Hey guys, 23 year old from SA's Mid Coast here.Relatively new to surfing, started when I was around fourteen, but due to moving away from the coast (Grew up in Goolwa on the South Coast) I gave it up, and now that I'm back near the water, I've been hitting it up as much as possible but am still very new to it all!Anyway, to the point, I was in a local op shop the other week and found this old, fat twin fin for $12. I have no idea on any history of the board, hoping someone could shed some light on how old it may be, and whether or not it would be worth fixing up for surfing, or stripping it back and painting it for an art project?


On a side note, I've booked flights to Bali this September (not only for surfing, but as a general holiday to relax and get away from it all), I've heard mixed reports on whether buying a surfboard over there is a good idea or not? Currently in my collection I have: 6'2"x 20 1/2" x 2 3/4" Wayne Gurney Fish6'3" x 18 5/8" x 2 3/8" Mark Benson Shortboard6'8" x 18 1/2" x 2 3/8" Dahlberg shortboard that I bought before I knew anything about surfing, seems too long and narrow for me?Would any of these be worth taking over to Bali, or should I buy or rent boards over there? Sorry for all the questions, I've read a lot on the internet, but after hours of reading I figure I may as well just ask the experts!Thanks in advance!

Sorry about the terribly structured post, I can't seem to add paragraph lines?

Hey Mate welcome to the forum. Personally I believe you would be better of cleaning it up and repairing the dings rather than the full reno. Keep the old battler in its true condition to keep its soul. Restoration can be like making a new board with the old feel.

Not to Hijack the thread, but I'm interested in a full restoration of an old single fin (not valuable just sentimental value). Anyone in WA do them? Not just your standard ding repair, but the whole kit and caboodle to basically make it look near-new.

What would the best way to go about this be?It doesn't show as clearly as I'd hoped in the photo, but one of the fins (glassed in) has almost come off completely and has exposed all the foam underneath, and the bottom of the board (as your can see) is pretty destroyed.I figured the only way to get this back up to scratch would be to take all the glass off and re-glass it?Is there an easier/cheaper way?Again, it only cost me $12, so the cheaper the better, otherwise it's probably just not worth my time/money.

You could try to fix it yourself. Good project and learning expirence or burn the bastard as a sacrifice to huey and score some juicey swells and clean days heading into august.

Burn it.

Do not rip the glass off - will cause you more grief than you can imagine. The best thing to do is to get a sander polisher load it with some 80 grit and some light hands. Most of the boards of that era were glassed then received a gloss coat. You want to sand this gloss coat then fix the dings then re apply a hot coat then sand n do a gloss coat then polish it up. Make sure you keep the sander moving to avoid burn arcs and sand throughs. Do the top first so you get the feel of the sander - you have an extra layer of glass to play with before you hit foam. Do the rails by hand and be very very careful as you can sand through these easily on an old board. Have a look on swaylocks For threads on restoring boards - loads of good info there. Lots of videos on youtube of people sanding boards - will give you an idea of how you need to move the sander. You get an ozito sander polisher for $100 at bunnings. Get yourself a soft pad as well. They come with a hard one in the box. make sure you post some pics as you do it

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Ted the Kiwi said..
Do not rip the glass off - will cause you more grief than you can imagine. The best thing to do is to get a sander polisher load it with some 80 grit and some light hands. Most of the boards of that era were glassed then received a gloss coat. You want to sand this gloss coat then fix the dings then re apply a hot coat then sand n do a gloss coat then polish it up. Make sure you keep the sander moving to avoid burn arcs and sand throughs. Do the top first so you get the feel of the sander - you have an extra layer of glass to play with before you hit foam. Do the rails by hand and be very very careful as you can sand through these easily on an old board. Have a look on swaylocks For threads on restoring boards - loads of good info there. Lots of videos on youtube of people sanding boards - will give you an idea of how you need to move the sander. You get an ozito sander polisher for $100 at bunnings. Get yourself a soft pad as well. They come with a hard one in the box. make sure you post some pics as you do it

+1 what Ted said.....Rad looking board, good score man

& your 6'2 would be great for Bali

Looks like an MP fang tail, a bit. It may be late 70s early 80s looking at the decals.

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Ted the Kiwi said..
Do not rip the glass off - will cause you more grief than you can imagine. The best thing to do is to get a sander polisher load it with some 80 grit and some light hands. Most of the boards of that era were glassed then received a gloss coat. You want to sand this gloss coat then fix the dings then re apply a hot coat then sand n do a gloss coat then polish it up. Make sure you keep the sander moving to avoid burn arcs and sand throughs. Do the top first so you get the feel of the sander - you have an extra layer of glass to play with before you hit foam. Do the rails by hand and be very very careful as you can sand through these easily on an old board. Have a look on swaylocks For threads on restoring boards - loads of good info there. Lots of videos on youtube of people sanding boards - will give you an idea of how you need to move the sander. You get an ozito sander polisher for $100 at bunnings. Get yourself a soft pad as well. They come with a hard one in the box. make sure you post some pics as you do it

+1 what Ted said.....Rad looking board, good score man

& your 6'2 would be great for Bali

My 6'2" is a really fat and thick fish-style board. From all I've read, wouldn't my 6'3" board be better or am I missing something? Should I bring both or should I get something whilst I'm over there? As a slight update, I've started gathering supplies to fix up the board, will post a pic when it's all done! Thanks everyone for the advice!

IMHO opinion unless you are confident in repair abilities or know someone that can fix the rails and fins cheaply, not worth it. Just my opinion based on the pics.

You say your relatively new to surfing, just getting back into it. So I kinda expect you'd be chasing waves to suit your level. Rather than Ulu's, Padang Padang or Nusa Dua. If I thought you were I'd suggest the 6'8. The dims of the 6'2 make for a good all round board for waist to head & a 1/2. The 6'3 would go well in low tide suckier waves & would be great to take as a second board for sure. A relatively new surfer would have more fun in less sucky waves though like Batu Bolong, Balian or Medewi.

have a bit of fun
did a restore on an old busted board
good learning curve

^^Is that a wallpaper tear 2/3s down, or is it creased again?

no
i put in the sun to "cure" and got a delamitation :-(
and attempts to fix not good, bit of wax should cover up thou

plus half the board is wet (lower = darker) from the rain
probably do a hot coat still

otherwise it was going to be a feature piece in the house, next to my field earth snowboard

put a layer of carbon fibre weave over the crease, sprayed that with enamel to cover the blackness of the CF, sanded and cleaned with acetone but a few bubbles, just some cloth from spotlight

I know the original builder of the board had problems with delams and went to bamboo decks
I have another of his which delaminated so maybe it wasn't my inexperience!

xps foam