Surfboard Doctor's Bag

With the generally accepted happiest time of year before us (surfers actually call that hurricane season instead), I always like to think up a gift craft that can be a useful to another surfer, or yourself.
For this year, I was inspired by a recent friend's unfortunate drop-n-ding. She only has the one board, and can't wait for the ding repair guy to "get around to it". The swell has been fun for days, and she doesn't want to miss out in case there's more.
So here's a little fix-it kit for those patch repairs on the fly.

First in the kit:

 

Oh so pretty. The non acetone pads are for surface prep and cleanup before doing any sort of repair. You want to get rid of any residue, and the pre-soaked single use pads are handy to have, and the non-acetone is safe for most glass jobs on boards. The emery boards are to also sand and prep the surface to do any epoxy work. I find these to be more useful than sandpaper, since they are more precise and only sand the areas necessary. Also, 80% of dings seem to gravitate towards the rail, so it's easy to sand a section that's on a curved rail, without slipping up and sanding a bigger swath by accident.

 

 

Secondly in the kit:

These items are for the really quick and dirty repairs. These days, they sell duct tape in sheets with backing, like a large sticker sheet (this sheet is cut in half). You can find these at the craft store, and now even at the hardware store. Duct tape is a great in-a-pinch repair, sealing out water fairly well temporarily. To go with it, an Exacto knife allows you to cut a custom sized repair patch. Heck, you can even make it stylish. Beats wrestling with a large strip of tape sticking against itself while you're trying to stick it on your board, only to find sweet wrinkles all over the place.

 

 

Next in the kit:

Of course, for those deeper dings, there's the tried and true SunCure, PhixDoctor, etc. to include. PhixDoctor comes in a tube that doesn't go bad, and seems to work well in my experience. To help with this, I included a few small plastic stir cups and some wooden craft sticks that you can pick up really cheap for a huge package of eighty!

 

 

Finally, the last items:



SAFETY ITEMS! Of course! Throw in a few pairs of nitrile disposable gloves (I'm sure you have a few to spare from your stash!) and a couple of painters' masks to use when working with the PhixDoctor. I DON'T CARE if you say if it's overkill- I'd like to keep the remaining brain cells I have, when working close to any chemicals, thanks, tough guy. We will note your hard coreness.

Lastly, I packed this in a tote with a snap on lid with a top handle for easy toting out to the garage or yard, where you're probably doing your repair.

In addition, download and print out this handy list to include in the kit which is a synopsis of what I've explained above:

Surfboard Doctor Bag Item Sheet

 

 

All in all, this kit comes out to less to 20 bucks to assemble, with the PhixDoctor and the Exacto knife probably being the priciest items. This is certainly something that will please the avid surfer on your list.

Honestly, do you really need to be in any position where you could be vulnerable to staying home during the holidays because you can't patch up your board?

 

If you scratch my back, I'll.....punch you in the face.

To the casual observer, we don't have distinct seasons here in Central Florida. But, being a surfer, I can always tell the when the leaves are turning by the murmurs of my fellow surfers:

"They're already in a SPRING SUIT?"
"Aren't you HOT in that vest?"
"Did you SEE that guy wearing a FULL SUIT? I wonder what his problem is....."

The beauty of the season.

Well, with those utterances, I went to purchase a new fullsuit for the season coming up (fortunately, with discount in hand this time of year). And once again, something that bothered me in the past keeps raising its ugly head. This:

The Death Tab of Velcro

I hate the Death Tab of Velcro. Every time I go to put a suit on that has a back zipper (no, I will NEVER do the chest zip again) the hooked side of the Velcro tab gets lost down in the suit somewhere, ripping the inside to shreds, and making me fumble for five minutes trying to recover it. Then I get nice pilling inside the suit over the season that make me itch. Lovely:

Yuck. And this is just from try ons.

Ok, so I came up with a little hack to help avoid this problem that most suits seem to ignore.
A lot of suits have this grab tab at the neck:

I'm going to attach some loopy side Velcro (NOT the hooked side) to this tab, so I can fold it back onto itself while I put it on so it stays out of the way until I'm ready for it.
Here's my supplies:

I'm using bright green 3/4" Velcro so it will show up in the pics- you can use scrap Velcro, whatever. You'll only need a piece of the LOOPY, SOFT side, not the scratchy hooked side. I also got good scissors, clear 4 LB test fishing line, and a heavy duty SHARP needle. You may want to also use a rubber jar opener to help pull the needle through, since you will be sewing through the tab and the piece of Velcro, which is a lot like sewing through leather, so the grip helps.
Cut a piece of the loopy side of the Velcro, no more than 1"- you don't want the piece flapping around against your neck.

This is important- you will be sewing the piece to the flap with the loops facing OUTWARD, so the wrong side will be against the outside of the wetsuit tab. You will be whipstitching just one edge together. Make a good starting knot:

Do a tight whipstitch up the edge of the tab:

Finish with a strong knot and trim the ends.

Now, this piece can fold to the inside to act as a block, to prevent the hooked Velcro from snagging on the neoprene while you put it on each time:

Now, get out there and work it, bitches!

Subtle way to Stoke your own Stoke

Ok, so while I've been competing in paddleboard racing events for years now, it's ONLY within the past year I've tried competing in surfing. I'm not a competitive person anymore- not like I was in high school, and that was in Science Team, Math Team, Quiz Bowl....anything within the realm of nerddom. Physically, I was a wuss, but academically, I was Zena, the Warrior Princess.
Amazing how the universe plays cruel tricks on you. Now I just want to be that Olympian I dreamed of. Well, for now, little by little, I'm happy with the small victories in my life. With much trepidation, I was convinced by some good friends to try some fun competitions to get over my fear of my surfing in front of others and taking off on waves instead of letting everyone else go ahead of me all the time and settling for leftovers. My friends are thankfully so observant and want me to improve. I couldn't ask for better friends!
I already have some paddleboard trophies hanging on my personal wall in my craft room, away from public show- they're beautiful carved works of art that hang flat on the wall, no matter the place on the trophy. However, I have collected some 3-D trophies from these new surfing competitions that are quite nice, but I really have no shelves to mount them on, and I don't want them to pile up on me (isn't that a wonderful problem to have?). Most of this kind have a nice gold plaque attached that display the event and place I came in during that event. So I thought, why not- remove those, and mount those on something that can hang on the wall, but more discreetly?
Here's my take.
First, I took nice pictures of the trophies with everything intact, and you may want to include the date the event was held:

Put them in a digital photo album for future reminiscing. Next, get yourself a dull butter knife- I used one of those fancy mini butter knives (like we use them anyway), and used it to gently to pry up the little plaques by the corner:

Don't crank too hard- just work slowly back and forth. You don't want to bend the metal plate. If you do bend the metal plate, this can be fixed with lightly tapping it flat with a rubber mallet on a rubber block carefully.
Still prying up the nameplate....

 

All came out flat, fortunately.

Next, I found a nice sized frame at Goodwill for .69 cents, glass and all. I used cardstock to make an interesting block pattern behind it. I also used the ESA sticker they sent me as part of my membership and threw it into the frame since this will be for my ESA trophies. I figure I'll be able to fit all of this year's awards in here- I only temporarily stuck these down so I can move them around if needed for space. Only three measly awards so far, but the year's just started! ;)

 

 

Here's another example I did for a paddleboard award I got that was on one of those Surfer trophies (didn't make sense, but that's all they had), so I took the plate off, stained a wood block, and mounted it on it:

 

The best thing is that you can save these old trophies and use them at birthday parties for the kids, donate them to a church, give them to non profits doing a surf contests that can't afford getting trophies made, etc. Kids really love these, and they make an impact on them for a long time. Even maybe a few adults too, like me who need a little stokage..... but make room for the gromsters too, you know?

 

Pick A Winner

So I went to another competition this past weekend, and I took my new 7'0" funshape. I remembered everything I needed- my wax, fins, leashes, leash loops....D'OH! I forgot to string my leash loop through my plug on my board before I left, and I discovered this about 10 minutes before going to surf when I went to put my leash on. Nice.
Then I got reminded how maddening it is to string and pick up a leash loop through a plug, especially when you're under a time limit. A friend of mine was kind enough to lend me her screwdriver (mine was in my car), and I proceeded to stab the loop into the plug, hoping I wouldn't miss and put a sweet hole into my new board. As a bonus, this particular leash loop happened to be extra thick, posing even more of a challenge. After lots of cursing, the loop somehow got through, but my nerves were nice and frayed.
A few days after the contest, I was in my local surf shop, and I saw a Freak brand leash. They have this new plastic flexible tool that comes with it that is brilliant. It's a mini comb, scraper, and LOOP PICKER! Downside- the leash is $25 bucks, and you probably already have a million leashes hanging around somewhere. Like me.
Here's what I tried instead:
Get a drinking straw (preferably one you picked up off the beach), a pair of scissors, a leash loop, and your board. I used the same super thick leash loop I had at the contest in the pictures and it worked!
Cut a piece about 5" long off the straw:

Next, flatten the straw down it's length, then fold it in half down it's length again. It should look like this on the end:

Keep the fold together on the end and cut a slant backward on the end to make a point:

Use this point to push the middle of the loop through the plug:

The straw will flatten a bit and allow you to scoop the loop underneath the bar:

Then, take the point and pick up the loop keeping the fold tight at the end with your fingers:

Do a lark's head knot around the bar to secure:

Done!
This tool comes free with my soda at the restaurant, or on the beach after the weekend tourists roll through. Plus, it takes approximately 5 seconds to make with household scissors. And, it doesn't have the potential to put a gaping hole in my board if I'm in a crazy mood.
Back to training for that next competition- I'll give ya a little taste....

 

Sticky Fingers....and Toes

Just in time for a flat spell, my new funshape just got finished. It's a 7'0", and I'm looking forward to riding it for a long time and beating the hell out of it. Since I will take any opportunity to replace wax with traction, I got a traction pad for this one, and it was time to break out the application procedure....
Here's the traction pad- it's one of those jelly clear ones, and I think it's secretly manufactured by Dr. Scholl's for old surfers with problem feet:

I shall call you my Squishy.....

The down side of a lot of traction pads is, they usually only peel away as one piece, like one big sticker. I hate that. You should be able to apply something this size from the middle out towards the edges, to get a better adhesion and remove bubbles.
To remedy that, I gathered the traction pad, a cutting surface, my Exacto knife, a pair of tweezers, a sharpie pen and a straight edge and brought my board inside the A/C to work on it. I turned the pad over to the backside (the backing was also clear, but usually they're white or brown for some). I drew a straight line down the middle of the pad with the pen:

Mark on the BACKSIDE of the pad!!!

From there, I used my Exacto to lightly score through the backing of the pad, careful not to pierce deep into the traction pad. This will allow me to use the tweezers to peel back a little of each half, exposing just the middle line of the pad's adhesion:

Peeling back the backing 

I turned the pad over holding the folded back middle backing, and placing it square along the stringer, starting from the base of the pad up to the top middle, pressing firmly. Slowly, I peeled away each side of the backing, while pressing from the middle point outward. If you have a small rubber roller, like what's used in wallpapering, that helps to put even pressure while rolling from the middle to the edge.

Here's the pad applied, with the backing paper shown above it:

To ensure good adhesion, I'll keep the board in the air conditioning for at least 24 hours to let the adhesive cure properly before I take it out surfing.

I used this time to install my GoPro mount and tether mount, which ALSO require a full 24 hours at room temperature to cure properly:

Ahh... the feel of comfort orthotics. For my surfboard.

Pimp my Rashguard DIY

Okay, so I've got a set of those fabric markers you can pick up at any craft store, or even at any big box store now. I remember the days when kids would use Sharpies to mark up their jeans and Keds with the Anarchy signs and "Non Conformist" graffiti just like everyone else. The irony was totally lost on the 6th graders. I just stuck with drawing "I heart Doogie Howser" on my binder. Yeah, that was a happy memory crasher when I became an adult....
Anyway, as an adult, and a surfer, I thought it would be fun to get artsy fartsy with one of my rash guards. I wanted to test if these markers would stay on Lycra and how they would draw.
I have two types of fabric markers (Tulip Brand and Sharpie Brand Fabric Markers), so I thought I'd try each on the rashguard to see if I'd get different results. I used a white rashguard and got some scrap cardboard to put between the layers of the rashguard in case of bleed though to the backside:

My supplies

For this project, I opted to use the black markers so they'd show up on the white. The marker tips are  definitely different as you can see:

The Tulip Brand Marker is on Top, the Sharpie Brand is on the Bottom

Drawing on Lycra is tricky. The fabric wants to pull against your marker, so it's important to draw slowly to avoid errant drags on your pictures.
First, I made a design on the shoulder and upper sleeve of the rashguard using the Tulip brand marker. Making lines was slow, but making dots was quite easy, of course. The ink really didn't bleed over itself, except were I got sloppy.

Next, I put a little matching design on the bottom right of the rashguard using the Sharpie Fabric Marker. The brush tip was more like a paintbrush, so it was tricky to get a crisp line, but could make a really flowy pattern, almost a watercolor design. However, these colors will bleed into one another, so keep that in mind.

Per the instructions, I allowed the images to dry completely for a full 24 hours.

Now, for the real test......

I washed this rashguard in the washing machine for 40 minutes on cold using liquid detergent. I even threw it in the dryer for 10 minutes just for fun.

Here's the verdict:

The area I drew with the Tulip marker came out great, with the black color very strong, with almost no fading, and no bleeding:

The area I drew with the Sharpie fabric marker faded significantly, but didn't bleed, at least:

I'm sure that any image drawn would fade over time, being exposed to the sun and saltwater, so make sure you make your images strong and make sure they stand out. A bit of fading would make for a desirable effect depending on the image you have in mind.

I guess I'm going to paint black stripes on the arms of my rashguards to make one of those crazy shark repellent thingies.

Pocket Fin Adjustment Tool Kit

In my quest to make everything more compact, I wanted to make my fin tool kit as small as possible. For this, I challenged myself to fit everything into a standard travel plastic soap container:

I used a stubby flathead screwdriver to fit in the case, for using with single fin change outs. I also added a standard fin key (small Allen wrench) to the box.

For the nuts and bolts, as well as the fin screws, I used little empty lip gloss containers. They're perfect for keeping small items, and they're flat and fit right into the soapbox. 

I also labeled each container to make sure the screws wouldn't get mixed up.

Additionally, I used my handy label maker to label the kit:

Had to label it, or I'd be disappointed I wouldn't be smelling Irish spring fresh.....