Every year folks get dings in their wakesurf board. The standard Polyester and Polyurethane boards are most suseptible to this, but all boards, if hit hard enough, can develop dings and holes. Even the FlyBoy Wakesurf Board in Composite Sandwich can get a hole punctured into it, even though it’s resitant to heel dents. If you slam into the transom or drop your board on the launch ramp, you’d best inspect it for damage. If you have a small crack in the exterior in some fashion, that isn’t half way across the board, you can probably fix it on the lake.
DO NOT use duct tape! I know, Duct Tape fixes everything, except a wakesurf baord. Duct tape is a fabric and therefore not watertight and will let water into the crack, possibly causing greater damage. Further, the adhesive on Duct Tape, leaves a residue that must be cleaned off before attempting permanent repairs.
Also don’t use wax to seal the ding. It isn’t realiable and again must be removed when going to repair the area permamnetly.
Out on the boat, the two best things to use to seal up a ding, so that you can continue to surf that day are a decal, or clear packaging tape. We carry a rool of the clear packaging tape on the boat, but also a handful of the stickers that companies give away does the trick also.
For deep dings, use Marinetex, or any of a number of Epoxy Sticks available at your local hardware store. You can also use a specialized ding repair kit available online or at most surf shops. I would recommend you go with an epoxy based product, unless you 100% certain that your board is of polyester/polyurethane. The reason being that the styrenes in a polyester based product will melt EPS foam in an epoxy board.
Always remove a shiny/glossy surface, before applying epoxy. Also wait until the warmest part of the day has passed before applying epoxy. As the day warms, the air inside the board warms, expanding in the process, and can negate your repair. Wait for falling or steady temperatures, normally late in the afternoon, clean the area well, scrape away loose bits with a knife, rough things up a bit with sandpaper, or something sharp. Smooth the repair with wet fingers and sand it, after cured, for the perfect finish.
Then get back out on the water!
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