Surfing Waves

Fiberglass board has a squishy bit where i push up.

Took it to the shop to get a nose crack patched up, could suck water from crack.

Its my guess that the shop didn't dry the board out and now its rotting from the inside.

How to fix squishiness and also what is the cause of this, thank you.

4FL

There are probably pin holes in that area of squishyness

You can check for this by setting your board in the sun for 5 to 10 minutes then look for little beads of water forming in the area.

Are you still in Bali?
Did you buy the book rather than trying to,get a free PDF of it, I know Peter and buying,the book helps him as he works hard to,keep it up to date!
Did you get out of bed for morning surfs and find it was better then?
It’s no secret the when of the surf in Bali, just need to motivate to get up,early.
Now about your current question, head back to,where you had the repairs done and ask what is happening with board.
First hand advice for the last repair.
We can offer some thoughts, but really they would have situation in hand!

Could you clarify a little more.
You have a squishy point where your hands push up off of.
You had a crack on the nose that you had repaired.

Are you saying the repair shop didn't let the nose crack area dry off enough ?
Or the squishy area where you hands push off was not dry off enough ?

Are you saying water got in from the nose crack and rotting the board from the inside and made the squishy area under your hand ?

Sorry, for not understanding.

By all means take it back to the shop and ask them if you can as jaffa said. Knowledgeable eyes on the problem would be useful

Others questions:
1) How old is the board ?
2) How far is the distance from the nose crack to the squishy area ?
3) Are there any other squishy areas between those two points ( or anywhere else on the board ) ?

waikikikichan wrote:Others questions:
1) How old is the board ?
2) How far is the distance from the nose crack to the squishy area ?
3) Are there any other squishy areas between those two points ( or anywhere else on the board ) ?

1. Not that old, no yellowing or dings
2. about an arms length
3. no squishies anywhere else on the the board

waikikikichan wrote:Could you clarify a little more.
You have a squishy point where your hands push up off of.
You had a crack on the nose that you had repaired.

Are you saying the repair shop didn't let the nose crack area dry off enough ?
Or the squishy area where you hands push off was not dry off enough ?

Are you saying water got in from the nose crack and rotting the board from the inside and made the squishy area under your hand ?

Sorry, for not understanding.

No, all that was just speculation, i'm no expert

oldmansurfer wrote:By all means take it back to the shop and ask them if you can as jaffa said. Knowledgeable eyes on the problem would be useful

Yeah i'll do that, i do expect the shrug of all shrugs though with a quotable fix, is what it is.

Is it an epoxy board?

Just some points to consider about your theory.
1) So the water that got in the from the crack traveled a arm length to that exact spot under where you hand grabs. Wouldn't there be soft spots along the way ?

2) The (repair) shop didn't try out the board enough. Did you pay for a drying out service ? There's was a shop i know that hooked up dings to a dehydrator, that's the one a only place I've ever heard of doing that. How long did they hold on to your board before you got it back ? 2 weeks ? 1 month ? Storage space costs money, and boards get damage the more they get bumped around. When I fix boards and do a pre-check of the ding to give a cost estimate, if there is water in the ding, I tell them to take the board back home and bring the board back once it's been dried out.

If the squishy area has water in it, there's another problem. But what I suspect, it's most likely a DE-LAM. After repeated compression from you hand, the fiberglass has separated from the foam blank. You said the board is not old or yellow, which contributes to delamination as the foam wears down or rots. So it could be a bad blank or a weak glass job, but why is the squishy part only in one spot ? Another thing is taking out to surf right after coming out from the factory. I would always give a week ( or two ) to let the glass "Cure". But most of us aren't patient enough if there's a big swell in town or need to go on a surf trip after getting the board late from the shaper.

Another question... Was there wax on the board prior to the repair? Sometimes little delams & defects are there, but we don’t notice them until the wax is removed.

Tom

Are you sure it's not delamination? Is it squishy like an air bubble or squishy like foam squishiness?

My go to shop would ask me when the last time I used the dinged board and tell me th date to bring it in which is typically 2-3 days after the latest use. Was your board dry enough for a repair? Possibly the residual water has caused the spot to delaminate?

Expanded polystyrene foam (EPS) can soak up huge amounts of water and it can travel all over inside the board. Time alone doesn't get it out. It needs to drain over several days to weeks with the damaged part at the lowest point because it's like a big sponge and water will only go where gravity makes it go.. If you have a polyurethane blank the water doesn't travel as much and stays around the damaged area. I hear some repair guys use vacuums to suck the water out and pull the fiberglass and resin down tight over the foam in EPS foam boards (epoxy)