Al Merrick Flyer II Repair - Newbie

[JPerrydore]

Hi All,

I'm completely new to surfing, surfboard repair, etc. However, this morning while throwing out my trash, I happen to come across someone who threw out an Al Merrick Flyer II board. It appears they had it mounted on their wall with a piece of wood glued to the bottom of the board. When I removed the wood the fiberglass/resin came with it.

I've done auto body repair in the past with some glass work, so I'm confident I can repair the board myself. Plus I enjoy teaching myself new skills. Since I was able to get a free board, I have no problem teaching myself on it. But figured I should get some feedback from a forum on ideas of how to repair it.

Below are pictures of the board and the damage. Thanks for any advice you can give!

[dtc]

It’s definitely repairable. Some fibreglass and resin and sanding.

Whether you have any realistic chance of being able to learn to surf on it is a totally different matter (ie pretty unlikely). Have a read here, or google up, ‘best board to learn to surf’

But if you do a good job on the repair you could probably sell the board and put the money toward a more useful learner board

[waikikikichan]

Depending on the depth of the void area where the foam blank got ripped out, it might not be worth trying to fill it. Usually with a mixture of resin and Q-cell. But in this instance and the age/condition of the board, I would just cut out 2-3 layers of fiberglass clothe the shape of the void and used it to fill it in. Wet it in, then glass over that.
Question: I wonder how/why the fins were on the board if they mounted it flat to the wall ?

[RinkyDink]

I was in the surf shop yesterday and saw this book at the checkout. I skimmed the first couple pages. It might be worth a read and come in handy as a backup to YouTube How-To videos.

https://www.amazon.com/Ding-Repair-Scri ... B000728TZY

[JPerrydore]

Thanks for the input. I'm going to attempt to repair it and teach myself along the way. If I mess it up, well it's not like I'm going to be out too much. Been watching a lot of youtube videos on repairing, glassing, and painting. I'm going to make a project out of the board. Worse case it becomes something I hang on my wall.

And I was wondering the same thing about if it was mounted on the wall why are the fins are it, who knows.

[oldmansurfer]

make sure you use the right kind of resin. Make sure all the damaged separated glass is removed.