Should I clean my board before taking it in?

Rinse it and let it dry, but take photos of the damage in good light first -- sand and wax on and around the damage make it harder for a shop to see what's actually going on.

Should I patch the damage myself before drop-off?

Purpose-made ding tape on a clean, dry ding is fine -- it keeps water out and peels off before the repair. Skip duct tape, a plug of wax and silicone: duct tape soaks up water, wax has to be cut out, and resin won't bond where silicone has been.

Does it matter how the damage happened?

Yes -- mention the cause (reef, collision, fin strike, heat) if you know it. It can tell a repairer as much as the damage itself, especially for cracks not yet visible at the surface.

Do I need to strip the wax off?

Clear a hand's width around each damaged area -- resin won't bond through wax. Stripping the whole board isn't usually needed unless the shop asks, and some shops charge for a full wax strip as its own line item.

How should I transport a damaged board?

Damage-side up where you can, padded rather than weighted, and not strapped down across the damaged area. Keep it somewhere dry, shaded and ventilated rather than sealed in a bag for days.

Prepping your board before drop-off

Quick answers

Should I clean my board before taking it in?: Rinse it and let it dry, but take photos of the damage in good light first -- sand and wax on and around the damage make it harder for a shop to see what's actually going on.
Should I patch the damage myself before drop-off?: Purpose-made ding tape on a clean, dry ding is fine -- it keeps water out and peels off before the repair. Skip duct tape, a plug of wax and silicone: duct tape soaks up water, wax has to be cut out, and resin won't bond where silicone has been.
Does it matter how the damage happened?: Yes -- mention the cause (reef, collision, fin strike, heat) if you know it. It can tell a repairer as much as the damage itself, especially for cracks not yet visible at the surface.
Do I need to strip the wax off?: Clear a hand's width around each damaged area -- resin won't bond through wax. Stripping the whole board isn't usually needed unless the shop asks, and some shops charge for a full wax strip as its own line item.
How should I transport a damaged board?: Damage-side up where you can, padded rather than weighted, and not strapped down across the damaged area. Keep it somewhere dry, shaded and ventilated rather than sealed in a bag for days.

Before you go

Rinse the board and let it dry -- sand and wax on and around the damage make it harder to see what's actually going on. Take a few photos of the damage in good light before you clean it up, in case you want to show a shop ahead of time or compare afterward.

If you know how it happened (reef, rail-to-rail collision, fin strike, left in a hot car), mention it. The cause often tells a repairer as much as the damage itself, especially for cracks that aren't visible yet at the surface.

What not to do

If you need to keep water out until the board reaches a shop, purpose-made ding tape is the right stopgap: put it on a clean, dry ding and it seals well enough to surf on, and peels off when the proper repair starts.

Avoid the improvised versions. Duct tape isn't waterproof -- the fibres in it soak up water and wick it into the ding. Pressing wax into a ding seems to seal it, but every trace has to be cut or sanded out before resin will bond, which usually makes the ding bigger. Silicone sealant is the worst of the three: resin won't bond to a surface it has touched, and it is very hard to clean off completely.

And don't leave a damaged board in direct sun or a hot car in the meantime. Heat turns any water inside into vapour that pushes the skin away from the foam, which can worsen delamination on top of whatever the original damage already did.

What to tell the shop

Say when it happened and whether the board has been in the water since. A ding that took one session of water is a different job from the same ding after a fortnight of surfing, and it changes how long the board may need to dry before anything can be sealed.

Say what you want back, too. Structural repair makes the board rideable; colour, gloss and logo matching is separate work. Shops will usually do either, but they can only quote what you ask for -- and it is a common reason two quotes on the same damage come out different.

If the board has been repaired here before, mention it. Knowing there's an older patch under the area saves the repairer discovering it halfway through.

Wax, and how much to remove

Wax around the damage gets in the way -- resin does not bond through it, so it has to come off before the repair starts. Clearing the area yourself is a courtesy and occasionally saves a fee, since some shops charge for a full wax strip as its own line item.

Stripping the whole board is not usually necessary unless the shop asks, or unless it is going in for work across several areas. Clearing a hand's width around each damaged spot is normally enough.

Getting it there

Transport it damage-side up where you can, and pad the area rather than resting weight on it. A cracked rail or a soft deck patch will happily get worse under a tie-down strap on the way to the shop.

A board bag is ideal, but if the board is already wet inside, don't seal it in one for days beforehand -- a damaged board wants to be somewhere dry, shaded and ventilated until it can be looked at.

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