Kiteforum.com

I've got this custom made foil board.
There are some marks that have appeared - they're mainly on or near the rails on the top side of the board.
I am curious to know what the cause of these marks is.

The guys from the shop that makes the board reckons they are from small impacts, like contact with the spreader bar etc. I'm not so sure - I can't see any signs of impact on the surface. I also haven't had this happen on any other board.

If I had to hazard a guess parts of the lamination have ended up dry, i.e. resin starved, and the fibreglass has become stressed /damaged at those points.

It may be that they may have glassed too many layers at once. There's apparently 5 layers there.

Anyway truth is I don't really know - thought I'd put it out there on the forum and get a more educated opinion.

To me they look like very normal "use" dings, being so randomly spread/different, apparently user ding marks from bar/harness/other-gear/doors/put on the beach etc etc.

But it seems you encounter this a lot more now than on other boards you say, so apparently the surface is more fragile yes, but not necessarily and error and it could be a really strong and light board, just not tough, which is pretty normal for light strong boards

Could also be bad workmanship of course - but it looks like "rider and use" dings.

PF

I agree with Peter, they look like impact damage, not enough to puncture the laminate but enough to craze the resin. This is where twin tip construction as used on Shinn boards wins out. But if you are after super light, then the downside is you need to handle these boards with care.

Do you think that water impact can cause these?
I've mainly used this board for wave riding.
Sometimes when I pearl, off a wave going quite fast, the board seems to hit the water quite hard.

I ride strapless, and when I crash, I normally end up nowhere near the board. If the board hits me it's normally from behind. All these "ding marks" are on the back and sides. And if it's from my mishandling the board, hitting it with the spreader bar etc, I'd think I'd think I'd have some recollection about it at least once.

Thanks for comments anyway

look like raked dings, (something hard making contact and dragging along in some cases) this could be during transport, bar hits, just about anything. Carbon fiber is more resilient to this.

I'd say these are caused by harness hook grinding on the board - it causes dings exactly in these places usually.

Impact.

It’s “funny” how things you don’t expect can ding or even puncture a board.
I body dragged a few hundred feet in 8 knots and 6” chop on my fst FireWire surfboard wearing an engine harness with carbon slider bar, pretty low profile, but the sharp-ish edges of the carbon bar dug holes in the deck!
Be glad you just harassed the 4oz surface layer of your 5 layer glass rails!

I would check what type of resin the board was made with. If you normally have boards with epoxy resin and this one is polyester resin that could be your issue. Polyester resin is much more brittle than epoxy.

harness hook. My first foilboard got shredded learning how to body drag. It doesn't affect anything in terms of performance, and don't kid yourself, there's no such thing as "resale value" when it comes to this stuff.

I think you all must be right! This stuff is much more fragile than I thought I don't even have a hook on my spreader bar, I've got the direct connection to bar BRM style.
It must be body dragging and handling in the water. I thought I was ok at that