Tiny Scratch/Crack

[Dunwich]

Hello!

I recently purchased a used board, unfortunately I wasn't really made aware of a tiny crack on the bottom of the board. I bought it online, so it could have happened during shipping. It is extremely small, which almost makes me wonder if I should do anything about it at all.

I was hoping there was some way to determine if a crack is watertight or not. It is a very nice looking board, so I'd rather not mess around with it. But of course... if it isn't water tight, it'll get pretty ugly pretty quick without a repair haha.

I've had cracks on other boards without an issue before, but I could never feel them. I can definitely feel this thing.

If I do end up "repairing" it, is the standard process to sand it down, and fill it with Solarez? Then sand it again?

Let's see if this image works:

[oldmansurfer]

I think you need to do at least that.

[Dunwich]

Yep, I suppose you're right. Just picked up some of this online:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MGUMLE0

This should work no matter what the board is made up of right? I'm pretty sure the board is epoxy, but I also wouldn't consider myself extremely experienced in recognizing constructions.

Considering you say it's the least that can be done, what more could be done? Is this process going to leave the board a little weaker in that area?

Thanks again. I've used Solarez once before, but that was on my first board... and when I bought it, it was already on its last legs haha. I care a bit more about this one.

[oldmansurfer]

yes that should be good. If I were doing it I would probably sand it down till there was no crack so all the ways to the foam if the crack/scratch goes that deep and remove the tattered layer of glass around the crack then glass over it........unless the surf was good then I would just do the solarez

[Dunwich]

I'll sand it down until the crack is gone for sure, but if it's smooth will there be any tattered glass?

If the scratch doesn't go down to the foam, how do I tell if I have sanded past the glass vs just some resin?

I really appreciate the help, even though they're really simple questions haha. I just want to make sure I get it right.

[oldmansurfer]

When you get down to glass it will be visible and if you reach foam you have definitely gone past the glass

[Dunwich]

Does the glass still look like an interwoven "sheet" like I see in repair videos? If I don't get past that sheet, the structural integrity of the board shouldn't be too impacted?

Or would you add another sheet no matter what?

[oldmansurfer]

On a well glassed board you can't see the fibers in fiberglass but once you sand away the resin and expose the glass it will be visible like a whitish cross hatching or checkerboard appearance. If you don't sand it away it will disappear when you resin it again. If the crack goes all the way through the glass then there will be a weak area there due to a loss of structural integrity. The Solarez will add some structural integrity but maybe not as good as glass however it is easy and quick. To put an epoxy fiberglass cloth patch will be a hundred times more difficult due to more sanding needed.

[Dunwich]

Hopefully it didn't go through the glass, it doesn't seem all that deep.

Thank you so much for the help, I really appreciate it! Wouldn't want to drastically ruin a board I just got.