Beautiful, very light AHD double carbon sandwich board, stored outside, had a branch fall on it and punch a .7cm diameter hole in it. I've got the vent opened up to try to balance pressure but any kind of liquid epoxy and two little bubbles keep forming and creating pinholes in the repair. Is there a good solution other than sanding down and glassing the thing? Too pretty for my minimal skills so if that's what it needs I'll need to take it to a pro.

Sounds like the puncture went through the PVC layer, so you basically created a second valve. You should be able to plug it with pour foam. I'd dig in a bit to anchor it in the core. Then use a small circle of glass (or carbon) and epoxy on top to seal it, just a few mm wider than the hole. Seal with another thin epoxy layer when dry. This assumes this is not in an area you stand on.

I had this experience recently and apparently it's best to do repairs in afternoon when boards are cooling down, so they won't be blowing air out of the repair

check your valve actually works, some have been known to not be drilled through to unsealed foam.

I have an AHD SL2 112 which I have had apart as the entire bottom was delaminated. The inner skin is very light coarse weave glass (maybe 50 GSM). The core is also quite thin, and the outer shell very light carbon fibre, so anything that penetrates the outer layer and splits the core is very likely to go through to the PS. I would fill any split core with Q-cell and glass the outer for sure. They are great boards and lightweight but not durable.

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dambat said..
I have an AHD SL2 112 which I have had apart as the entire bottom was delaminated. The inner skin is very light coarse weave glass (maybe 50 GSM). The core is also quite thin, and the outer shell very light carbon fibre, so anything that penetrates the outer layer and splits the core is very likely to go through to the PS. I would fill any split core with Q-cell and glass the outer for sure. They are great boards and lightweight but not durable.

This is a Custom Prototype of the SL2 - 128 liter/81.5cm and Diony Guadagnino's own board which he sold me when he switched over to Tillo in Miami. It's definitely double carbon. Whatever fell on it must have been pretty heavy and hit very solid. The board hasn't delaminated or softened anywhere in spite of being jumped under my clumsy 100kg and Diony's much more aggressive sailing, so I'm not excessively worried about the construction itself. It will definitely ding like any very light epoxy board. AHD do have a reputation for durability issues (jokes like AHD=Already Half Delaminated) but I've been impressed so far. I'm going to let my guy in St Pete do his thing when I get it down there, rather than do something half-assed myself.

Wonderful stick, btw - foil-ready and nice over a foil, and on a 47cm fin with an 8.6 it'll go faster than I'm willing to go, and jibe much better than any board that wide has any business doing.