If you’ve come out of the water and noticed a ding on your wakeboard, there’s no need to worry. This kind of problem is easily treated with the right tools and a little bit of expertise. With an adhesive such as epoxy or resin, most dings can be patched quite nicely and in a relatively quick timeframe. Read on to learn about the wakeboard repair process, which is the same process we use at Miami Nautique use for treating all of our boards in that come in for repair in our pro shop. 

Heres a few tools to make things easier:

• Marker (optional)
• Masking tape
• Credit card (or similar item with a flat surface for scraping)
• Sandpaper
• A precision screwdriver
• Epoxy resin (e.g., Solarez Epoxy Ding Repair)
• Paper towel
• Paper plate (or similar item for holding epoxy)

Let’s get started.

Board Repair Process

1. Buff the damaged area: The first step is to prepare your board for treatment by removing any debris or weirdness around the ding using a scraping tool. Then, with sandpaper, buff the surface around the ding to clear away any foam debris. Don’t go too crazy as we’ll be back with the sandpaper to smooth things out after the epoxy dries.
2. Mask with tape: If the damage is on the edge of your board, put a strip of masking tape behind the ding. This will help keep the epoxy resin in place so that it doesn’t spill over to the other side of the board when you’re applying it. 
3. Prepare the epoxy: Get your epoxy resin and squeeze a small amount onto a paper plate. Often, the epoxy you’ll find in the store comes as two tubes, a resin and a hardener. The resin is clear in color, while the hardener looks yellow. You need a split amount (50/50) of each one and they should be mixed on the plate until the liquid is uniform in color. It’s important that the amount of each substance is the same so that your adhesive bonds properly on the board. If the ratio is off, the resin will be too soft in the end. The Solarez Epoxy Ding Repair is a good product to consider using as the formulation is already prepared for you, meaning there’s no need to do any mixing. 
4. Apply the epoxy: With an awl or precision screwdriver, dab your epoxy resin onto the ding. Try to fill in the damaged area as much as you can so that water won’t enter the board through the ding. Once you’ve done that, let the board dry in the sun and keep it in an upright position if you’re treating the edge. For bigger dings, it might take more than one coat to finish the job, so apply further rounds of epoxy until you’ve fully sealed in the ding. Also, when you are applying the epoxy, use a paper towel to wipe away the excess product so that it hardens only over the ding and not anywhere else on your board.
5. Color the ding: Color in the ding with a marker that’s the same color as your board. It might not always be possible to find a marker that exactly matches your board’s color, but if you can find a suitable one, go ahead and color in the affected area. This is purely for aesthetic purposes so that the board’s color looks more uniform after the repair is complete. If aesthetic isn’t that important to you, you can skip this step and keep going.

Some Care Tips

Knowing the ways that wakeboards get dinged can help you avoid damage in the first place. Here are some things to know so that you don’t experience any accidents with your board.

• Be mindful of your surroundings when walking with your board. If you are passing through a narrow area, hold your board upright so you don’t ding it against a wall or a pole, for example. 
• Use a board bag to carry your wakeboard and fins when transporting your board to the boat. Keeping the fins on the board and carrying the board without a bag is a recipe not just for damaging your board, but also your car seats and other surfaces where the fins make contact. 
• Be careful where you place your wakeboard when you’re on the boat. The ideal place to leave your board is in a storage locker or board rack. Your wakeboard should fit easily into a board rack. Don’t ever try to force your board into a board rack as some older racks aren’t designed for wakeboards, which can cause damage to your board. 
• Finally, don’t leave your wakeboard on the ground where others might walk over it. 

If you feel you need help beyond what we went over today in these tips above please give us a ring. We would love to help you at our pro-shop and can even go over the process with you so you’re ready for the next time. Keeping gear properly maintained can make all the difference in it’s longevity. Hope to see you in-store with your wildest stories and dings to show.