Surfing Waves

Hey all, I own just one surfboard and it's a secondhand 9'6" noserider. I've learned a lot from it in the past few years, but have neglected it over that time, which has led to a number of dings. Each ding has been quickly followed with a sloppy solar-rez job, or using fiberglass with a polyurethane ding kit.

I've been hitting the surf more often lately, and have been starting to feel pity for the board. After a session, it feels a tad heavier. One day, I noticed water trailing out from the deck when handling it in my backyard. I figured out that there was serious delam, and that water was trapped underneath the glass. I thought about ditching the board for a new one, but after doing some research, I decided I should take this as an opportunity to learn how to repair a board and bring it back to tip-top shape.

I watched a ton of youtube videos, and did some reading. These are the supplies I've acquired and the plans I have for fixing the board. Can folks let me know if this makes sense, and if so, provide any additional tips that may be useful? Thanks in advance

Dings:
- Nose ding - cracked on the front tip / foam exposed
- Major delam - 2 to 3 ft section on the deck completely delaminated
- Lots of indents on the bottom / potentially leaking

Supplies:
- 1 Qt. Sanding resin (sun curing; I was expecting it to come w/ hardener; hoping sun cured doesn't make much difference)
- 1 Qt. Laminating resin (w/ hardener)
- Microspheres (AKA filler)
- Large roll of 6 oz. fiberglass cloth
- Large roll of 4 oz. fiberglass cloth

Tools:
- Orbital sander
- Dremel

Plan (for delam):
1. Cut out fiberglass for section that is delaminated
2. Sand edges of fiberglass around exposed foam
3. Mix filler + sanding resin; pour onto and spread over exposed foam so that it's flush with rest of the board
4. Let dry, then sand
5. Lay down 4oz cloth (over rails; keep outline round, i.e. no straight edges)
6. Lay down 6oz cloth (larger piece; same outline)
7. Cover in laminating resin; spread and wrap rails
8. Let dry; sand loose threads and edges
9. Wipe down w/ acetone (Will paint thinner work?)
10. Tape sides of board; Pour sanding resin over patch (this is supposed to be a hot coat, but since its sun-curing, should I still add hardener?)
11. Smooth it out with brush and let dry
12. Sand down w/ high-grit paper
13. Done

This seems like the hardest ding to fix; If I get this right, my guess is I should be able to figure out the nose ding + indentations alright.

Does this make sense? Thanks in advance

Squeegees

Also research "surfacing agents" and "wax in styrene" to make your hot coat.

Need to let it dry after removing all the damaged fiberglass then remove all the damaged foam. Then fill in the damaged foam and sand it smooth

I haven't ever used the sun dry stuff for any major repairs so not sure how it will perform. I imagine it will be quite similar but not sure.

Thanks for all the tips - almost forgot to let the foam dry before filling it in

Pics attached of how much delam I found today

I'm beginning to think I should have just bought a new board...

Well it might be a good experience to do such a huge repair

Yeah, I am definitely going to see it through the best I can.

I'm gonna use a simple putty knife to scrape off some of the discolored foam in a day or two once its a bit dry. Then I'll get to filling in with resin + filler.

I had to cut away some of the fiberglass from the rails a bit. I read somewhere that rails are typically glassed heavier than the rest of the board for strength.

I'm thinking I may need to re-glass them first with a layer of cloth or two before re-glassing the deck.

bttf wrote:Yeah, I am definitely going to see it through the best I can.

I'm gonna use a simple putty knife to scrape off some of the discolored foam in a day or two once its a bit dry.

Well if you’re going to do it the best you can, then maybe it’s best you let it dry out longer than just 2 days. More like 2 weeks. ( in the mean time you can work on some of the smaller dings on the bottom ? )

waikikikichan wrote:

bttf wrote:Yeah, I am definitely going to see it through the best I can.

I'm gonna use a simple putty knife to scrape off some of the discolored foam in a day or two once its a bit dry.

Well if you’re going to do it the best you can, then maybe it’s best you let it dry out longer than just 2 days. More like 2 weeks. ( in the mean time you can work on some of the smaller dings on the bottom ? )

Yeah, that sounds like a good call to me. I can certainly fix all the other dings first, and do the deck last, to maximize drying time. Thanks

So, things are going well. I've started filling up all minor dings on the bottom. Going to start filling in the open foam on the deck in the next few days.

I've started thinking about applying a gloss coat once this is all nearly finished. Outside of the the little dings I found on the bottom, there are a ton of tiny cracks, and brown spots around them, so I wonder if there are tiny little leaks everywhere. It would be good to seal the whole thing.

Also, it would be really cool for this thing to be nice and shiny once it's done haha

It seems that properly applying a gloss coat requires extra materials to do it right though. I'm not sure if I want to go any deeper on costs for this repair.

Could I do a 'poor man's' gloss coat by just doing a 2nd hot coat of sanding resin across the entire board? And use a higher grits of sand paper to sand it down + wet sand?

I would sand well on the first hot coat really well (in other words don't count on the second coat to smooth it out) clean the board well then make the second coat very thin and use higher grit to sand down. You don't want to add extra weight. It won't be as shiny but it'll work. Yeah the brown spots are leaks and need to be fixed.

bttf wrote:Also, it would be really cool for this thing to be nice and shiny once it's done haha

And it's going to be even MORE heavier than without the gloss coat.

I think sanding down the foam would be better. You want to eliminate any brittle foam so that it doesn't delaminate immediately. I would probably try to make the first coat of glass match the deficit exactly which means timing it so that you cut the glass along the edge of the good glass before it's completely hardened. That might be a daunting task for you so maybe just overlap it. Then sand down the edges and place second layer. Be sure to squeegee out the excess resin as more resin just makes it more brittle and heavier. When you put the replacement for the foam deficit make it thin because that will add lots of weight so the end result might be a little wavy but better that than a heavy log.