Wax coming off too quick?

[benjl]

Hi Guys

I am having a wax problem that I can't find any similar threads or answers to.
I have recently progressed with my surfing trying to go further out the back and hence spending a lot more time lying on the board paddling. My wax problem seems to be getting worse in relation to this.

I am using a 'sticky johnson' cool water wax (our temp here is around 18-19 degrees C) that is awesome when first applied- super grippy but it seems to fade or lose it's 'grip' really fast. Within about 45 minutes or 5 waves, it will be to the point of un-rideable and I will just slide off it on every wave.
I've tried applying the wax pretty liberally before a surf but it still fades really fast.
http://www.stickyjohnson.com/Wax.html

I was wondering if maybe the rubber front patch on my wetsuit (o'neill psycho 2 2012) is just rubbing the wax off / smoothing the wax down when im lying on the board paddling?
What can i do? Any suggestions? It's a pain in the a**!

Thanks!

[jaffa1949]

You need to learn about waxing your board properly.
Try using a base coat wax ( that's the harder warm water wax) on your board then applying a cool wax on top of that , or just stick with the warm wax.
Get a wax comb and comb your wax into criss cross ridges, you should really have quite a thick coat of wax on your board over any surface where your feet are making contact.
Yeah wax makes your board look dirty but................
Try other brands.

[benjl]

Hey Jaffa

I brought the board second hand and the person that sold it to me sold surf boards for a living so i assumed the wax build up already on it would've been a base coat?
Would I re-base coat on top of whatever is on there now or would I have to strip it back and start from scratch?

There's still a decently thick coating of wax under my key feet areas but it just goes non-sticky quite fast.

I'll give the combing a go though!

[jaffa1949]

Strip all the wax off and start again, assume nothing you could also be using the wrong blends.
Some brands are better than others. That is personal choice there.

[benjl]

Thanks Jaffa. I'll start from scratch tonight and see how it goes tomorrow

[oldmansurfer]

Long ago what I used to do is drip wax from a lit plain candle onto the bare area let it harden then wax over that.

[dtc]

Your board should end up looking like this - not pretty, but there needs to be a fair level of wax. Once you have those spots/lumps starting to build up, you know you are just about there.

[oldmansurfer]

Or you could use spiked booties like these http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/171197574508?lpid=82 I am just kidding your board will take on water and sink if you do. What about taking a piece of wax with you and rewaxing your board? That is what I did when I surfed for hours on end.

[benjl]

How's this looking? I scraped all the wax off and then applied half a bar of tropical/base coat and then a third of a bar of the cool sticky wax on top. The photo doesn't show it well but I think it's on the right track? Do I need more wax?

[jaffa1949]

Looking better, add more wax each surf. All good fixed. Test surf ASAP.

[dtc]

Are you putting it on with a circular motion? It looks a bit too smooth and consistent, should be all knobbly and ugly looking.

[benjl]

Yeah, I applied it nose to tail and then rail to rail and then lots of circular motions over the top and in between. I'm not sure why it doesn't look as you described? The tropical wax/base was pretty hard. I watched a few videos and did it they did?

[dtc]

,give it a go and see what happens. If it works it works! Remember to give it the traditional 30 second wax job before every surf and you should be right.

[benjl]

Is this more like what the board should look like? It's now had 3 layers of cold wax on top of the base coat. Waves have been so xxxxx I haven't really been able to give it a fair comparison so far but seemed to be a bit better after an hour today

[oldmansurfer]

I have an area on my board where my rear end contacts the board that looses it's wax more quickly than the rest of the board. What I did recently was to heat up the wax by waxing the board then pinched off globs of wax and pressed them into the area. I let it sit in my room a day (warm room) then waxed it when it was cool. The result looked quite similar to the other bumps of wax on my board only it was brighter colored (cleaner). I currently have sand in my wax due to a windy day where I set my board down to stretch out before going out.