How to Paint a Surfboard

Let’s pimp your ride.

First you’ll need to decide whether you want to paint the whole board, or just do a groovy design. I’ll walk you through both processes.

Step 1: Stuff You'll Need.

Acrylic auto spray-paint:

- Undercoat (1 x 150ml can).

- Main colour (I used 3 x 150ml cans of Holts, colour: Aurora).

- Clear top coat (about 300ml).

If you want to do funky designs you’ll need water-based paint pens. Legendary...board artist Drew Brophy sells Sharpie pens.

One roll low-tack masking tape.

One sheet 600-grit sandpaper.

A newspaper.

Step 2: Cleaning.

Set yourself up in a well ventilated area, out of the wind or you’ll get bugs stuck everywhere.

Pull the stomp pad off carefully (gently pry it with a scraper as you pull). Or you can leave it on and tape over it with newspaper later if you want to do a quick job and paint around it.

Now clean that board. I mean really clean it. Scrape the wax off then scrub the board thoroughly to remove all traces of wax, salt and grime (you can use a Wax Pickle for this). Don’t use any harsh solvents or your stick may melt into a bubbling mess. Repair dings.

Step 3: Sanding.

Give it a light but thorough sand all over. Don’t be lazy when it comes to sanding. I skimped out on this step and the paint's chipping off in places.

This is particularly important on high wearing areas like the nose, rails and tail.

Step 4: Spray Painting.

Set the board up so you can hold the cans vertically when spraying. Use long, smooth horizontal strokes that overlap a little.

It's preferable to do a couple of nice even thin coats as the paint will drip and look crap if you spray it on too thick.

If you suck at spray painting practice on newspaper first. Paint the less visible areas to begin with (like around your fins or on top of your deck where your wax goes).

Read paint instructions for drying time.

One layer of undercoat, then two coats of your primary colour. Give a light sand between coats.

If you want to have multiple colours tape off other areas with newspaper to protect them.

Step 5: Funky Designs.

If you want to get crazy use water-based paint marker pens to do designs. They allow a lot of colour and detail.

You can also tape off stencils any spray ‘em.

Sketch a draft first. Brave Surf recommend you THINK BIG for your design, since small stuff wont show up.

Don't worry if you mess up. Just tape over the rest of the design, re-spray where you stuffed up, then start again.

Step 6: Topcoat.

Finish off with two or three layers of clear topcoat.

Now you can say it’s a Tuflite and flick it to a punter on eBay.

You’ll make millions.

Visit learninghowtosurf.com for more surfing tips.