Hi, I am after a bit of advice on repairing a crack on the rail of my NSP elements all rounder. Nose vs sand while negotiating a messy shore break on my return to the beach.
I've seen a couple of different takes on repairing and am wondering which would be ok.
1. Full repair, Grind crack out with dremel fill the crack then layer glass across the top and fair in

2. Grind out crack with dremel chamfer edges and full crack with layers of glass, grind flush with surrounds and paint

3. Grind out crack and fill with epoxy thickened with q-cell or something stronger like west system 413 microfibre (for structural bonding) or chopped fibres

I would get someone who knows to do eg reputable surf board repairer, you can do more damage than good, plus they will colour match and spray. Well worth the money

Whatever you do, immediately dry the area, this is the most important part. Open the wound and put wicks of paper towels.

Each hour the water is allowed to stay in translates in weeks to get it out.

1. and 2. are the recommended methods. But it requires some skill to make the repair invisible (no visible bump)

3. is simpler, as you do not have to first sand away some thickness to make room for the new glass, it is easier thus to get a repair flush with the rest of the deck. I recommend using syringes to inject resin in the ding and under the skin around it for a ultra strong repair that you can then sand flush without worrying eating away all the repair. The danger is that any accumulation of epoxy resin runs the risk of overheating and destroying the board (melting the blank or even catching fire), so you must be quite careful, and do it in many steps, a litle bit of epoxy at a time.

^^^

agreed

also add it totally depends upon where it is (structural?) and how large and how far any softness extends to.
I have a lot of customers come for ding repair and its just paint crack, its still strong.
If those pics at the end are yours, I'd almost bet it is solid, its crap mass produced finish cracking with a big flex but the glass is good.
Is it soft?

The photos are mine, it's right on the nose, about 40mm from the tip. No flex I can feel, there is a slight lip on the crack, and some sand in it. Half tempted to cover it in some tape, either rail tape or PVC duct tape and fix it in winter. Not sure if the rail tape would create more problems though if it's difficult to remove

Leave in the sun for a while with bung in it will soon let you know if there's water in it ,you may even hear air escaping or could apply soapy solution for a visual response

Select to expand quote

Will34 said..
The photos are mine, it's right on the nose, about 40mm from the tip. No flex I can feel, there is a slight lip on the crack, and some sand in it. Half tempted to cover it in some tape, either rail tape or PVC duct tape and fix it in winter. Not sure if the rail tape would create more problems though if it's difficult to remove

Do not tape over it!

Do not wait a minute more to dry it. At the least drill 5/6mmm holes and screw a corner of paper towels, having a wick inside to catch water and the rest to fan out and evaporate it. But you should open with a knife to rinse it (salt prevents epoxy from properly curing) and let it dry, even if you bring it to repairman: if he doesn't have to dry the ding, it will be faster and cheaper.

And tape is not recommended, especially in curved places. The board will push and pull air against the tape with temperature changes and will create a path for the water to get in, without you noticing it. Better just sand the area and apply solarez or epoxy putty if you want a quick fix to get back on the water. It is easy then at any time to sand the temporary repair away to make a proper one.

^^^^ I would go with foghorns first. Put it crack side down in the sun and see what happens.
To me it looks like paint crack only and the glass will be intact = watertight. I'd be 99.9% sure of that given the pic and the reported way it happened.

The O.P says its solid still, I'd not be drilling or carving it up just yet.

I am hesitant to recommend drilling holes in a board if he doesn't know how to repair it.... as it might be just fine and no water in it.

I am no proffesional and learnt from my experiences over the years.
If it was my board. First dry out crack. Simply bring it from a cool place to out in the sun, stand nose of board lower than the rest of board to warm it up & watch for any water to bubble out. Since you were on your way out of the surf when it happened there may not be much water ingress.

Once dry. Tape around the crack with masking tape in a rectangle having the crack just inside the taped border. I just scrape over the cracks with a clean flat end screwdriver only to open them up a little.

Then sand over the cracks & sand that lip down that you mentioned flush & sand lightly over the rail inside the tape. I just hand sand to avoid scratching outside the taped area.
Remove tape & clean sanded area. I use a little acetone with clean rag.
Reapply new tape.

Stand board on its side, crack up & level as possible. In the shade.
Mix a good quality epoxy resin. I believe NSP boards are made of epoxy. And apply epoxy thinly with a small brush.
It's up to if you want to mix filler in with the epoxy. It does help to thicken it & stop it running. I don't bother with matting for this repair.

I then remove the tape just as the epoxy gels & wont run.
Hopefully air wont bubble out of the crack after the epoxy has been applied. If so. Wait for epoxy to harden, resand & epoxy over again. I sometimes just mix a small amount of epoxy to first just paint over the cracks first to test. Then before it cures I mix a larger amount to paint over if all good.

Let the epoxy harden fully & then re tape around the epoxy repair leaving about a one millimetre gap between epoxy repair & tape. Then sand around the edges of the epoxy repair with a fine grade sandpaper until flush. You will know when it gets close to flush when the tape starts to tear.

Once sanded flush. Clean again. Tape again & tape newspaper around the outside to protect the board from spray paint.
Spray paint over repair with matched colour. Automotive paint has worked for me.

Go surf!