WE’RE NOT HIDING OUR PROCESS
You can totally fix your own board
Whether you want to fix it yourself or let the pros handle it, you came to the right place. We fix a lot of boards at Redline, and we tell people all the time they can do it themselves. Here’s exactly how we do it.
What you need
The 12 steps
Find the leak
You can’t fix what you can’t find. Mark it with a pen and a piece of tape. How to find a leak
Clean the board
Clean the whole area around the leak. Dirt and sunscreen keep the glue from sticking.
Size your patch and sand
Cut your patch about one inch bigger than the pinhole on every side. Trace around it with a pen, sand inside the line, and sand the back of the patch too. We sand with a rotary tool or Dremel.
Clean the sanded areas
Wipe the sanded spot and the back of the patch with rubbing alcohol or acetone. Let it dry.
Make sure it’s dry and deflate
Make sure the board is completely dry, then let all the air out. We deflate for almost every repair. Now get it flat: fold it so the repair spot lies flat under something heavy, or clamp it with wood blocks like we do. Set this up BEFORE using any glue. You don’t want to be wrestling your board flat while the glue dries.
Glue both sides
Brush HH-66 on the board and the back of the patch. Let it get tacky, about a minute.
Lay the patch and smooth it
Press the patch on. Use something flat like a plastic putty knife to level out the patch and even out the glue, working from the middle out.
Wipe off the extra
Wipe away any glue that squeezed out from under the edges.
Weight it down
Put something heavy and flat on top: weights, a 5-gallon water jug, phone books (if those still exist). Or clamp it down.
Wait 36 hours, then check the edges
Let it sit 36 hours. If any edges are peeling up, add a little more glue around them, then clamp or weight it again for another 24 hours.
Wait another 36 hours
Once the patch looks good and no edges are lifting, let it sit another 36 hours before you pump it up. Yes, really.
Air test it
Inflate the board, then run soapy water around the edge of the patch and watch for bubbles. No bubbles? You’re back on the water.
That’s 15 steps. Want us to do them for you?
3 to find the leak, 12 to fix it. We follow this exact process on every repair, and it’s why repairs take about 7 days. Fill out the form, text us, drop it off.
SEAM LEAKS
Seam leak repairs... let’s be honest
We don’t recommend fixing seam leaks. The spot where you see bubbles usually isn’t where the air is actually leaking. It’s just where the air is escaping. You fix one spot, the air finds another way out, and you keep chasing leaks. That gets expensive fast. This is where we recommend fixing it yourself.
That’s why we don’t guarantee any seam repair, tiny seam or full blowout. We’ll still do it if you love that board or it was an expensive one.
RATHER HAVE US DO IT?