Over time surfboards often endure some damage, whether it be knocking it with your leash at the tail end, bumping it on the shower when washing yourself and board or simply storing it at home and bumping it in the car when your on your way to and from the beach. There is a simple solution to ensure you get the life out of your surfboard. Although they are a worthy investment and adamant surfers don't mind spending the money on a new one regularly, there are those of us who have to ensure we get the mileage out of the boards we buy.

Surfboard repair kits are an easy way to keep your board in shape. Prevent water from damaging the foam and prevent yourself from cuts and abrasions on the sharp fibre glass splinters that sometimes arise. Firstly you need to get yourself a fibre glass repair kit from your local Surf shop. They are not expensive at around twenty bucks, they become an essential kit in the surfers stockade. Once you have that here is a simple set of steps to follow in order to keep your board in prime condition:

Repair Kit

1. Check your board over, feel for sharp corners and bumps. Anything that was not there when you first bought the board. Use a piece of tape to mark these as you find them
2. Use a stanley blade to carefully cut away the broken fibre glass areas that you have found. Do not cut into the foam. Take your time on this step as its really important.
3. Now gently sand the area around where you cut the the fibreglass out. Make the transition between the glass and foam as smooth and clean as possible.
4. Now just rough up the edges of the area a little with some rougher sand paper
5. Cut a section of cloth from the repair kit. The shape should be the same as the area which you have cut out. Make it as neat as possible so it fits in perfectly.
6. Get ready to work fast, clear the area and get ready to mix your resin and catalyst (read the actually kits instructions on this).
7. Once you have the mixture you must work quickly as it will go off quick.
8. Spread the paste onto the area of your board that you have cut out. Once done, lay the cloth section on top of this paste. Allow to harden.
9. Check and inspect you have covered the entire effected area
10. Sand the section once it is completely dry and hardened. Sand it back till it is the same roughness as previous.
11. Use some fine wet and dry sandpaper and sand the section until completely smooth to finish of your own repair.

Pretty simple yes ? Well I suggest trying it on an old board first until you are comfortable doing your own repairs. If you have a brand new board it may be a better idea to find your local shaper and see if they can do a repair for you. Other than that, this is a very good way to maintain your favourite board.

Goodluck with your own repairs