How to care for and store a surfboard in the tropics

Plenty of boards on this island are not worn out by being surfed. They are cooked. A board left on a bike, on a roof rack or on hot sand expands the air inside the foam faster than the glass around it can move, and that is where delamination starts. A board that lives in the shade and gets rinsed lasts far longer than an identical board that does not, on the same number of sessions.

The makers say the same. Haydenshapes' care guide warns that too much heat can delaminate a board, yellow it or warp the foam, tells you never to leave one in a hot car or in direct sun, and does not cover heat damage under its warranty. The heat is the owner's job.

It matters when you sell, too. Delamination and water in the foam are the two things that take a used board's price to almost nothing, and both of them are heat and neglect rather than accident. A buyer who knows how to spot delamination will find it.

Bali's air is cooler than an Arizona summer, so a car here will not reach those exact figures. It works the same way, though: closed glass in the sun heats the inside far past the air outside, and shade only slows it down. The measurements from Arizona State University were made to show how fast a parked car gets dangerous, and a board on the back seat is sitting in the same heat.

Never leave it in a closed vehicle

A closed car in the sun is the hottest place a board can wait, and shade only slows it down. If the board has to wait, it waits outside the car, in shade, with air moving over it.

Rinse it, then dry it in the shade

Fresh water off the deck and through the fin boxes and the leash plug. Then shade. A board put away wet in a bag grows things and stays warm, and a board dried in full sun has just been given another hour of the thing that damages it.

Fix dings the same week

An open ding in warm water takes on water fast, and a board that has been surfed wet for a month may never dry out. A ding repair here is cheap and quick. A waterlogged board is not repairable at a price worth paying.

Keep it off its rails on concrete

Nose and tail take the knocks. Stand it on a soft edge, or lay it deck up, and do not lean it somewhere the wind will take it over.

Wax for warm water, and strip it sometimes

Tropical wax, and take the old layer off every so often. A thick grey wax build up hides pressure dents and small cracks from you, which means you find them later than you should, and it makes the board look worse than it is when you come to sell it.

• Strip the wax, rinse it, and let it dry completely before it goes anywhere for months.
• Loosen or remove the fins, so nothing is under load and no screw seizes in a humid box.
• Store it flat or upright on a rail, not resting on the nose, and out of direct sun.
• A board bag is for transport and shade. A board sealed in a bag in the heat for a season is worse off than one on a rack in a dark room.

If you are leaving the island and the board is staying, decide honestly whether you will be back for it. A board stored badly for six months can lose more value than it would have cost you to sell it and buy another one on the next trip.