It’s important to keep your board ding free. You need to keep your board watertight as water gets into the foam and into the fibreglass. Then it becomes super heavy and the bond between the fibre glass and the foam will break down so that the board will start to delaminate. Basically a broken board. So it’s important to keep your board ding free.
Dings to your precious board are really annoying, to avoid dings in the first place store and travel with your surfboard in a thick padded board bag or a sock to protect it.
If your board does get dings in it you can take it to a surfboard repairer or you can try it yourself. Smaller dings you can learn how to do yourself but for anything major it’s worth taking it to someone who knows what they’re doing.
If the dings are small and you want to give it a go, first of all read the instructions in the ding repair packets carefully.
There are different types of dings, some are small and can be fixed with simple solar resins, but some can be larger and harder to fix.
Here is what do you need.
1. Safety mask and goggles.
2. Wax comb and/or Acetone to remove wax from the dinged area.
3. Sandpaper to smooth the damaged area before repairs.
4. Knife to cut away any excess damage on the board.
5. A mix of sanding resin and Q-cell to replace the space in cut away area.
6. Fibreglass to give the repair strength after its filled.
7. Paintbrush and pot to apply resin and Q-cell mix to the board.
How to do it:
If you can’t use simple 5 minute solar resins then here is the technique you will need for those larger dings.
Let your board dry out and clean the area where the ding occurred. Make sure there is no wax residue by using a wax comb to scrape excess off, then use an acetone to deep clean the area. Remove damaged foam or fibreglass with your knife if required. Use a light grit sand paper to roughen the area, allowing the repair to stick and stay. You can tape around your working area if you want to keep a level, clean working space. If you had to cut away at foam, you will need to mix up some Q-cell with sanding resin and a catalyst to a think paste (check the instructions for amounts of each in your ding repair kit) to replace the missing foam. Pour the Q-cell in slowly so that you don’t get any air bubbles, slightly over fill the space as you sand it back after it dries so its smooth and flat. Now apply a glass and resin top. Cut your fibreglass into two circles slightly larger than the area you need to repair and mix your sanding resin with the catalyst, wait a few minutes until thick. Slowly, with your brush put a thin coat of resin on the sanded Q-cell and place your fibreglass sheet over the top. Do the same process with the second sheet, making sure its pushed flush to your board. Let the resin dry and solidify and you can sand it over. To make your repair extra strong and long lasting you can paint an extra layer of resin over the top and sand again. Leave your board for a couple of days… hard I know, it will just let your repair settle and strengthen.
Good luck with your repairs!
