NJ Surfing Club

by **teamdamis** on Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:23 am

I purchased my first longboard in June09. The BIC was recommended to me for its durability. My Friends had been lending me their BIC'S (3 different sizes) all year. Sunday morning I noticed a crack across the deck of the board. It runs side to side in a straight line at mid point, rail to rail. The bottom seems fine. Is it safe to try to fix this? Will it be weaker that before? Am I throwing good money after bad? I am told it is rare to screw up one of these boards. Assuming I didn't hit bottom, (the surf shop believes I did), should this have happened? Is it possible the manufacture screwed up? Is there anyone else out there that had a similar experience with a BIC?

Bumbed Out.

10/28/09 update: headed to repair shop tomorrow. will keep posted

11/1/09 update: Going to be repaired. Feel confident it will be good as new. Repair is going to be a 1 ft band of fiberglass on the epoxy. They tell me this has been done 2x's before with success. The patch will be covered with a rally stripe.

by **CASIMIER** on Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:34 am

Try contacting the manufacturer in China....or is it Indonesia?
Did the surfshop that sold you the board tell you that they can't fix the board?
They must have said something as to why it cracked....and how it may be fixed.....

by **teamdamis** on Tue Oct 27, 2009 10:46 am

Surf budies tell me they trust the surf shop. They obviiously don't want responsibility for the breakage. I bought it there. With that, I am ok. If it was a bum board, I am not sure they would tell me. Then I would insist on a replacement. If fixed, I can only assume it will never be the same. Is that true?
I did e-mail BIC and have not heard back yet. I think they are in France. Don't know where they manufacture.

by **CASIMIER** on Tue Oct 27, 2009 1:00 pm

Hey Teamdanis

Really I'm sorry about your board....The crack along the nose tells me that the inner foam core has snapped.
I can't tell you how to fix it because there is no way to truly fix a snapped board...and guarentee it.
Thebeach break will snap your board, even small beach break, when your board gets loose, nose dives into the water, wave hits it and your leash pulls it back.,,,SNAP..
Just gotta stop letting your board go.
Really sorry about your board man...

by **teamdamis** on Fri Feb 19, 2010 1:44 pm

The board has been repaired by a reputable shop in N.J. It was only cracked across the top center. It was fixed with fiberglass patch. A rally stripe was added to cover the repair. Can't wait to try it. Better weather is around the corner

by **knightsofnii** on Tue May 18, 2010 4:19 pm

i dont know about bic's, but i have a southpoint longboard that this happened to, with that outer tuflite type plastic skin.

Got the same repair done, first day out was knee to waist high and i was fine, took it out again on an overhead day, ripped along the wave of my life, then when i was trying to paddle to shore, some whitewater caught the board, when i pulled back on the leash, it came back in half.

the outer plastic contains all the strength of the board, once this is compromised it will be far weaker without some serious reinforcement, epoxy and glass alone wont do it, unless you just keep it in small surf, who knows,

by **teamdamis** on Tue May 18, 2010 4:26 pm

Doug,
Thanks for the reply. I have only had the BIC out 2xs since the repair and so far, so good. In the back of my mind, I know you are right.

by **knightsofnii** on Fri Jun 25, 2010 8:53 am

i wish that the repair guy didn't remove so much of the "skin" to do this repair, because I'd like to try to do a stitch job on it with fishing line or zip-ties, after inserting some wooden rods here and there, and some other things.

Plus I have some epoxy that is seventeen times stronger than whatever cheap marine epoxy is probably used for board repair, though it requires 170 degrees heat for at least 45 minutes to cure.

Anyway I'm going to try this out, and then post the results, this board requires major surgery, but if it works, it was a really fun deck to surf.

by **teamdamis** on Mon Jul 12, 2010 1:21 pm

Doug,
We had the BIC out Friday and Saturday. It got a workout. My daughter was practicing in shallower water. i was out for several hours each day. It appears to be fine. I hope you have better luck. I can recommend the surf shop I used for the repair.
Enjoy the summer.
Greg