Opinion: DIY Ding Repair Isn’t Worth Your Time or Trouble
That’s young guy talk. The math changes dramatically when there’s more than one surfer in your circle of trust. If that guy ever has kids who surf he’ll break down and learn how to do his own repairs.
The overall gist of the article: if you are not willing to do the work or willing to learn how to do the work, your work will suck.
Not a big surprise. Of course, I am writing this here, a forum for people who want to learn how.
I am also writing this as one of those local ding guys the writer talks about, who chronically undercharge for their work and are sick and tired of hearing “is it done yet? I gave it to you ten minutes ago, why isn’t it done?” I made a nice buck, side gig money, doing dings. Did them in my workshop with ten lined up, going from board to board with big strong grinders on a production line and I did them on the edge of the jungle with local resin, a crummy pair of scissors, a razor blade and sandpaper.
It’s not rocket surgery. The author writes I’ve tried fixing broken noses and tails, busted fin boxes, new leash plugs, and delaminating glass. Ninety percent turned out like absolute garbage. - I find myself wondering why didn’t he maybe ask someone how to do it better after all that. Here, for instance.
He continues
Maybe you want to sand down the glass around a ding so you can get a flush patch? Good luck getting anything done with that tiny little sanding block that comes with a repair kit.
Gee, and that crap kit he got, probably SolarCrap at that, that is the only place in the world you can procure sandpaper. Has he never heard of hardware stores, home centers, hobby shops or frickin’ Amazon? Let alone a sanding block, the fingers work better.
I could go on a days long rant about the throwaway society, but I’ll restrain myself. I could go on about people who not only have no skills but that they take pride in not knowing them. I could say that this, like cocaine, is the universe’s way of telling me you’re making too much money so you blow it on blow, or blow it on having simple things done that in all honesty I could do at the age of 12. But that was how I paid for my wax, and my boards and my wetsuits and how I could hang around the surf shop without being told to fuc# off, I became valuable.
But there’s a lot of guys like this one. Me, I’d suggest a sideline in ding repair for the rest of us. Price your materials at a 200% markup, your time at $50/hr. Charge accordingly. And if some kid wants to learn, teach him, or ever more often, her. 'Cos someday, you may want to kick back and let the kids do the work, like,
doc… except on my own boards. I have some pride left…
For me, what the article does not mention is that ding repair led me to building my own surfboards. It had to start somewhere and small scaled, so ding repairs presented this.
Most of the people who pay for ding repairs are the same ones that took lessons from a “surf instructor”.
If you cannot fix a minor ding, sell your board, take up golf, and stop clogging the local breaks.
A fine spray of hard cider descends on any flat surface at Casa Doc. Nailed it.
Yep. Absolutely, Admittedly, I’m of an age where they are likely to slice me and count the rings*, but…
When I started, and yeah, there’s a geezer phrase right there, there was a sort of apprenticeship. You learned how ro paddle, how to catch a wave, how to turn, how to trim. How to wax your board, how to carry it, how to put it on the car.
How to be part of the scene. How to deal with the surf groupies ( much missed) , how to drink with the boys and when to defer and when to hold your own.
And how to fix a board. Yeah, back then they were double 10 Volan with maybe a third layer as a deck patch, admittedly dinging one took a fire axe or a solid glass skeg ( before they were fins) stuffed into a rail. or running it over with a '56 Dodge, but you learned it.
The older guys would take you under their wing and teach you. It was just how it was done, passing it on. And eventually, it became your turn and you passed it on.
Too many 'surfers" now, and I use the quotations intentionally. Yeah, the world moves on, but we’ve lost a lot.
doc…
*I’ve aged. Sammy, who I count as a dear and valued friend, - dammit, has a picture in the attic or something. Massive envy.
Articles like this are meant to generate outrage. There is a chance he sincerely means what he writes. But mostly this was written to meet a deadline and provide click bait. We see this all the time in web news sites. All of them best left ignored.
all the best
As a younger dude I have no idea what this guy is on about. I would never have been able to keep surfing in the middle of nowhere nicaragua or repair my boards in Canada where there are no ding repair people. Just like Uncled said its all a continuum which eventually leads you to trying to build boards. But honestly, it makes your surfing time more fun since you arent so stressed out about dinging a stupid peace of fiberglass.
I have many fond memories of that process. I got to be under the wing of some impressive ‘‘Watermen’’ of the 1950’s, 1960’s, era. What a time it was.
I don’t need the money and there’s no $$$ in it anyway. Not up here in the PNW anyway. I made a dime or two with it on Maui, but that was before every car had a Wavestorm on the rack. I’m tired of guys bringing me beaters that they bought at a garage sale and expecting me to miraculously restore them. Then there’s the guy who fishes out snapped boards from the dumpster and wants me to put them back together. I’m done. No Mas! Gonna put a sign up on the door. "We do not sell Bikinis. We do not rent Boogie Boards. And We do not do ding repair. Lowel
In a similar vein…
One of the most talentend musicians I know was raised by a man who was a concert violinist. The dad used to refer to certain rock musicians as “Those guys who own a guitar”.
I adapted that phrase to refer to “People who own a surfboard”. There are many where I live, few of them can actually surf.
PS: I got that Dorian Gray reference. 
Right? And then, well, around 1975 when I was trying to get the hell out of house carpentry it was
A guy who owned a hammer was a carpenter
If he had a skilsaw too, he was a foreman
And if he had those plus a pickup truck, he was a contractor.
You’ll note I didn’t mention owning a square or a measuring device of some kind. Those were only for the finish guys -
Seems like ding repair and surfboard building have similar too. I used to get local ‘shapers’ of little experience or skill wanting me to carry their work at the surf shop.
And as I texted my ex-wife when she wanted to get back together; “Two words: Learning Curve”
doc…
might want to re think the “no bikinis for sale” …think about it:)
I live in Oregon Tommy. They wear sweats, they’re fat from sitting around on the couch all winter with the clicker in their hand. They’re as white as a sheet. Some even have facial hair that usually is dyed green or purple. I gotta get outta here for some pleasure. Give me those Maui Wahines that paddle out in flower print cotton panties when they forget their board shorts.
Articles like this are meant to generate outrage. There is a chance he sincerely means what he writes. But mostly this was written to meet a deadline and provide click bait. We see this all the time in web news sites. All of them best left ignored.
Wow, I guess you could consider this a scathing denunciation of the internet in general. And sadly, can’t say I disagree. Definitely have to have a good filter to get to anything worth getting to.
Perhaps…perhaps not.
If, like the questions of Socrates, this generates discussion, thought and knowledge gained, I can’t say such articles or postings are entirely a bad thing. There is something to be gained from even the most egregious examples.
Best not to swat all gadflies, after all. Even when they’re absolute eedjits. Like…
doc…
The article did make some sense. If you don’t know what you are doing, pay someone who does.
Very true. Just make sure they know what they are doing and that you pay them enough to create an incentive to do a good job.
And there lies the problem. Somebody who doesn’t know how to do a thing isn’t really an adequate judge of whether or not somebody else is capable of doing that thing well. Dunning - Kruger Effect at one remove.
Likewise, if Noskills McKook asks around to the tune of ‘who does good dings?’ then he is probably gonna be asking his equally unskilled knucklehead pals. And their opinions are no better-informed than his.
It is, after all, entirely possible to know less than nothing, when what someone thinks they know is wrong.
doc,
The story is just a sad reflection of today’s generation. Early patch work ding repairs are what led me to building my own boards. Its not rocket science.