Cracks in brand new board - least invasive fix and should this happen?

I picked up a pyzalian 2, rode it once, and found the glass in the back of the fin box had cracked and took on water:

Looking for input on the best way to fix this without making it look janky!

One of these cracks were visible already when I bought it but I figured it was water tight at the time. There are no dents or dings so I assume the glass was weak and just started to pull up from the box and crack? I wrode it in mellow surf and never hit the tail or fins. I’m careful with new boards.

I want to fix this as well so I can sell the board since it feels a little too big for me. What’s the best way to repair it so it doesn’t look bad?

I’ve done a lot of repairs, but nothing on a brand new board I want to sell. Here are the options I’m considering:

  1. Avoid sanding through the glass and just try to remove the hot coat and re-seal the cracks and the glass at the edge of the fin box. I doubt I can get rid of the cracks this way but I think I can seal them. Will hotcoat be enough to prevent it from opening again?

  2. Sand through a minimal area out to the finbox where the cracks are and put a couple really small pieces of cloth and re-hotcoat. This will get rid of the cracks but I’m not sure if doing such a small area will jeopordize the strength of the box and cause more problems?

  3. Sand to the foam in a much larger area (say 2 inches around the cracks) to lay bigger peices of cloth and repair as if it were a larger ding vs. just cracks.

Where in this spectrum of minimal sanding vs. sanding and relaying cloth should I be targetting? 

Separately, I’m interested if y’all think this could be due to a problem during the original glassing since I really didn’t apply any stress to this box outside of normal surfing. I noticed a lot of Bubbles in the glass around this fin box and others. I haven’t seen this before. Did pyzel’s glasser skrew up on this board?

thanks!

 

Sand flush and sand the area surrounding .  Place one or two pieces of cloth over the area.  Hotcoat and sand.

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Thanks for the quick reply McDing. Couple quick follow up questions:

  1. I think you are saying to sand flush to the box, but not flush to the foam where the other cracks outside the box are starting, is that right? So just feather where the other cracks are but don’t sand all the way to the foam?

  2. Is there concern around using too little cloth and creating a pressure point?

Thanks again!

Sand around the opening to make the transition smooth.  Do your sanding by hand and do not sand to the foam.