Hey , so i screwed up,
i forgot to tighten up the little screw and now i presume there is a bit of water in my board, i left it out in the sun for a day and there was a little water that had seemed to 'rise' up to the vent screw. (evaporate in the board then condensate near the opening) however i was wondering if there is a surefire way to know how much is left or if theres any more inside?
cheers,
I have done the same recently.
Just roll some paper towels/serviettes into a cigar type shape and shove them in the vent hole, this will act like a wick and suck the remaining water out.
Its best to leave the board in a dry/hot place like inside your house whilst its drying.
You will know its fully dry when the "wick" is dry. If the wick feels damp it is still wet inside the board
Yea, thx
i have had a wick in it for the last few day left it out in the sun under a black sheet and it isn't damp anymore. however i have weighed the board and its about 1kg heavier than it should be, (8 instead of 7) but that might have something to to with the weights taken without bootstraps and a fin possibly..., either way i think its as close as it will get for now.
I had a similar problem i ran into a sandbar a full speed (heading towards the sun) i cracked my finbox sheared front fin bolt , broke a harness line and nearly my face in ankle deep water
The board is a total write off and takes in water I still use it occasionally but the water is a problem and now i think there is so much water in it its starting to crack from expansion etc around the bolt holes for the rear straps. I constantly leeks thru the plug even when its tight.
After about half hours sailing it becomes almost waterlogged.
I just leave it out doors in the sun to dry out There is no point really loostening the bung because now and it weaps water from the mast slot. finbox top and bottom , both back straps and the 6 inches around the nose.
Board for sale ........ Used once lol
Whats more funny is when i had a boat i left the bung out and we put it in the water tied it up I drove the car up and parked it and my mate went for a piss When we came back the back of the boat was underwater all the tackle boxes and fuel tank was floating ;-)
Infact i did heaps of dumb **** like that in my boat. i took of with the anchor down and didnt relize i turned around to see the rope and anchor bouncing about like 10 foot out of the water ;-) behind the boat
Best way to get water out of a styro core board is to:
1. drill a hole at each end through all laminates into the core
2. spin the board on a device that turns the board horizontally - a bit like the old school garden sprinkler.... the centrifical force will remove the water if it is a low density core and recently waterlogged.....
Attach a vacuum pump, to vent plug whole, use a tube that will not collapse. The pump does not have to be very powerful a good fish tank pump would probably work. Place in warm place and leave for a while under constant vacuum ..... Voilà board dry again.
As soon as you realise, its a case of setting the board in a warm dry room with the board flat with the deck down.
You can check if its dry by putting cling film over the vent area and warming the area SLIGHTLY for a while with a hair dryer. then let it cool again and if there is condensation on the cling film, its still damp inside.
If you are in a humid area, cling film over the vent with some dessicant or salt inside it might help dry it out.
many moons ago it was recommended to me to do the following after a leaky vent plug issue:
- during hot part of the day put board in hot sun to get the inside air to expand and push the water out, placed deck down with a tissue wick in vent plug
- before the day cools down or the board cools down, tighten vent plug back up so that moisture doesnt get drawn further into the board as the inside air shrinks
repeat till wick is dry
if it was salt water, the salt will destroy the foam causing unlamination... so u have to rinse the foam out several times. Its pretty easy only 3 simple steps.
1: stick a hose in the tail and dill anther hose in the nose.. then flush fresh water through the foam of the board..
2: ??
3: good as new.
I think the vacuum method is relying on the water evaporating at a lower pressure and temperature. If you have a hole in the board as well, you aren't going to get that lower pressure and you will be just drawing air through the board.
The boardlady again has a section somewhere on her site talking about the process of drying boards this way.
The evaporation of water depends on the partial pressure of water in the air. Vacuuming to 1/2 an atmosphere will half that partial pressure but you can do better by drying the air before passing it thru the board. Run a few coils of the pick up hose thru the fridge and use gravity to separate the condensate before it goes into the board. (Haven't tried this, just a guess)
Here's a graph of vapour pressure of water vs temperature. 1 atm = 760 torr. ie. 100 deg at the boiling point.
Have found out that the foam core of a board doesn't like less than 1/2 an atmosphere. So at 40 degrees C you need air as well as water vapour inside otherwise the board will collapse. The graph shows water vapour alone will only provide a ****teenth of an atmosphere at that temperature.
The vacuum pump can hardly separate the water from the air. You've got to have flow thru.