Hey Guys,

Have had a Naish Raptor for a little while and since I got it the rails have been pretty sensitive to chips/flaking (admittedly I don't mollycoddle it and if my paddle bumps it while going for a wave so be it) Anything obvious is given the epoxy solarez treatment.

Unfortunately the other day the rail completely blew out (seemingly after no impact) which has put me out of the water until it's repaired. It looks pretty nasty so I'm after advice on whether a DIY fix should be attempted or whether I should take it to the shop and have it done there (have been quoted a bomb in their words) I had told the store it might be a couple of inches damaged but looking back at the photo now it could be a little bit more maybe 4ish??? will need to check when I get home.

It doesn't need to look pretty it just needs to keep the water out and get me back on some waves! :)

I've attached a photo of the damage.

Any advice is appreciated.

Cheers

That board just hasn't fallen apart , it has so many impact marks on it. It's a fairly major repair all needs to be ground back and keyed in , if you haven't fixed dings before bit of a tough job but if you are handy with epoxy no worries. I'm pretty sure you can buy Naish yellow in a spray can.

ITS HAD A GOOD WACK.
If your not fussy how it looks you can grab a shelly glass kit ,resin the piece back down then a layer of matting on top .pretty rough ,sand then spray .

2nd idea ,rip off the broken piece then fill with knead it ,sand off .after 1 hour .
then spray with naish yellow .

i had 1 litre of naish enamel mixed up .i add it to the resin .comes out perfect....Then rail tape it ..helps hide the ding. if you have the carbon model you will have to sand the paint to get the matt finish .if its too glossy.

been using shelly 's knead it on nose jobs of late ,as its the hardest stuff ,I've come across
.and almost too hard to sand .
.
if your unsure take it to the shop.they do a pro job .

love the raptor...i have the 128 ,in the collection .

Thanks guys for the detailed advice. Not concerned the slightest in how it looks after the repair my board is to surf and enjoy not to look pretty in the garage.

Yep it's the carbon model, it's a really fun board to ride and after being overseas out of the ocean for a month I'm itching to get back out there. Pretty sure the ding is high up enough on the board that it's not going to effect performance that much.

Think I might have a crack at a repair as long as it ends up waterproof I'll put the savings towards some bubble wrap for the edge of my paddle! :D

my advice is to bring it into somone that knows what they doing. i have done many of repairs like this and have found it to be one of the more difficult to do. if your around the sydney area call Breakers EBR on the northern beaches 0404217761