Having to get off the water in good conditions is not a pleasant experience. However windsurfing on a cracked board can permanently ruin it! That’s why today’s article, we’re going to cover how to quickly and surely repair a small holes in your board, to get you back up on the water ASAP.

Important thing to note here, is that the quick fix will only work on small holes and cracks. If you can clearly see the foam-core of the board, it will unfortunately take a bit more effort to repair.

Step 1: Locate the damage

Before you can repair a hole, you need to know it’s there. More than often, it’s obvious you’re down, because you’ve just had a crash or hit something with the board. Whatever the case, stop and look for damage! A hole or a crack will be fairly easy to spot on an advanced bare-deck board. However, if your board is covered in foam you can still locate the damage pretty easily. Press firmly with your fingers on the place where you suspect damage. If the deck flexes and stretches the foam, you’ve got yourself a hole – get off the water as soon as possible!

Step 2: Prepare the repair area

Even for a quick, temporary fix, it is necessary to do at least a minimum of prep work. If your board is covered in foam, it will be necessary to cut some of it, to expose the cracked deck. From here, the steps are the same for both advanced and beginner boards.

Dry the area around the crack as best as you can. Then, take a small piece of sandpaper and rough up the area around the crack. You want the repair to be able to stick to the deck well, so sand the area about 5mm away from the crack. Finally, sand along the crack itself to create a little indent in the deck material.

After that, gently wipe the area with a damp fresh water cloth and then dry it again. It should be clear of any sanding dust and paint, ready for the repair to stick to the deck.

Step 3: Apply the repair

Take the roll of ding-stick out of the tube. Cut off a small slice and knead the putty until uniform in colour. Make sure to place the rest back in the tube and close the lid.

When the putty is uniform in colour, stick it to the repair area. Wet your fingers to stop it from sticking to your hands. Then, gently smooth out the ding-stick to cover the previously sanded area. The epoxy in the putty is a fast setting type, so you need to work fast before it starts to harden. If the putty starts to look like its tearing away as you smooth it, stop.

Depending on the particular brand of epoxy putty you’ve used, it might take anywhere between 20-45 minutes for the repair to fully cure. After that time, you should be good to go!

A bodge job will not last!

As a final note, a word of warning. Although the ding stick is amazing for quick, temporary fixes, it is not magic. Unless the hole you fixed is tiny, the right thing to do is to fix the deck of the board properly as soon as possible. Having said that, unless the damage to your board is really heavy, a putty fix should get you to the end of the session or even to the end of the week! Just don’t rely on it as a long term solution.

Some of the pictures in the article are from an instructional video by Blue Planet Surf, check it out for more detailed outline:

The post Easy Windsurfing Repairs | Part 2: Quick board fixes appeared first on Poole Windsurfing.