Common Types of Surfboard Damages

It all boils down to probability when determining the sorts of damage your board will sustain. Because order and perfection are merely improbable events, the whole cosmos has a tendency to drift toward “disorder”. Your boards will eventually develop chips, compressions, buckles, sun damage, and all the other unpleasant things that all quivers must deal with as a result of entropy.

The Most Popular Forms of Surfboard Injury.

Compression or Pressure Dings

As we previously indicated, if you ride your board, eventually it will be damaged. The most typical method involves applying steady pressure to the board’s surface, generally with your knees, feet, or even your chest or ribs. Foam compression dings are less likely to occur on EPS-epoxy boards because of their greater give. Even yet, virtually all boards ultimately give down to pressure after enough riding. Only a thicker “glass job,” or more resin, may prevent this, but that results in a board that is heavier and less flexible.

Cracks in the rail, nose, and tail.

While cracks and chips may appear anywhere on a surfboard, they tend to appear more often on the rails, nose, and tail. Unbelievably, carrying a board to and from the shore virtually always results in these resin splits. With just a modest amount of energy or impact, hard surfaces like asphalt, truck beds, and other hard surfaces may break surfboards.

A board is more prone to shatter or chip the older it is. This is particularly true if the board has repeatedly been overexposed to the sun or left in a vehicle. The fiberglass in your board will expand and compress as a result of leaving it in excessive heat, gradually weakening it. Fortunately, little chips and cracks usually don’t let water to enter, so they just affect the appearance. However, it’s always a good idea to think twice before setting your board down anyplace and to try to keep it whenever feasible in a cool, shaded area.

Yellowing.

Although yellowing is almost entirely an aesthetic concern, surfers who take pleasure in their quivers pay close attention to it. Resin and foam are both brittle substances that ultimately deteriorate and become yellow over time. Once again, exposure to UV light and heat is what mostly degrades them. A UV filter additive is often added to glass as part of the manufacturing process, but when it degrades, the foam is left exposed and both components begin to become yellow. Although this kind of yellowing won’t harm your board, it does make it appear a bit less attractive.

Darker localized yellow stains, however, may indicate water damage. Near the middle of these areas, you may probably detect a large fracture or dent that would explain the water buildup.

Delamination.

All boards are killed by heat. Enough heat may cause glue and fiberglass to split from the foam and create horrifying bubbles on your board. With a little “surfboard surgery,” these delaminated bubbles may be repaired, but the scars nearly always linger.

Delamination is one of the few surfboard damage types that happens more often with epoxy resin boards, although PU boards are not exempt. Keeping your board in cool, sheltered locations is the easiest approach to prevent delamination. Even a short period of time in a vehicle may cause the feared delamination and, most likely, melted waxwork.

Damage to the fin box and snaps.

Most of the time, human mistakes or really powerful waves are to blame for this kind of surfboard damage. As they ride to approach the coast, many inexperienced surfers find it difficult to determine how deep the water is. However, those neglected fins are sticking out below and are being forced to navigate across rocks, reefs, and hard sand. It’s simple to tell how deep your real board is. Fair enough, even seasoned surfers can make this mistake at certain especially shallow beach waves. Always bail out of a wave when you are still certain that there is adequate water underneath you is a decent rule of thumb.

In essence, buckling is the first sign of a totally snapped or damaged ride and often happens on a board’s rails. The fragile easily bent foam underneath is largely shielded by the fiberglass and glue. That barrier will crumble and enable the foam to wrinkle or shatter when it is subjected to significant power, especially in an uneven or asymmetrical manner. The most common cause of this kind of surfboard damage is bailing out in high waves, but it may also occur from intense pumping or an unlucky impact with sand, a reef, or other objects.