How to Repair a Snowboard Deck

With a smooth base, your board will ride faster and cleaner.

Due to the rough nature of snowboarding, your board will inevitably require some repair throughout the year. Unless you are a professional, you can't afford to buy a new board every time it gets a ding in the deck. Shop repairs are expensive as well, providing good reason to learn to do the repairs yourself. By far the most common damage to a snowboard deck is P-tex damage done to the base, or bottom of the board. The top of the board rarely sees any damage.

Things You'll Need

• Steel scraper
• P-tex stick
• Cigarette lighter
• Wax iron
• Wax

Instructions

1. Identify the damage to your board and clean out any snow, dirt or ice from the ding. Scrape out large objects with your finger and let the board dry to remove snow and ice. Scrape any wax from the board within a few inches of the ding using your steel scraper. P-tex is the material on the base of your board that glides over the snow. It is a complex plastic that is porous so it can slide with efficiency over the snow. This also means it can sustain damage from hitting rocks.

2. Ventilate the area you are working in or do it outside. P-tex can be harmful to your respiratory system, but should be fine in a well-ventilated room. Melt the P-tex onto your board with the cigarette lighter. Apply the P-tex liberally until the damaged area is completely covered. It is fine if it drips over the board, or overfills the ding.

3. Wait about 15 minutes until the P-tex is semi-hard. Smooth out the repair with the steel scraper so the new P-tex you added is flush with the base of the snowboard. Go over the damaged area again with the P-tex stick and lighter to fill in any areas you missed the first time. Then wait and scrape as you did for the first application.

4. Put a fresh coat of wax on the board after your repair job because the wax fills in any microscopic holes you missed with the P-tex. Melt the wax on with a waxing iron and then use the iron on the board itself to smooth out the wax. Work the wax in a circular motion to ensure it covers the base. You want the damaged area as flush as possible with the base so there are no snags or nicks on the board that will slow the board down, and a fresh wax will help achieve this smoothness.

References

• ABC of Snowboarding: Base Repair