Weak glass?

Sorry to hear about your board, dude. Most of those performance shortboards have a pretty light glass job. Your best bet is to take it to your local shaper for some extra reinforcement on high pressure areas, like the nose and tail. You might want to look into a custom for your next board. Get a nice thick glass job with a deck patch. Personally, I find that polished boards are more durable than matte finishes.

 

Listen to this man, not only is he the most interesting man in the world he knows his glass. Polished is def more durable. I prefer and know Dlrouen has also used Eavey in Wilmington NC. I know thats a little far for you but I'm sure there are glassers in your area that can do the same quality work. I banged my quad fish into the metal corner of my buddies table one day last year, on the rail too which is a very weak are, put a little spider web about the size of a dime in the glass but did not go all the way through. If that had been a moder style board with thin glass layer and matte finish it would have busted all the way to the foam.

http://eaveysurfboards.blogspot.com/

 

It is common for mass produced boards to have a "deck patch" going only 3/4s the length of the board and a single layer of 4 oz glass to the tip. The goal is to save weight but it makes it weak. Makes the glass shop like $3 a board more profit too..
We do a ton of ding repairs for snapped noses because of this glassing practice on big name surfboard brands.
Also, when glass shops get behind with production, they'll kick the resin fast which makes it weaker and brittle.
I assume your DHD is a PU/PE construction.
Epoxy resin is 5X stronger (don't be confused with an "EPOXY" popout board) and with a proper glass job that nose break would have been a small pressure ding at most.
Polyurethane cores with epoxy lamination are becoming more popular these days for those still resistant to learn to ride EPS cores...

~Brian
www.greenlightsurfsupply.com
Shape Your Surfing Experience

 

That sucks, rcarter! If it makes you feel any better, I landed a nice spider crack on the rail of my 9'2" just last week. I was rushing out the door and my nose swung around and caught the edge of a door. Take your time when handling your boards!

Hey, Brian, can you shine any (green) light on polished vs matte finishes?

 

That was the same thing I did. Spent the night in Wilm at my buddies, woke up checked Surfchex cam, looked sweet, hurrying to get out the door and bam right in to the table. Luckily it's still water tight. I seem to remember the dif between the matte and gloss is the final treatment that adds shine and strength but hopefully Brian can greenlighten us on the subject.

 

maybe it's like a modern car and has a crumple zone?

 

I like comparing the local shapers to craft brewers. They have to work to make a good product to stay in business. if you say durability is important, they will do a better glass job, and make harder rails, etc. Phil Taylor is here in Salisbury, long way from you, but i believe he is shipping/driving boards up that way. I take care of my boards, but in the year I've had two of his boards, I don't have a single crack or ding in them. Pressure dents, but can't stop that. You also cut out the extra cost that surf shops throw on top if you go custom, and you get it EXACTLY how you want it. Lastly, guys like Phil will even do most ding repair for free. I always mention phil bc that's who I use, but I'm sure there are great shapers around you too.
You might not want a rock solid board though, good thing the board broke, not your head.

 

"..... if you go custom, and you get it EXACTLY how you want it......"

I think he about summed it up with this line.

 

A gloss coat is not stronger than a sanded finish. Gloss resin is purely cosmetic. There is no reinforcement (fiberglass) in it. It adds weight and gives the sander/polisher something to make shiny without hitting weave. You are probably just thinking gloss is stronger because most glossed boards (longboards etc.) have heavier glass jobs to begin with. It's the weight of the glass and number of layers that makes the board strong. That and certainly as Brian said Epoxy Resin is stronger and less likely to delam/crack/spider crack than polyester resin.

 

The general rule with surfboards and just about anything else performance related:

Cheap | Light | Durable

Pick any two you want.

Wayne might not agree but that is the TRUTH!

 

While that may be true that there is no fiberglass to reinforce it it does add an extra layer of glass that is not sanded and therefore more structurally sound before it punches through to the foam. My gloss coat board is a 5'10" so it is not a longboard but is def heavier than a modern sanded finish shortboard and much harder to chip, ding or break. To the OP modern finish boards are not "crap" but they are designed to be lighter and like was stated anything lighter tends to be weaker. It's a trade off and only you can find your happy medium. I will say I have snapped 5 "potato" chip boards and 0 gloss finished ones.

 

A lot of the boards made overseas/mass produced have garbage glass jobs. Look for a signature on the bottom of your board.

 

My Phil Taylor longboard I rode over a boulder surfing Montauk on a new moon low tide, slight pressure dent on the bottom NO real damage! I was sure it would be ripped open! Durable boards make a world of difference!

 

Are you sure your 5'10" Glossed board isn't glassed with heavier/more glass, ie 6oz? I get that an extra layer of resin adds a bit of physical buffer from the glass itself, but it's proven that the strongest resin/glass ratio is 50/50, so adding a gloss coat on top of a good sanded hotcoat gives no strength benefit, and the impact resistance is negligible (gloss resin is pretty soft so it can polish out easily). The gloss will give you a little more physical buffer and waterproofness, but at the cost of noticeable weight.

If you want more strength in a shortboard, go with more/heavier glass, rather than a gloss coat.

 

This ^^^
Gloss = appearance
Glass = strength

 

buy a surftech. tough as nails