Hey Guys,
I’m new to the forum, and surfboard resoration of any kind. I’ve had boards patched up by friends but have never attempted it myself.
I found a 6’6 funboard that I really liked the shape of for $30 on craigslist so I could practice my fiberglass work, and since I really like it I don’t want to fail and end up tossing it. The board has little to no delamination and barely has any substantial holes it it, but there are things I’ve noticed while stripping the glass away from the holes that do exist. I have a few questions before I begin.
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When I went to cut the glass away from one of the bigger holes it came off supprisingly easy with little to no resistance, like I pulled a 2 foot long 6 inch wide strip of fiberglass clean off the board and barely gave it some effort, and only a tiny bit of foam came off with it. I’ve never stripped a board before should it be easy? Shouldn’t it stick to the foam a lot more and have not come up clean and smooth?
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The board has significant yellowing, from sun and I’m assuming water aswell. Does this mean it’s not restorable?
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If I do have to remove all the fiberglass, is it worth it? Did I waste my 30? Couldn’t I buy a fresh new foam blank for that much?
Thanks guys
A good candidate for repair and restoration will be a board with a solid glass job and overall condition but with some dings. Not a board that’s been left out to bake in the sun. Never buy a used board with paint on outside of the glassing, or a board with so much wax on the deck that you can’t see it. When the glassing is covered up it is often there to cover up the damaged areas.
If you like this shape then break out a notepad and a tape measure and measure the widths every 6" or so. Use this board as a pattern for a new board. A new blank will run ~$80. Or, you can continue to try your luck with used boards. They can be a great deal if you’re picky about condition and can condition yourself to walk away when the board turns out to be in worse condition than advertised.
based on the one picture there seems to be significant “rot” to the foam. You could probably strip the board, remove the rot, and clean up the remainder, but you won’t get the board you wanted left over. Gdaddy is pointing you in the right direction. This one may be a good candidate to get you familiar with how foam and form work together. Good practice piece.
Do like the guy Up-Country on Maui; Make a fence out of it. Start with one board, then another and another. With the lack of judgement in buying boards you seem to have; you’ll have a run of fence in no time.
Yah I could practice shaping, although not really what I bought the board for. Maybe this project turned out more than what I bargained for, but I’m stubborn and probably won’t give up on it haha. I’m going to remove the brown soft foam, there’s probably a good quarter centemeter of it covering the “good” foam. As far as removing the rot, is it safe to assume the off white/light yellow looking foam is healthy to use? or is that even too damaged to try to bring back.
I’ve never done what you’re thinking of doing, but I have made plenty of mistakes on my own and against the advice of people who knew better. If you don’t want to take advice then the next best thing is to learn the lesson by doing.
You’ve already spent the $30 so you’re not getting that back. You might as well use this blank as a test mule. Go ahead and start by stripping the board - that’ll be a learning experience all by itself. And really, better to learn how that works out on your test mule - as opposed to trying it out on a board that you or someone else actually cares about. Then with whatever of the blank is left after that you can experience what it takes to get down to the stable portion of the foam, what it takes to cut the stringer flush with the deck and bottom, how the tools feel and work against the foam and so forth. You can even re-template the blank into a different shape and finish that different shape off without having to worry about your mistakes.
We’d advise you to not spend another dime on this board by trying to glass it (there probably won’t be enough of the blank left to glass), but since you want to learn on your own then maybe that’s your learning process. Best of luck, hit us up if you have any questions.
