USPS Commits Murder - Can the Victim be Saved?

The crime: murder by the postal service.

The victim: a Stone Age Manta hangboard. (sorry for the typo earlier, don't know why I wrote Scarpa)

broken hangboard

broken hangboard 2

Yep, USPS somehow managed to snap a 30lb hangboard (with "fragile" stickers all over the box) clean in half. If I didn't know any better I'd think it was cut with a laser or something. Besides trying to get some money back from them through insurance (which I and the sender are in the process of doing), is there any possible way I can salvage this? I can't imagine there's any glue that would hold it together, but what about possibly drilling additional mounting holes through it at certain spots, then mounting the whole thing to a backboard? I really don't want to send this once-beautiful hangboard into the garbage heap. Any suggestions?

Glue together with Gorilla glue (poly urethane) then screw the whole thing to a sheet of good 3/4" plywood. Looks like you only need to additional holes to do the job enough to make it structurally sound. You are going to want to go the plywood route anyways if you plan on hanging it somewhere besides a plywood climbing wall cause the chance that the existing mounting holes line up with the studs in your wall is probably pretty slim.

maybe it was one of those sharks with the laserbeam?

I mean how the .. what did they do, run the damn thing over?

Funny that I'm seeing this just after I finished reading an article in the local paper about how the USPS is lost $50 million last year.

Just bolt it to a piece of plywood and you're good.

I've gotten into the habit of replacing almost all adhesives with epoxy resin. It's smells bad, but it will probably dry stronger than that hang board ever was. If the break is really porous and rough epoxy will definitely hold it together.

Nathan Stokes wrote:Glue together with Gorilla glue (poly urethane) then screw the whole thing to a sheet of good 3/4" plywood. Looks like you only need to additional holes to do the job enough to make it structurally sound. You are going to want to go the plywood route anyways if you plan on hanging it somewhere besides a plywood climbing wall cause the chance that the existing mounting holes line up with the studs in your wall is probably pretty slim.

+1
Keep the surface clean, don't touch it,any contaminants like skin oil will compromise the strength of the bond. If it needs to be cleaned before bonding, use a plastic bristled brush with isopropyl alcohol and allow it to dry thoroughly.

If they broke they should pay for a new one. Did you contact the company you bought it from? Unless you're too stoked to wait for a new one. But I'd agree with screwing to a piece of plywood.

Scarpa didn't make that board, it's a Stone Age Manta, hasn't been made in a very long time. It's a good board, but there are drawbacks. The smallest edge is annoyingly slanted downward/inward so your pinkies are higher than your index, the middle sloper dish is useless, and it's mega heavy and big.

Glue it up and screw it up. Looks like that one mono-pocket is the only thing that will be farked, otherwise should be fine.

Sven Yakomn wrote: +1 Keep the surface clean, don't touch it,any contaminants like skin oil will compromise the strength of the bond. If it needs to be cleaned before bonding, use a plastic bristled brush with isopropyl alcohol and allow it to dry thoroughly.

+1 again. Gorilla glue works great. Don't over glue it as it does expand and will leave a blob outside the surface that will need to be cut or filed down. But it holds great.

File a claim. F*#K the USPS. Scanning packages, then quoting them "Delivered" online. Only to really deliver the package two days later...screw 'em. Do I sound bitter?...Sorry 'bout that.
Just had a bad experience last week and had to throw my .02 cents in.

Ya know, I've heard that UPS breaks things too. I just sent a grigri to California for $7 including replacement insurance. Got there two days later, no problemo.

sometimes things happen.
We need to keep the USPS. You can mail a letter anywhere in the country for less than a half-buck. You think you'll be able to do that
with Fedex or UPS?????

True. UPS lost a crash pad I had shipped a while back. No problems though. I called them up and had the lady on the phone look on the Metolius site (she had no idea what a crash-pad was anyway). She looked up the model I gave her and UPS sent me a check. Of course I spent that money on everything BUT another crash-pad...beer, food, etc. Oh well.

I'm wondering if USPS would make it that easy??

Ouch that sucks man! Where did you find that though????? Ive been trying to hunt one down for a year now with no luck.

You'll never see a cent in insurance payment from the USPS.

I had a friend who was shipped a broken Metolius hangboard. He called Metolius and they sent him a brand new one and didn't even ask for the original back. Perhaps call up the manufacturer (Scarpa? Manta?) and see if they will hook it up

Man that blows...
I had the EXACT same thing happen to me a year-ish ago, I was using FedEx though. I sent FedEx a full report of the damage, they had to come by and pick back up the "damaged goods" (Take pictures for your own record). I gave them a full list price of a new Metolius hang board, even though I got some other POS for free. I received a check in the mail for no less than I asked, which was a little less than 100$ because I did not purchase insurance, about 2 weeks later.
I am pretty sure USPS has the same policies for their shipments as well.

Liquid nails always seems to work for me, messy, but works.

Good luck.

My dad broke the bottom corner of my hangboard trying to forcefully remove it. He superglued the corner back on and I have pulled on that corner without any other support (this section is not supported by screws) and the glue is holding up perfectly. You wouldn't even know the thing is broken unless you saw it happen.

Bought this mega huge hold over 10 years ago. It came broken in 2 pcs. You can see the cracked area across the upper third of it. Must weight in at about 40 lbs, but was wrapped loosely in 2 pages of newspaper in a box. Took pics. Got a refund from the company and they went after the delivery people. Didn't ask for the hold back. So I drilled a couple deep holes to put in support nails, alligned them, and used 2 part epoxy glue to reattach the broken pieces. Slopped down some more glue on the inside of the hollowed hold too for more support, and added a keeper screw to each half just in case it broke. It's held up ever since, and that means being left outside on my wall for most of those 10 years, in the heat and the 20 below of winter. Sure came out ahead after that busted delivery.

36 inch long, heavy feature hold.

close up of where I epoxied the pieces back together, with inner nail 'reinforcement rods' added.

just wanted to add that epoxy is better than gorilla glue for this.
get the clear two part stuff from any hardware store and follow the directions.
very important to mix it well and fast.
when it's dry you can scuff the epoxy with coarse sandpaper (p60 grit) to give it some texture.
bolt or screw the whole thing to a backer board of 3/4" ply and it's bomber.