Ding Devils

Baggage monkeys again..

2011-09-28T02:28:00.000-07:00

Summers been a busy one with hardly any time to keep up with the heaps of e mails let alone keep on top of the blog.
Here the baggage monkeys have been at a brand new chilli, totally compressing the tail.
There was no chance of making it look original again so the tail was filled and carbon thereads glassed into the tail to take the eye away from the repair. Looks sweet.

Tail reinforcement

2011-03-31T01:42:00.000-07:00

Carbon tail patches and an extra layer of 4oz to extend the life of this pretty new shortboard.

New stick...Why buy imports?

2011-02-14T00:22:00.000-08:00

When you have stuff like this in your back yard...
When choosing your next board pop into gulfstream surfboards in braunton, just don't take the missus as you may be in there some time drooling over the selection of resin tinted goodness while
getting expert advice from a man that can surf an old 80's windsurf board that washed up on the beach way better than i can on standard gear.
What you waiting for? Support uk shapers and while your at it stick two fingers up at Tesco's on your way past.

I know it's gonna be a lovely daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay......etc

2011-01-30T01:09:00.000-08:00

Getting out of bed at 4 in the morning on a sunday and a barmy -3 degrees, just to get to the workshop and meet deadlines sucks.

Fingers frozen staring in dismay at the epoxy work you did yesterday that resembles chewing gum.

Trying to get the kettle to work, this thing is supposed to boil water not freeze it!.

But hey, when two frozen hours later you open the workshop door to bird song and this sight it's enough to warm even the coldest toes.

Life aint so bad.

Frozen Fish

2010-12-18T00:53:00.000-08:00

I thought we may escape the lovely weather that has graced the rest of the country over the past few weeks but woke up to a white out this morning. Looks like all those epoxy repairs are going to have to wait a bit longer. Time to make a sledge me thinks.

TRIFONIC!

2010-12-15T23:58:00.000-08:00

70's Tiki single fin semi restoration

2010-12-14T09:42:00.000-08:00

Semi restoration of an old 70's single fin for john, old repairs de lams to the bottom and red resin panel re done. Whole board re glossed and polished.

Guilty of blog neglect

2010-12-10T00:29:00.000-08:00

Been a while since the last post as things have been so hectic but with this long winter flat spell and temps well bellow freezing it's time to give the blog some lovin.

First up is a firewire tail snap, the deck skin was intact but the bottom had gone and the balsa rails snapped half way through. After reinforcing the balsa rails the inner glass was fixed and a new HD foam skin vacuumed on. In an ideal world the join near the rear plugs would be tapered towards the tail to spread the load but being on a tight time frame and the need to remove both fin plugs to do this a straightish joint was the only option. The board has been away to some serious waves without any problems so all good.

Spider longboard new foam tail section grafted on re glassed and airbrushed.

Ryanair again

2010-10-02T02:14:00.000-07:00

Ouch!!

2010-07-20T15:12:00.000-07:00

Big chunk out of the nose after flying off the roof of a car.
New nose blocks made up and foam replaced,fabric inlay colour matched and zero filler.

DHD tail repair

2010-06-08T22:28:00.000-07:00

Don't know why but i kinda like doing this sort of repair. Bit of a change from the endless rail dings and fcs plugs.

Another resin blurred phone camera pic, but new decal printed out for the bottom as the old one was trashed.

Are all couriers a bunch of monkeys?

2010-06-03T14:58:00.001-07:00

So the board gets sent to me because the baggage gibbons had snapped the nose clean off.
No problem, new nose on and colour matched.
But look what the courier monkeys did to the tail in transit. I really don't treat my own boards too well, they spent most of their time sliding around in the back of the van bouncing off the sides but never suffer this kind off damage. Just what do these courier idiots get up to once you have handed over your hard earned cash.
Rant over , but it is amazing how many boards come through the workshop each week trashed by these MUPPETS!!!!!

Surftech nose snap

2010-06-02T00:19:00.000-07:00

Surftech repair nose snap. Big old crack to the bottom skin.
HD foam and inner glass vacuumed in place.
Sanded back to shape and ready for outer glass.
Outer glass on and primed ready for 5 coats of gloss reinstate pinlines and 5 coats of laquer.
I was in such a rush to get this one done ready for a competition the next day that i totally forgot the finished pictures. I really should tidy those wires up under the table some day.

Firewire surfboard repair

2010-05-16T14:47:00.000-07:00

Ahh, fin slices to boards are a sure sign that summer has finally arrived. Out with the sander..
New corecell and inner glass vacuumed on.
Outer glass lamination sanded back and ready to colour match.
Colour matched and epoxy top coat and ready to do battle with this summers crowds.

.....

2010-05-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

Surftech tidy up

2010-04-26T00:38:00.000-07:00

Nothing structural just a good tidy up to get rid of badly done paint repairs and unsightly scratches. These boards will last years if keep on top of repairs and keep the water out.
We use industrial paints and laquers for a super solid finish. Good as new.

Naughty dog!!!!!!

2010-04-22T23:04:00.000-07:00

He used to be quite well behaved and always stayed close to the workshop door but just lately has been taking himself on two hour missions across the fields. Obviously looking for something more amusing than watching me swearing at surfboards all day.
This was the little bugger after a good telling off. I had just spent the past hour wandering around the devon countryside trying to find him. Naughty dog!!!!

Firewire repair deck de-lam

2010-04-22T22:56:00.001-07:00

Firewire with multiple deck de-lams injected with epoxy and vacuum bagged to get everything to sit down again. I swear my crappy phone pic's are getting more blurred each day. Probably something to do with the sticky resin build up over the lens.

Couple from today

2010-04-18T08:31:00.001-07:00

black resin tint rail repair

2010-04-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

Resin 8 repairs

2010-04-12T10:57:00.001-07:00

Resin 8 surfboard repair. Fin plug damage.
New HD foam and inner glass vacumed on.
Outer glass

Primer on and ready for paint.
Turned out to be a real hard colour to match up. The guy that mixes our paints up can usually get them spot on but spent a good hour scratching his head over this one. Close but no cigar.

Couple of oldies

2010-03-31T13:41:00.001-07:00

Tiki and freedom surfboards single fins in for a bit of a touch up.

Surftech rail repair

2010-03-31T13:17:00.000-07:00

More courier carnage

2010-03-29T14:26:00.000-07:00

I have a bit of a love hate thing going on with couriers. How many days i have wasted waiting for a delivery between 7am and 8 pm only to have my item arrive smashed to bits at 7pm.
On the other hand they do keep a steady flow of busted boards coming through the workshop.

Meltdown!

2010-03-26T14:34:00.000-07:00

Poly resin and eps are not the best of friends.

Stu's run in with the baggage handlers

2010-03-18T10:59:00.000-07:00

Baggage handlers, a surfboards worst nightmare , a ding repairers dream. Well Stu, I recon you got off quite lightly on this one. At least the board was in one piece.

Nine plus tail crunch

2010-03-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

Charleys surftech

2010-03-06T07:54:00.000-08:00

Small crack on the surface usually means large crack inside the board so out with the sander.

Oh well wrong again, small crack on the outside turns out to be two cracks on the inside

Looks like the repair will be put to the test next time croyde is firing. http://charleysurfsalot.blogspot.com/

Two very buggered tails

2010-03-06T07:31:00.000-08:00

First up is a nine plus longboard with various old crappy repairs that needed to be removed before giving it some lovin.

Resin 8 with a nasty leash cut through the rear end. It's for this reason that i have stopped wearing thongs, except for those really hot days in the workshop. Nothing worse than catching the string on your shaping stands and damaging your tail.

New website

2009-12-22T14:14:00.000-08:00

The new website is online, still loads to be added and a little tweaking but it's getting there.
Check it out at www.dingdevilssurfboardrepairs.co.uk

Airbrushed resin tint matching

2009-12-10T14:23:00.000-08:00

Matching resin swirls is near on impossible using pigments and is better done with airbrush for it to look right.
This takayama had the bottom of the nose ripped out after kissing some rocks, the right hand side off the nose has been filled, re-glassed and then a resin swirl effect put on with the airbrush to match the original colours of the board. After a gloss coat over the colour work the repair is invisible.

Surftech tail repair

2009-12-03T12:02:00.001-08:00

Surftech tail repair, damaged high density foam replaced, re-glassed and colour matched.

Busy Busy

2009-11-20T14:38:00.000-08:00

Now and again a board comes in that you wouldn't mind hanging on to, the yellow and black gulfstream longboard being one of them. Local quality hand made goodness. Check them out at
http://www.gulfstreamsurfboards.co.uk/

Don't think the camera likes uv lights, Probably not good for my eyes either.

Firewire surfboard repairs

2009-11-17T10:10:00.000-08:00

Firewire surfboard repairs
What appears on the surface to be a scratch after coming in over rocks turns out to have cracked the core cell right down to the inner glass. Out with the busted stuff and in with the new.

Vintage tiki single fin resto

2009-11-12T11:05:00.000-08:00

Late sixties, early seventies tiki single fin with some pretty serious damage to the tail, nose, rails, the list goes on.....

With the new tail constructed its time for some swearing and head scratching.
Trying to match 40 year old paint is no fun at all and usually involves putting it on, letting it dry standing back and have a cuppa then taking it off again and start over. After a few hours and some unconventional use of tea in the airbrush to make the paint look aged , its time to move on to the other 20 or so holes in the board. We love it!

Custard point nose repair

2009-11-04T10:26:00.000-08:00

Think i will let the customer put it back in it's board bag. There's nothing like the sound of sand grating against a freshly glossed nose.

The new workshop

2009-10-29T23:47:00.000-07:00

At last we have moved into a bigger workshop, no more juggling boards and plenty of rack space. The move has coincided with the best run of swell of the year and i have missed the lot. Still heaps to do but its getting there.

Epoxy sandwich construction repair

2009-10-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

We get a fair amount of epoxy sandwich construction boards come through the workshop that have been repaired with normal ding repair methods, be it glass and epoxy or that nasty putty stuff. The repair might look good and will last a few months before cracking and filling your board full of lovely salt water. It only takes a few minutes for the water to get into the eps core but it can take a few months for us to get it out again. We repair your Surftech, resin 8 or firewire surfboards with the correct materials that will last.

The ding putty was removed to reveal shattered high density foam and compressed eps.

Damage removed

Eps core replaced

Sanded back and faired

Eps and HD foam patches laminated

Release film and breather fabric in place

Glass and HD foam vacuum bagged and left to cure.
Once cured we sand back and laminate with another layer of glass as with a normal repair.
Outer layer of glass on and sanded
Any imperfections or pinholes filled with a glazing compound and wet sanded.

Paint colour matched and ready to surf

Takayama rail repair

2009-10-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

The damage on this takayama longboard had previously been repaired by someone else. This whole void in the rail had been filled with q-cell and glassed over. With no give in the filler the old repair cracked at both ends as the board flexed. We took out all the filler and replaced it with foam, re- glassed and colour matched the area, Then tripped over the sander left on the floor.

Surftech repairs

2009-09-18T11:30:00.001-07:00

Oooooooooooh!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Whack to the jacobs!!

2009-09-11T23:20:00.000-07:00

This jacobs longboard came in the other day with a de-lam on the deck right through the decal. After a few jokes about laminating a jacobs cream cracker box under the glass and worries about getting crumbs in the hot coat a call was made to bing surfboards in the states. One week later and a new decal arrived on our doorstep , great customer service bing, we salute you.

Old decal sanded out, in with the new one. Must admit this is one of the nicest longboards we have seen for a while. Good to see it fixed properly.

Epoxy repair on bennet rescue board

2009-09-08T08:59:00.000-07:00

Don't know why i have started making the text match the boards maybe i'm in touch with my feminine side, or more like some weird ocd kicking in after trying to colour match this rescue board for the best part of a morning. After a call to bennet to try and get a paint code they even admitted it's a hard one to match. So i did the only thing i could and threw my teddy out of my pram, sulked for a bit then left it for fred to sort out. Only took him half an hour.

This week we have mostly been.........

2009-09-04T11:15:00.000-07:00

Tail crunch

Shattered glass removed, board sanded and filled.

All done, time for a cuppa...

The curse of the killer wabbit

2009-08-25T09:30:00.000-07:00

Jimmy let me go mad with the airbrush on one of
his boards. How was i to know that rabbits on a sea going
vessel are bad luck.

"A rabbit’s foot has been a symbol of good luck for a very long time. Even early sailors would carry one to keep them safe as they sailed. A whole rabbit was a different story. Even when ships carried live chickens and other small animals for food on long journeys, rabbits were not ever brought. A live rabbit aboard a ship was sure to bring tragedy and death to all aboard."

Two days later whilst surfing a boulder reef he smashed up the nose of his s core.
Could it be the curse of the killer wabbit?

flouro pigments YUMMY!!

2009-08-25T09:24:00.000-07:00

2009-08-16T08:02:00.000-07:00

Been so busy lately that i keep forgetting to get some photo's of the repairs, so here's one of kringle instead looking chuffed to bits with his new rash vest. Ears down and tail between legs, a sure sign of a happy hound.

Attack of the killer roof straps

2009-07-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

Tight roof straps equals trashed boards. The second one this week , must have something to do with the stress levels rising with the kids being on holiday , resulting in overzealous strap straining to get to the beach quick and get some peace in the water.

In to the ding devils HQ for a nice hug , a sprinkling of pixie dust then a little polish with concentrated kittens tears.
[Ding devils would like to add no kittens were harmed in the repair of this board]

Just another crunched nose

In order for search engines to find our pages we need to try and slip in a few keywords relevant to our business ie north devon surfboard repairs or ding repairs north devon or maybe even surfboard ding repairs for the north devon and north cornwall area. The thing i find hard is trying to slip these words into a paragraph whilst being informative and slightly witty. It's a hard life.....

That should do the trick.

Tris fans be warned this post may cause nausea

2009-07-15T00:23:00.000-07:00

This old 70's tris twin fin shaped by chop's has seen some classic retro repairs over the years, with fantastic use of vintage car body filler and stunning feats of bodgery she was in a proper sorry state. This little part of british surfing history deserves to be saved and is undergoing some ding devils love as we speak.
TO BE CONTINUED.........................................................

2009-07-14T23:41:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week with plenty of busted boards coming through the shop, this one was a race against time as the guy was on holiday. Multiple dings to the nose rails and tail and turned around in two days. We even picked up the board from the bude area and then dropped it back, hows that for service.

DHD with a leash string cut to the tail, filled re-glassed and back to it's owner quick smart.
Then all back to my place for tea and scones hoorah!!

Webber slx epoxy repair

2009-06-26T08:53:00.000-07:00

This patient came in with a broken nose and a good chunk out of the rail. A new nose was constructed, the damaged foam was replaced on the rail then re-glassed using resin research epoxy. The repairs were then colour matched and top coated. Happy days...