How To Put A Tail Pad On A Surf Board

We've bought our tail pad from the surf shop, we've got our surf board, and it's time to put it on. So, I'm going to make sure all the wax is taken off the surf board, which I've done so previously. Get yourself a towel, give it a good rub, make sure there's no grease or any wax left on the board at all.

Okay, that's pretty much, that's good then. So, we've got our tail pad. They're pretty standard, so any tail pad for a surf board will fit a long board, a short board or any other board you may buy.

So, this tail pad comes in three sections, like so. A lot of tail pads - they're all varied, all different makes, all different colors so you can play around with that, make it all cool and match your decals and your stickers and what-not. But this is a three piece tail pad.

You do get single piece tail pads which are easy to put on, but with a three piece you can actually space it out a little bit more to get more traction with your back foot. So, what we do is we're going to line up the center piece. You take your two side pieces off; you've got this cut-out here which is for your leash plug.

So, we line it up. That's looking good, so we're ready to put it on. So, as you can see, it's just like a sticker.

Peel off, like so. It's really important now that we get it in the position that we want. You'll notice that I don't put the tail pad too far up or too far back.

It's a nice probably an inch off where the leash plug is there. But the first piece of the jigsaw is getting the center one in nice and straight, so line it up. Put your corner down, and when you're happy, stick it all down.

Now, we've got the center piece in, give it a good push down, make sure it's all nice and stuck. Now, you're ready to put your two side pieces on, so again, just like a sticker, peel it off, grab both ends, line it up - watch the bug - line it up, and when you're happy with where it will go, put one end down, and with your hand, rub it over the seam again, and push it down just so it gets nice and stuck to the board. We're nearly there now, the last piece.

Again, peel it off, grab both ends, line it up so it's really going to match the other side now, otherwise it's going to throw the whole board out. So, equally space one end to end. Stick it all down.

So once you're happy with sticking it down and it's all stuck down, check all the corners, really push it all down and make sure it's all stuck. So, that's on there now. You want to leave that now for a good hour, you don't want to put it on and go surfing straight away.

You want to put your tail pad on and at least wait an hour before you go surfing. So, that's how to put a tail pad on your surf board.
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