Surf board repair question.

[SalmonSlayer]

I was given a Cabrinha Secret Weapon I am trying to salvage. It was dinged in the rail while it was being ridden and cracked in the same session due to the weakness in the rail.

This board seems to be built very light.

It appears to have
EPS Core
1 layer of 4oz cloth
1 layer of bamboo
1 layer of 4oz cloth
Finish coat

I filled any low spots I created when opening it up with Epoxy/glass balls/Fumed Silica and sanded per the pictures below

I am ready to add epoxy and 4oz cloth.

Questions

The bamboo is a part of the board design. I cant replace the bamboo. How do I compensate for the loss of the bamboo as part of the board design? I can just had a bit more cloth to adjust for lost volume but what will the lack of bamboo do the the flex pattern of the board?

I am concerned that I may make the repair too strong or too weak and just cause the board to crack again at the repair location or next to the repair location.

Am I worrying too much? OR am I wasting my time trying to repair this board?

I have plenty of experience working with fiberglass on boats but I am short on surfboard repair experience.

[GregK]

Eva Hollmann ( aka the board Lady - http://www.boardlady.com/ ) would be the one with the answer.

Suspect she would say find a veneer layer of a similar wood and taper / scarf in a patch of that.

Almost always worth it to do a repair, even if it doesn't completely work out, you learn a lot by doing that will pay off on the next repair job.

[alamos_kiter]

Yeah, ask the boardlady as she knows

http://www.boardlady.com/floweryheartbreak.htm

http://www.boardlady.com/acid.htm

and a complete reassembly to show the extreme:

http://www.boardlady.com/snap.htm

[SalmonSlayer]

thx for replies.

I emailed the board lady. It looks like she has gone into semi retirement and may be out of the shop for a while. I dont expect an answer soon.

I would love to be able to hang out in her shop for a couple of weeks.

[alamos_kiter]

From the repairs menu, you can see how she approaches this kind of damage:
- taking away all damaged material by cutting and grinding until she finds solid stuff
- feathering out the cloth / veneer layers
- rebuilding in the original fashion using original materials, from core, layer by layer, to hot coat
- decent overlap when rebuilding structural layers
- vacuum bagging each layer for good bond
- using slow epoxy when gluing a layer of foam (divinicell) to avoid heat damage
- feathering out the overlaps for equal thickness, especially cloth layers

[SalmonSlayer]

thx

The Board Lady confirmed that it would be a waste of time if I did not add a bamboo veneer and use a vacuum bag.

I got a hold of a vacuum pump. Now I just need to locate bamboo veneer. If nothing else this will be a good opportunity to learn more about board repair.