Board armor

[adywind]

I hate the look of the foam nose guard I glued to my board, but I have to admit- it really works!
Now, do you guys think-that covering the deck between the foot straps with EVA /same thickness as the foot padz/ will prevent it from collapsing in the future /soft deck/ ... or it will only make my beloved board look even uglier?!?

[dllee]

Sure, it does help some.
BUT... it also dents after a period of time longer than non decked, and the EVA hides the damage until H20 soaks into the board.

[isobars]

Sorry, Adywind, but I just now saw this thread.

I have used deck pad material in many places on every board I've owned for decades now, for deck and skin protection, traction, and comfort. I lay a 1" X 12-15" strip on each rail from the nose back, a patch between the straps, a patch between the front straps and the mast, and a small patch on the very tail where my boom hits the tail when waterstarting. I buy it by the sheet from NSI in Hood River, in many colors/designs/thicknesses/textures, so they dress up, rather than uglify, my boards. I use the self-stick version for simplicity and brain cell longevity, and add a tiny bead of clear caulk around the edges to prevent any lifting.

I used to pattern each mid-deck pad to butt perfectly against any adjacent OEM pads, especially between F and R pads and between F pads and mast. I gave up that idea at least 20 boards ago as too much hassle, and now just approximate the shape. It looks better with 75% less time and effort.

Results include nose damage reduction from once a month to zero in 20 years, reduction in doing the splits or sliding off the deck from daily to almost never, zero foot abrasions, unproven but highly likely ankle and knee longevity enhancement, a great feel underfoot, and NO MORE SOFT SPOTS BETWEEN THE STRAPS ... all for 4-5 ounces, a couple of hours, and some money.

ONCE, the deck pad between the pads hid some hull collapse; I saw a pair of matching cracks on each rail, figured 1 + 1 = Oh, $#!+, and peeled the pad back to find a collapsed deck split rail to rail, waiting to snap in about one more jump. It was on a sub-13# mass produced wave board well known to collapse quickly in that exact spot, and I had beat the crap out of it for a season or two after buying it used for $200. (I promptly bought and padded several more of the same board at similar prices so I don't care when they die; no damage to them yet.)

I'm a big fan of adding deck padding. Considering the number of damaged $1800-$2500 boards I see, I don't see why every clumsy or aggressive sailor doesn't pad them appropriately.

Mike \m/

[adywind]

Great tips Isobars! Thanks a lot! Can you post any pictures of your creations?

[isobars]

[Arrgh]

Or you could just slap some of that self-stick stuff on the soles of your feet!

[isobars]

[justall]

Bringing this one back, as I just added a nose pad as well. Thanks for the detailed advice Isoba/rr/as. I found what I needed at NSI and liked/followed the idea to add a bead of caulk to prevent pealing .... seems to protect the contact cement. I didn't particularly like the look of the pad, but my daughter suggested coloring the portion of non-matching color with a colored Sharpie ... voila ... stylish protection.

One followup question, Iso -- You describe a 1" x 12-15" rail pad. Is that a 1" *width* just above the standing waterline? If width, what thickness have you used most effectively? I still end up in the water, so would love to decrease the number of shin skinnings. Thanks for any clarification. Agree with adywind that a photo would also be great ... you just need to borrow a local teenager to do the image resizing in about 5 seconds for you (I don't need to borrow one because I made one a few, 13, years ago ... yesterday's yard apes are today's in-home CTOs).

[Arrgh]

[spennie]

1/4 inch thick stainless-steel diamond plate, you'll never dent your board again!