How would i go upon adding a sheet of fiberglass to the top of my surfboard. ?

Question

I recently bought a Canyon 6'8" fish board and i rode it today and when i came home and took the wax off there were alot of pressure dings and tiny cracks around them. I would wanna add another sheet of fiberglass ontop of the board to give it more strength. How would i do this. Would this weigh down the board alot and do you think it would help?

Answer 1

Personally, i wouldnt even bother with it. if you s***w it up, you could  do more harm than good, but if you must---John and Stellen have hit the nail on the head, as far as instructions---they must have spent some time in a shape room and/or glass house.  

Answer 2

Rather than trying to explain it myself I am going to refer you to swaylocks.com.  It's a forum for surfboard shapers.  Go to the general discussion board and search for deck patches, you will most likely find what you seek there.

Answer 3

Well, some wise old Roman guy once said, "Caveat Emptor." That means let the buyer beware. Canyon surfboards are mass produced in Chinese sweatshops (http://bp3.blogger.com/_hPACOtZKKko/RkST...

Like most of these junkers, it is only a matter of time before it leaks, and begins to delaminate. Unfortunately, you are a young teenager, and that may have been all you could afford, so I feel sorry for you.

http://www.surfersteve.com/introduction....

You may find that you only have one layer of 4 oz glass cloth on that deck, but adding a deck patch can be fairly complicated, if you aren't used to doing glass work. I haven't done any serious glass work for years, but I'm sure I could show you if we were in person and not on computer. But there's nothing I can do but send along some links.

I would suggest sanding down the top coat or two of resin (is there a gloss coat?) until you get down to the glass cloth and then fitting in a patch of 4 oz glass (6 is better, but I'm not sure how that board will take the extra weight.) Resin it in place, and sand it, then add a coat of sanding resin and sand the whole desk smooth, tapering down around the edge of your patch. Add a finish coat of resin and sand smooth again.

Follow the directions in the link and/or what stellenstoke told you about putting on the resin with a squeegee.

From 'Building your first surfboard'

Most surfboards have three resin layers covering the foam core;  first the laminate coat (cloth saturating layer), second the hot coat, and third the gloss coat.  Most surfboards are built with a clear polyester resin and fiberglass cloth (Silmar 249 resin and "E" cloth).  This combination can produce a good, economical, time proven board.  Most short boards are made with 4oz "E" cloth - one layer on the bottom and two on the top.  Most longboards are made the same way  with 6oz cloth.  This is a marginal amount of cloth for longboards, and not enough cloth for a shortboard.  The durability problem of the thruster can be solved by simply using "S" cloth (with no increase in weight).  Many professional board builders complain about the "disposable board" attitude which is now so accepted.  However;  most surfers are fixated on weight.  For a stronger and/or lighter board consider the alternatives below.  Some first time builders shy away from these alternatives believing them hard to use.  To the contrary, first time builders seem to have no extra trouble learning to use alternative methods (the pro's do).  One 6oz "E" cloth top and bottom with a 6oz "E" cloth deck patch should be the minimum for 2 lb./cu.ft polystyrene and 3 lb./cu.ft molded polyurethane

Then start saving $$$. Save all winter long and next year go to a good surf shop, where they won't let a little grom blow his money on a piece of S&^t board, and buy yourself something nice. preferably shaped by a local shaper, who knows the local wave conditions best.