit length : 180 cm

➣ Unit weight : 2.59 kgs / 5.71 lbs
It's made in Taiwan hope the information helps.

[Mayday981]

This is why I love this forum. Thanks Jaffa for researching this. I couldn't even find the manufacturer's website. I kept finding search hits for some global trading site called "alibaba" on google. But these specs should come in handy for anybody using a soft top board.

No worries about the sealant. Even the surf shop recommended I use bodyboarding sealant to fix the board. I attached the pictures of the solar res job on the top of the board. It did a fantastic job of sealing it up.

I'm still deciding whether I should use a razor blade to cut the bubble and put the solar res in. However, I'm thinking of first testing it in the water tomorrow to see if it will still work without me doing anything to that area.

If I can't use the board properly in the water, I'll have my razor blade and solar resin ready at the beach to fix the spot. Hopefully it will work.

[jaffa1949]

Hold everything go back to my last post, it's possible that if you put a squirt of solar rez under the skin of the bubble it may not set as it needs UV Rays to start the setting process. That why I suggested the resin and hardener method, but that resin resin too can attack
polystyrene I'd get back to the surf shop and or google resins for polystyrene
Ihaven't read it as its late here in Australia tr this link
http://surfing.about.com/od/thesurfboar ... tyrene.htm

[esonscar]

Epoxy resin wont harm your board dude - use epoxy for future repairs

[surferboy]

I agree about use expoxy resin. Just make a drill on the bottom, press the bublle and fill it with resin, paint,...
In my view the problem of wave storm is chronic as all the boards splits on the join of deck and bottom, just go in a rental or surf school and check it out!!

good vibrations to all

The foam is definitely closed cell, it has to be . It wont take on water, and a small dent like that probably wont affect the structure although you will do well to fill it in as Jaffa said to stop it spreading.

I see some of the foam hire boards covered in dents and gouges, pains me to see but it is mostly aesthetic.

[melvinrouger]

Wow this one really have to go overall repair for this is not good for the sight.

[tylerehrman598]

This is really bad you should make a repair for this one as soon as possible for even if it is that small if it will not repaired directly this will go big.

[jaffa1949]

Hi, I am sorry for the misfortune. Was your boat insured for water damage?

I know how some of the old hands feel about soft tops, but to,resurrect an old and buried thread and ask if the poor guy's "boat" was insured.

Poor form, have you tried any Italian Cruise liners lately

BTW how are you getting on Mayday, hope your board is in better condition than before or you have a new one and you are still surfing ( that is the most important thing)

[surf patrol]

(TheSirgke is no more)

[jaffa1949]

(TheSirgke is no more)

I guess he went down with the ship.
Nice use of the torpedo, Surf Patrol.

[jaffa1949]

We have to be very careful while working on with these boards. I would like to get the details and contact address of the best shops that will deliver me online sealants. Please do update with the relevant data.

Edited due to irrelevant spamming URL.

[DanGerman01]

i have only soft surfboards and one is a wavestorm. it is very beat up from shorebreak, sand, little siblings, etc. The foam does not absorb water, so i dont mind the damage, and also wavestorms are only 100 bucks at Costco.

[Lebowski]

This is a very old thread that has been resurrected.

To anyone reading back and thinking about repairing their foamie like this:

There are two types of resin - Polyester and Epoxy
Epoxy resin can be used on boards made from both Polyurethane foam (PU) and Expanded Polystyrene (EPS).

Polyester resin can ONLY be used on Polyurethane foam. If used on EPS boards it will melt the foam as above.

At a guess, I'd say that the reason the polyester resin repair looks like it held (above), is because perhaps there was a 'skin' left from the previous foam melting, which stopped the resin from eating away any more foam until it dried. It would not be a good repair.

If in doubt, use an epoxy resin.