How to restore a broken surfboard - Full Tutorial

How to buy a cheap surfboard and fix it up!

Board Selection ► 1:17
Identify Damage ► 5:20
Delamination (removing bad fiberglass) ► 12:10
Stringer problems ► 16:30
Removing bad foam ► 18:01
Filling holes in foam core ► 21:26
Epoxy Introduction ► 35:49
Mixing Epoxy ► 44:07
Fixing Rail Ding ► 55:56
Fairing Dents ► 58:02
Laying NEW fiberglass ► 1:01:18
Sanding fiberglass ► 1:24:24
Gloss coat ► 1:29:51
Discussion how to paint your board ► 1:32:01
Painting the board ► 1:36:52
Finishing up ► 1:43:05

The materials we used in this repair.

[rumtum]

You’ve put a lot of care and thought into these old boards. It’s definitely nice to see them get another chance instead of rotting away in landfills. Much respect. Stay stoked 🤙🏼

[lizaking]

Score... it's definitely score. "Scour" is what you do with steel wool or the abrasive part of a sponge 😉
This was seriously such a helpful and thorough video. Thanks for this effort, man! Board turned out extremely clean.

[kristentelling]

you could also use a small router to cut out the delams! that's what we did with several of our boards that had huge delams. we just took a small router with a v bit and cut around it. it worked really well and was super satisfactory to peel off.

[peteshay]

Patrick, as an old surfer who has a few old long boards I enjoyed the heck out of your videos. I am patching my first short board a 6’ 6” that I thought might be fun, it was $40 so it fits that requirement . Anyway thanks . - Pete

[JesseAgeyer]

So thoroughly impressive. We just watched a full length movie and didn't even notice.

[johnwest]

Wow can’t believe how good the finished product looks
Lots of hard work pays off

[fabricutz]

Awesome! Nice hard work. I Will try repair my board 9'4 i'm beggining on the surf 🌊 Tijuana México 🇲🇽

[dgw]

I'm definitely going to find an old board and use this exact model to fix it. Well done!! Thank you

[topdeckdog]

I'm one of the people who inject resin as you've so confidently pointed out is the wrong thing to do, but you seem to be missing a key piece of info from people like me...
I do it (but I sandbag it to reduce the amount or resin underneath and to improve the bond, unlike your example here) to test old boards that I find. If it lasts a few surfs (which they always do) that's good enough. Then if i like it, I spend the money on glass and I fix it properly. If not, i save the money then put the board online for people like you to buy ;)
Anyway a couple of tips for you if you're still reading:

1) resin over the entire deck before glass isn't the best practice. The whole point is to get a bond directly from cloth to foam with ONE layer of saturated resin. multiple layers will only make it more brittle under foot, reduce bond strength and also add weight. Expanding foam is your friend as you've just learned!
2) your 2 layers of glass were upside down. the short one should go underneath when layering for easier/stronger/neater transition.
3) pro glassers will never create a line of glass straight across a board like that as it creates a weak point when flexing. If you look at deck patches you will never, ever see a straight line cut horizontally from rail to rail.
4) back to your transitions, you should really cut the old glass cleanly with a Dremel (shaped like a traditional deck patch), then taper/sand the old glass gradually towards the foam so that your new glass lays onto your existing glass resulting in a deck at the same height. Less sanding, more strength, better bond, much neater, no need for cab-o-sil filler layer
4) cut your lap line when the resin has gelled, not completely set. This is WAY easier and again how pros do it.

After all of that it's all about having fun, so keep it up!

[darrenholden]

Got an old longboard off a friend who moved away and its in a pretty bad state, this video has inspired me to fix it up. Great video can't wait to get started, just need to tidy the shed so I have room to work, think that'll take longer than the board.

[TotalBoat]

Awesome tutorial! This turned out great, beautifully done!

[bellpaleale]

Watching this after your last video and I’ve been working on a 9’6” with similar issues. I would recommend a Dremel with the cutting wheel to cut through the fiberglass instead of ripping it off with the Leatherman.

[kevinalmeida]

you can put a clear coat with UV over the boards finished surface. it looks way better when you see a color with a class coat over the top. makes cars look so sexy. if you need to repair clear coat its easy buff job
and you covered the shapers name!!! you should have made an oval around name and painted let the name and oval area be a small decal look maybe steek the name then clear coat over the whole bottom

[tru.skater]

have an old sea shapes pin tail 7, 4 long board it’s about double wide and i’ve searched everywhere and i literally mean everywhere i can’t find anything and there’s nothing on the board itself no shaper, size or liters recently busted the nose on a overhead day but it was amazing had to be made in the early 90s but seeing your videos gave me hope brother gonna try to fix the old girl

[Itsahardknocklife]

Just got an old Phillipe Barland board got some damage. A lot of damage!
This is my first board. First repair job on a board.
I’ll keep you posted. Starting first thing tomorrow.

[deano]

Super cool project, wish I had the time, patience, space and knowledge to repair some of the old boards I have laying around. Like the idea of using boat paint. Maybe I will give it a try. 😅

[javiercamacho]

good job!!! however, the paint job would look better if you save the stringer of the board.

[paulineholmes]

Came out nice, when I wa@ 14 or 15 had a Hobby bolsa wood we did a lot of repairs on it, we also used boat paint, held up for a long time, I'm 74 started surfing in 1957 surfed up to 4 years ago car accident slowed me down, I used to repair surfboards built two my last board was a 9'6" Stewart tri fin, I've had over 20 boards but not all new most used that I redid or just collected anyway good work you did.

[KOOKSSTATION]

Hey and idea to throw out there of what I have done in the past is paint the surfboard with spray paint or you could use the boat paint like you said. Then take a thin coat of clear resin like you used or ones used to laminate wooden countertops the thin coat gives that gloss finish and protects the board from dings and scratches. Of course though it does add a little weight to a long board! I learned a lot about the fiberglass work and doing things more professionally things for the upload, cheers from Hollywood Florida

[digitaldyslexia]

Watching just after Greg Knolls passing. Rest easy brother