Nothing puts an end to a great day of shredding as abruptly as riding over a bit of debris and feeling your precious board getting damaged under your feet. Before considering the worst-case scenario, take heart. It may be easier than you think to repair a snowboard yourself. However, you have to proceed with care.
When to repair it yourself?
In many cases, the damage to the base of a snowboard is superficial and easy to repair at home. If the damage meets the following criteria, you can go ahead with your repairs (if not, see an expert):
- The scratch is light or moderately deep
- The crack doesn’t go through to the wood core
- The edge of the board isn’t affected
It’s not really necessary to repair a crack less than half a millimetre deep. All a scratch like that needs is a good coat of wax to restore the base.
Equipment requirements
Before you start to repair a snowboard, make sure you have the following items on hand:
- A base cleaner (rubbing alcohol will work)
- A scraper or razor blade
- A polyethylene candle
- Sandpaper
- A heat source such as a lighter or torch
Procedure
- Clean your board and remove any debris that may be embedded.
- Light the end of the candle and wait a few minutes for it to ignite.
- Let some liquid polyethylene flow into the crack. Allow a little overflow of the product, as polyethylene shrinks as it cools. Let dry for 15 minutes.
- Using your scraping tool to scrape away excess product.
- Sand the repair until the surface of the board is completely smooth.
- Wax your board.
There! It’s not so difficult to repair a snowboard at home, as long as the damage isn’t too severe. If in doubt, take it to an expert. A professional technician will give you a straight-up diagnosis and can fix your gear so you can hit the slopes again really soon.
