SURF TRACTION TAIL PADS

Product Overview

A surfboard tail pad is the strip of grip at the very back of the deck, under the back foot, taking everything a rider drives through a turn. This one puts a camouflage print on that surface — a graphic tail instead of a plain black rectangle — over a moulded, dimpled face that the foot can push against. Most pads are bought to replace one that has already gone. Deck grip is the first part of a board to give up: it flattens where the back foot pivots, lifts at a corner, or peels back from the tail block after a season in the water. Refitting is the simplest way to get a tired board feeling planted again, and it is why a surf traction pad belongs in a shop's stock rather than on a one-off order. Fitting needs no workshop. Once it is on, the textured face does the gripping, so there is no wax to build up around the edges or scrape off before a session. It is deck grip and nothing more — not flotation, not a safety item.

Camouflage Print & Texture

• A printed face, edge to edge. The camouflage covers the whole surface of the pad rather than sitting in a panel in the middle, so the tail of the board carries a graphic instead of the usual plain sheet. - Moulded dimples, not a flat sheet. The grip face is built up in a repeating dimple pattern, and the raised points give the ball of the back foot something to lock against when the board comes off the bottom of a wave. - A broken pattern. The camouflage breaks across the pad at different scales, so it reads as a graphic from across the room and as texture at arm's length. The close-up is where it earns its place. - Scaled for a shortboard tail. The print is laid out to fill a standard tail, so it still looks deliberate rather than stretched when the same design is used as a surfboard traction pad on a wider deck. - A longboard option. On a wide-tail board the pad gives the back foot a defined patch of grip without covering the whole deck, which suits riders who want the tail held and the rest of the board left plain — the way many riders use a longboard traction pad. - Carded for the shelf. Each pad is mounted on a printed display card with a hanger, so a shop can put it straight onto a peg without repacking it first.

Old Pad Removal

1. Decide whether it has to come off at all. A corner that has just begun to lift can be pressed back and left. Once the dimples have flattened where the back foot pivots, or the print has worn through to the base, the pad is finished and no amount of heat brings the texture back.
2. Warm the adhesive gently. A hairdryer on its low setting, kept moving across the pad, softens the bond enough to work with. A heat gun, or heat held in one spot, is how foam and glass underneath get cooked.
3. Support the board and start at a lifted edge. Lay it deck-up on a padded surfboard rack or a folded towel so it cannot rock, then slide a plastic scraper, an old credit card or a stiff spatula under the corner, almost flat to the deck.
4. Peel low and slow. Pull the pad back over itself rather than up and away from the board. A shallow peel keeps the load on the adhesive; a fast, high pull takes glass with it.
5. Look at what was underneath. With the pad off, check the tail for dings, soft spots and dark, damp foam. Anything suspect goes to a ding repair and dries out fully before new grip goes on, because a pad laid over moisture lifts again within weeks.
6. Lift the residue, not the resin. Citrus-based adhesive remover on a cloth, worked in small patches and given a minute to soften the glue, takes it off a little at a time. Flooding the deck with solvent is how cores and paint get hurt, so test on a discreet spot first.
7. Finish with fresh water and a full dry. Wipe the tail clean, let the deck dry completely, then fit the replacement. Everything that follows assumes a dry, wax-free surface.
8. Know when to hand it over. Wood veneer, tinted or painted decks, and soft-top boards whose skin can tear are jobs for a ding repair or a shop that does this daily. A surf traction pad is inexpensive; a deck repair is not.

Fitting A Tail Pad

1. Clear the deck. Take off the old pad and every trace of adhesive, then wipe the tail down so it is clean, dry and wax-free. Any surfboard traction pad holds only as well as the surface underneath it.
2. Dry-fit before you peel anything. Set the pad on the tail, centred on the stringer, with its back edge just clear of the tail block, and stand on the board to check that the arch sits under the back foot rather than behind it. On a wide, rounded or chine tail, bring the pad forward slightly so a longboard traction pad still sits fully on flat deck instead of overhanging.
3. Mark the outline. Two strips of tape along the sides, or a light pencil line, keeps the pad straight once the backing is off and the adhesive wants to grab.
4. Peel and press. Expose a strip of backing at a time and work from the centre outwards, pressing down as you go. Do not stretch the pad to make it fit — a pad under tension creeps back and lifts at the corners.
5. Work the edges. Run a thumb firmly around the whole perimeter, then across the dimpled face to push out trapped air.
6. Let it settle before it gets wet. Give the adhesive time to bond before the board goes back in the water, following the instructions supplied with the pad.
7. Check it before the first session. Flex the board and look along the edges, pressing down anything that has started to stand up. A shop can turn a board round in a few minutes and have it back on the surfboard rack the same morning.

Leash Plug & Rail Saver Clearance

• Find the plug before you fit anything. On most boards the leash plug is set into the deck at the tail, on the stringer. Measure from the tail block to the centre of the plug and hold that against the back edge of the pad — a surfboard tail pad has to stop short of the plug, not sit across it.
• Leave the collar room to move. The plug needs clear deck around its collar so the cord, the screw and the loop can swing without grinding against a cut edge of grip.
• Check for a second plug. Some boards carry a reef plug further forward on the deck. On a longboard it can land inside the pad footprint, which is exactly where a longboard traction pad will not work and a shorter tail shape will.
• Route the rail saver flat. The rail saver is the webbing between the cord and the rail. It should lie flat along the deck edge and over the rail; a pad that overhangs the rail or sits under the saver forces the webbing over a step, and it will chafe there session after session.
• Never bridge the plug. Grip laid across a plug traps water in the hole and tents up over the fitting. Either one is a failure a shop has to pull off and redo.
• Do not notch the pad to clear it. A slot cut for the plug leaves an exposed edge a few millimetres wide that lifts, holds sand and lets water underneath. If the plug falls inside the footprint, change to a shorter or narrower shape.
• Dry-fit with the surf leash attached. Clip the leash on, lay the saver and check the whole run clears before the backing comes off — that is the moment the fit is decided.
• Fix a leaking plug first. A plug that has been letting water into the foam belongs with a ding repair before any new grip goes down over it.

Traction Range & Placement

A surf traction pad is not one product. The traction line covers the tail, the middle of the board and the whole deck, and each shape does a different job.

A tail pad — this one — sits at the back, under the back foot, and is the pad a rider notices first because turns are driven from there. A centre pad runs forward from the tail pad towards the chest area and gives a wider stance somewhere to grip on a longer or wider board. A skimboard pad covers the deck in one piece. Waxless sheets do the work of wax without the wax: a textured surface instead of a rubbed-on layer. Above them all sits the Hexa full-deck grip, which covers the deck nose to tail in one continuous pattern for buyers who want a consistent surface rather than a defined tail patch.

Placement matters as much as shape. The pad has to sit fully on flat deck, and it has to stay clear of anything the board needs left alone — a deep tail channel, a steep tail kick, and the fin boxes that hold the surfboard fins, which are set into the bottom of the board and should never be bridged or covered from above. If a board has a channel running through the tail, the pad goes forward of it.

Range matters most to the buyer building a shelf. As surf board manufacturers we cut the tail pads, the centre pads and the full-deck grips ourselves, so a wholesale buyer can assemble a traction section — plain pads, printed pads, full-deck grips — and refill it from one place instead of three.

Care & Storage

1. Rinse after every session. Fresh water lifts salt, sand and sunscreen out of the dimples. Let the pad air dry before the board goes into a bag or onto a surfboard rack.
2. Keep wax off the pad. Wax fills the texture and turns a grippy face slick. Keep it on the smooth deck forward of the pad and scrape back any that creeps onto the dimples.
3. Mind the heat. A board left in a hot car or in full sun all afternoon softens the adhesive underneath. Shade and a board bag are cheaper than a refit.
4. Watch the edges. A corner that has just started to lift can be pressed back down while it is fresh. Left alone it collects sand and grows.
5. Clean with mild soap, not solvent. Warm water and a little soap, worked in with a soft brush, lift grime out of the texture. Solvents belong on the deck when old adhesive is being removed, never on a surf traction pad face.
6. Store it flat and out of the sun. A wall hanger or a board bag keeps weight off the pad; a board lying face-down on a hot floor is the quickest way to flatten the texture for good.

Specifications

Ordering & Delivery

• Tell us the board it is going on. Board type, tail width and tail shape decide whether the pad sits fully on flat deck, so name the board and say if it is a wide tail that needs a longboard-style footprint.
• Send the tail measurements. Give us the patch of deck you need to cover and we will check the surfboard traction pad against it before the order is scheduled.
• Choose designs and branding. this product shows one camouflage print and the traction range carries more; artwork, colourway and carded packaging for a private-label line are agreed with your sales contact before production, and as surf board manufacturers we can work a print into your own range rather than only shipping what is already on the shelf.
• Ask about sample availability. If you want to see the print and the dimple texture in your hand before committing, ask your sales contact what is available and how it is sent.
• List the accessories together. A surf leash, a set of fins, bags, covers and a surfboard rack all come from the same catalogue — put them on one enquiry so the whole order is reviewed at once.
• Confirm quantities, lead time, terms and packing. Order quantity, production timing, payment terms, packing format and delivery are all confirmed per order with your sales contact; none of them is fixed here.
• Repeat orders. Quote the item reference and the design when you reorder, so the same pad, print and carded packing come back to you.
• Surf leash | Hypalon leashes in 6 ft 6 mm, 7 ft 7 mm, 8 ft 7 mm and 9 ft 8 mm Surfboard fins | Honeycomb fins, single tab and double tab Board bags | Basic bag and regular bag Board covers | Stretch cover and bodyboard bag Surfboard rack | Travel rax, tie-down and storage racks Display and bike racks | Display racks for showroom floors and bike racks for transport

Scale & Supply Capability

CIMI is a factory-based supplier with 16 years in surf and watersports hardgoods, manufacturing at our own facility rather than sourcing through traders. Chain stores, supermarkets and surf-brand stores buy from us because one supplier covers a full accessory assortment, so a season's order and its reorders can be planned together. We take on OEM and private-label work, adapting designs, colourways and branding to your programme, and we schedule production against your agreed range plan. Send us your buy list and target dates, and we will confirm what we can make and when.

FAQ