I have a 4 year old Freerace board that has gone soft between the front and back staps.This board is 77 wide and according to the advertising spiel light construction with a sanded finish,is this a problem because of the finish or the fact that a light weight board of this width is more likely to have this problem.I would gladly pay for a board that was a bit heavier built and was going to last a few more years than this[as a soon to be retiree] .The board itself is a dream to ride and for light wind days is fantastic but I am not happy about the durability of this particular board.Maybe I should be looking at a custom built board built here and requesting strengthening in this area.I have recently drilled about six holes in the area and injected resin in and it has done a good job and the board now feels firmer under foot,was a bit disconcerting going into a gybe and feeling my foot sinking into the deck.
nbr I hope you used a super slow hardner? Injecting resin is not a great way to go with delam repairs, can melt your core.
Back on topic - I am also dismayed at the lack of quality in many boards. Whilst repairing a board the other day it dawned on me that I reckon we reached top line construction about 2004 - 2006 ish with double sandwich and decent weight cloth used. You couldn't hurt them. A Starboard of that age, with carbon/kevlar and wood sandwich is HARD to ding with a hammer when you are trying to, and some current boards you can damage with it with your hand. And I'm not talking fragile race boards, I mean things marketed for wave and freestyle use!!!
Now to save 500g the standard of some boards is just a disgrace.
The (deliberate) light-on use of materials is fine if they are upfront about it but then if you add a defect like a little short of resin in an area, they just break too easily.
There is no way I'd ever buy a 'pro' or 'light' or 'team' etc nowadays.
do you think for small soft spots (like 1-2 inches diam), would be acceptable to inject some sikaflex adhesive-sealer? would save from buying and mixing expensive foam...
In case of soft geck You should inject foam, but no resin.
Here you can find very good example how to fix this :
www.boardlady.com/softopbuckle.htm
www.boardlady.com/petersjp.htm
boardlady.com/softdeck.htm
Hi Mark yes I used slow cure hardner and yes I had a Mistral Naish 80 lt enduro and you would have a job denting it with a hammer but had a 2009 model which all the advertising mentioned carbon,hardened ,reinforced nose blaa blaa blaa and the nose of that opened up like a sharks mouth,the guy that repaired it said the cloth was cigarette paper thin.I think the specs on some of these new boards that the big companies insist Cobra build their boards to are just too fine or light.
My last two boards (different brands) have had issues in this area. I've put it down to my gybing technique. Coming out of a gybe, my old front foot hits the deck hard right in front of the back straps.
Some delam repairs are easier than others -it depends which layers have come apart.
The first board had gone soft in the entire area between the straps. The carbon / divinycell had seperated from the core. There was no way I wanted to tackle this one and professionally repaired by a local guru. He removed the pads and laid two complete layers of carbon. It was a bullet proof repair.
The next board had a couple of small areas of the top layer of carbon separate from the divinycell (maybe 5-10 cm²), which was an easier fix. I drilled three holes through the outer layer, injected some epoxy, clamped it for 36 hours and it was solid. For safety, I laid up a couple of layers of glass in the area right in front of the back straps.
Just make sure you know where the issue lies in the sandwich construction.
Ok, so who builds durable freeride/ freerace/slalom boards that last longer than the norm?
And what boards are not mass produced in the Cobra factory?
Seeing as though this has come around a few times I'd like to hear from some manufacturer's or at least reps/distributors. We know they read here and some other forums they are active on.
Why have you gone backwards in board contruction? Why do you claim carbon / kevclar etc and we find it is a tissue thickness and only in selected areas? Why can't the Cobra boys wet ou the glass in all areas (and when they make a mistake you need to cover it not duck n dive and say the customer abused it)
The other day I cut up a F2 Style, about 2002 - 2005 ish model. Full double sandwich top and bottom, decent weight carbon/kevlar cloth and a bottom v-stringer made of CK. That was a hire board abused for many years and lasted much longer than most new boards now. About the same time, Starboard, Tabou and RRD at least did top notch builds like that.
Interesting the O.P is talking about Fanatic, I recently did a Fanatic T.E and the bottom glass / carbon was about the same as a surfboard. That is manifestly inadequate. Even worse it was a freestyle board (designed to be jumped) so god knows how they make a slalom or race board!