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So I noticed I have a hairline crack about six inches from my nose, strictly in the top sheet. It runs the full horizontal length of one half of the split. It does not seem to drop below the top sheet.

Has anyone had this happen before? I'm going to contact Burton to see what they think, but it seems mostly cosmetic. However it's odd and must be a material flaw that would cause a crack like that and I want to make sure that I'm not going to snap my tip at some point in time.

Any thoughts (and don't say not to buy Burton).

Oh man - what a bummer. Sorry to hear that.

If in the clear-coat, it's probably just cosmetic. If not, the biggest is water getting in the crack, especially if its freezes and begins prying things apart. I doubt it will affect the board's performance much, at least that's been my experience.

Since a repair attempt could void your warranty, I would avoid trying to repair it until you hear back from Burton. Burton is usually pretty good about warranty if you're still within the warranty period.

I suggest you take a picture of the problem, post it here so we can all see it (always fun to check out broken boards), email it to them along with a description of your problem, and then post their response on this thread so that we can all see and judge how they handle the situation.

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Cracks in the clear laquer coat above a topsheet are pretty common and not a cause for worry, I'd be more worried if it goes through a plastic topsheet indicating way too much downward flex happened at that point, or it flexed too far up and buckled causing the topsheet to separate-which would be worse, but I would send it in after the season either way if they authorize a return.

Assuming it is a lacquer crack, its just cosmetic. However, Burton does warranty for lacquer cracks. I sent them a board this year that was covered in lacquer cracks and got a brand new board back!

If they won't replace it, I would personally fix it just to be sure. I recently had a Bataleon more or less fall apart on me, and while their reps are a friendly and helpful bunch they didn't want to help me out with this one. They said the damage looked like it came from collision or kiddies in the liftline.
(I disagree, this is not the first board I buy from them and this shit happened all around the edges in the very first season. I can usually put two seasons into a board before I need to replace it, but I can see where they're coming from)

Anyway, if you do decide to fix it, here's how I usually do it. Most of the time it works, but there's no guarantees for anything. If someone has better ways of doing this, then I am sure everyone could benefit from it.

(Images as URLs in case people have bandwidth limits. Pics resized to 800x600. URLs work when my webserver is running, which is usually 24/7 but after a power outage I need to restart it. My ISP also has some kinda policy that says I can't run a webserver, so in theory they could tear it down)

This is what triggered my repair (it's a bit more than a hairline, but the basic idea is to seal it from water)
http://ivarnilsen.com/damage.jpg

Tools you might need (wirecutter, sandpaper, icecream and some kind of silicon)
http://ivarnilsen.com/tools.jpg
I am using something called "Marin & Teknik" which is probably not available everywhere, but it is basically a combined glue/caulkin commonly used for repairing boats. I've tried regular two-component epoxy but I've found this stuff works better. Over here, most hardware stores carry it (or something similar)

First you'll need to eat the icecream, but hang onto the stick.

If there are loose pieces of topcoat, I remove it with the wirecutter and grind the area down with sandpaper. This is not required for a hairline crack.

Squeeze a generous amount on the area you want to seal.
http://ivarnilsen.com/apply.jpg

Use the stick to even it out. Be sure to read the product details to work out how long it needs to dry. The more you use, the longer it takes before it's tempered. Pay attention to ideal working temperature as well.
http://ivarnilsen.com/modify.jpg

For big dings, like the one in the first picture, I just quite a lot.
http://ivarnilsen.com/ding.jpg

By your description, it sounds like you're dealing with something more like this?
http://ivarnilsen.com/hairline.jpg
I still fix those, as I figure they'll turn into bigger cracks given time, but they might as well be cosmetic. Gear isn't cheap so I tend to prefer being proactive.

DISCLAIMER:
This works for me. I've had this stuff stick to some of my boards for 5+ years. It might not work for you. There might be better ways (in which case I would love to hear about it, I do this 2-3 times a year) and as someone already mentioned, this might void any warranty on your board, so don't do it unless you're ready to accept that. As I said, the stuff I use is made for repairing dings in boats. It will temper under water, it is temperature-resistant and it is waterproof. The last two properties are things you need to worry about, the first is just kinda cool.

It also makes your board look like shit, but I never cared much for looks anyway.

That is definitely not a lacquer crack. That is a full on top sheet de-lamination. Lacquer cracks are only in the clear coat on top of the top sheet. They still feel smooth - if you run your finger nail over the crack, it will not catch.

Aha. Never seen one of those before, but I might just have failed to notice .

Well, if you end up with a de-lamination you know one possible way to fix it on a budget