Surfing Waves

Hi guys,

I'm a beginner surfer and I've just invested in a new 7'6 mini mal. However after just 2-3 days of surfing it is covered in dings. From reading other discussions I've gathered that pressure dings are fairly normal in shorter boards but what about a mini mal? Is this a manufacturing defect or am I just being too rough/clumsy with it?

Its pretty disappointing to have spent a lot of money on this board and to see this after only two days. Any advice would be great!

Dents (dings are when the glassing is broken/cracked) generally occurs because of low glassing strength (the glassing provides the strength- the foam blank is just foam). Short boards often have low glassing weight to keep them light - tradeoff is lots of dents

Anyway, can you push your thumb into the board without pushing very hard? If yes, the glassing is weak. Was it a cheap board?

If no (you can't push your thumb in) then you are doing something bad with your board.

1) What did you use to scrape the wax off ?
2) Is it an epoxy wood veneer board ?
3) Do you go to two knees, then one knee, then to your feet ?

Hi dtc, Yeah I can press it in my thumb. Its valued at $710 Australian dollars (about $950 USD). My girlfriend who is also a beginner bought the exact same type of board but without the wooden veneer design. Her board has no dents and is harder when pressed with my thumb.

Waikikikichan,
1. I haven't really scrapped the wax off
2. Its not an epoxy board
3. I'm not too sure of the exact method I've been using, its possible I've been doing this.

Davo , put a picture of the brand up , if you bought it in the surf meccas of Australia it could well be a Chinese knock off , no matter what the brand . eBay is full of them ! The glass job is most likely light and had the resin poorly applied.
The blank could be poorly blown too!
Are you sure about it not being epoxy wood veneers are most often used on epoxy and can be a buy me gimmick to a learner (Looks cool but dies quickly) Show the brand and we can advise you
All of that but a knee's up technique will very quickly dent the deck, so your pop up may need immediate change and work.

Thanks for the replies and advice guys.

Its from a small local company called Prime Surfboards but I think the boards get made over in Thailand. I'll go back and see them later this week and see what they think about it.

BTW your currency conversion is backwards. $710 AUD roughly equal about $530 US. I'll have a look at prime surfboards.

Yep $530 USD is correct, sorry for the mix up. Could the wooden veneer have anything to do with making the board more fragile?

Looking at the Prime surfboards website, sadly I think it is a poorly made Thai or Chinese container board , that is shipped in by the container load. Not sure if the shop will help, good luck

Yes the wood veneer on a poorly made board is a weak point. I noticed that they do not discuss how the boards are made.
BTW Fibreglass is not a type of board it is how a board is coated, the resin on the glass can be epoxy or not.

Lots of trap for the unwary!

Unless, as wkk said, you are doing something bad to your board with your knees or jumping on it on land or something, it shouldnt dent like that so soon. Initially it wont matter, its just aesthetics in general; but if it keeps compressing like that you will end up with a highline in the centre (where the stringer is - its wood so wont compress) and a slope around it where the board has compressed- which is not what you want to be standing on.

So the board should not do this; even a cheaper board should not do this. I would take it up with the shop - as Jaffa mentioned, it could just be a bad batch of glassing/resin mixture (quality control in some factories is not great) and just a bad board, rather than a bad company. On a board of that size, where weight is not an issue (unlike some shortboards), the glassing should be strong enough to resist a thumb press.

That's definitely the fiberglass weave. It's not just the poly cheater coat they buff out on some epoxy veneer boards, those spider web shatter. I've seen cracks like that on rails but not as many and so close together.
Can you show or explain exactly where the cracks are ? Are they just by your knees or all over the deck ? Hopefully you're not going to say that the cracks are same distance apart as the racks on your car are........

Nah it hasn't been on racks haha

The small cracks are where my knees and feet would be. Bottom half of the deck.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I'm dropping it back at the shop tomorrow so hopefully they can do something for me. They seem pretty cooperative and keen to check it out.