have been away camping and the board has been stored in some pretty warm conditions so i decided to take out the plug, something i don't normally do.
arrived at woolgoolga the othe day with a decent southerly blowing and got straight out there without a thought. unfortunately after an hours sailing i realized to my horror the i forgot the plug! for the next couple of hours i sat the board in the sun face up and water kept bubbling out...
so my questions are, is the board stuffed?, what action can be taken to get the remaining water out?
i have a vac pump that i was thinking i could suck the board with, evaporating some of the moisture, is this a stupid idea?? i know the vac pump is pretty strong and could potentialy suck the board together.
any help would be appreciated as this is a brand new board
Bad luck Duncan - that's a sweet looking board.
www.boardlady.com/waterextraction.htm
Good luck.
you pretty much need to suck the water out as soon as possible for the best outcome.
the problem is that the water crystalizes and then it won't come out and starts the delam process every time you use the board.
i'd get that vacuum onto it asap. weigh your board also to see how much water got in.
also, don't leave your board to bake in direct sunlight. that can be bad also.
a few years back we met Matt Pritchard, rented one of his boards, put a nice ding in it, filled it with water (lucky he likes aussies) - he drilled a hole in both ends and put it on a spinner to let gravity do its thing, said it was the only way to get the water out of the board properly,
thanks for the advice.
i will be home soon. the plan is pop on the vac with two very small holes ether end.
the vac pump i have is used to evacuated ac systems so is dam sucky and i am paranoid it will suck in the board. putting holes in it will mean however it will be unable to pull a vacume there fore evaporation will not hapen??, thus the hole are going to be very small.
i don't know originall wieght but i will do before and after.
if all seems to fail i will grab a motor, open up the holes, strap her down and give it a spin.
really is a shame.... oh well
Leave it out in the sun when you can so that the water heats up a bit and evaporates just that bit easy when the vacuum is on it.
Do you have a vacuum gauge as well? I think you can safely run a vacuum and have no problem with the board collapsing (with no other holes), but I can't guess what it would be.
For the sake of a few holes to repair, I would probably choose to make the holes.
If using a vac pump, put a big hole in one end (6-8mm).
Then a hose barb rammed in there and abit of silicone to seal it, with a hose running to a box of moisture absorber like Dri-sorb or whatever it is called - from Bunnings etc. Then you are sucking dry air thru the board and you will get a lot more water out.
Then epoxy that hole up and do it again with the hole in the other end
...and don't stress too much about the board. If you remove the moisture quickly it won't have long lasting issues. I've just retired a 2004 board that has had water issues for about 4 years (compression issues/multiple footscrew delam & leaks) and apart for it getting worse over the past 12 months, it was very sailable (after drying it out after each session). I'm keen to run a saw through it to see what long-term damage the moisture has caused...will post pics if I do.
Bring back the plastic boards! No plugs. Tough as. Chuck them in the back of your van. If you run over them, no worries. If the board falls out of your second story window onto your concrete driveway, no worries.
Today there is no choice. All boards are fragile. I'd love to buy a modern shaped board in a durable material. Are we buying into planned obsolescence?
I used to buy Bomboras and never damaged one of them. One has bent out of shape besides that they are tough.
Have to agree with Barn on this one.
Air flow is what you want, that's what evaporates water. I like Mark's method, 2 successive holes.
Also I'd advise the use of a water trap before the air hits your pump, not only will it show you how much water is coming out, (so you know when to turn it off) it'll also protect the pump.
I vacuum my boards at 1/4 atmosphere, any more starts to squash them.
i can assure you that vacuming a sealed system will evaporate moisture, its how we remove it from closed ac systems but we bring them down to 500 microns which is about 0.0007 atmospheres. obviously that is going to flattern a board!
the pump i am using is capable of this, so i have decided to not leave the board sealed.
there is heaps of vapour coming out now. as for protecting the pump, i think i should turn it of as the oil is cloudy which indicates its full of moisture. these pumps can handle this with regular oil changes.
the surface area of water is ALWAYS in a state of constant agitation & evaporating so if u just leave it long enough it will dry out . Cant see anything wrong with your plan though 
i saw in a mag once an idea from boat builders apparently, And Ive removed a couple of kilos using it.
drill a hole in an end( I then stand it hole down,thinking gravity but don't know if it makes a big difference)
then put a fish tank aerator pump in a sealed tub of Damp rid and pump the dry air into the breather. Like Mark said but never had a vacuum pump around.
Tried the spinning once through a shop and worked, but if not done straight away,the salt stalagnites cored out the board like termites.
Ive done all of the above and unless you have a couple of years to wait your not going to get all of the moisture out of the board , if you seal it with moisture there's a good chance it will delam, from my experience styrene is insulation and you will find in the sun the outside of the board is hot and any water that comes out is cold, the board needs to be opened up and the core exposed and then resealed and use a gore tex vent just in case there is still moisture
Fancy-shmancy systems...I gave up on the 'proper' way to remove the moisture & simply cut a strip off our mop 'wick' (about 250x10x2mm strip), inserted it into the screw vent on the board & placed it out in the sun on 'warm' days - left it in there most of the time & in the shed on 'hot' days and in winter sat it in our spare bedroom (ducted heating = dry air). After about 30mins the 'wick' is dripping wet, which evaporates & draws more moisture out (convective evaporation?). That removed 'most' of the moisture over a period of time...
...then again, my board is now shagged, so don't try this cheap-skate method
...although it does work ok if you only got a small bit of water in the board (hit water, notice screw missing instantly, oops, jump off board & return to shore). Also if you've got heaps of time, too lazy to set up a vac system and aren't overly worried about your 'old' board.
Mark's method will ensure the longevity of your board.
Dunno how I got a red thumb for stating the vent screw is there to be opened.
Now I stand corrected that it is just for decoration.
If you can't be stuffed with pumps and stuff you can do it the old fashioned way (yes still talking about boards here) - Sailhacks methods works a treat
This is just an observation and doesn't help you get the water out but i don't know why ALL boards don't have the vent screw set up the way my JP boards do and it would save anything like this happening in the first place. On my boards the vent screw in just behind the mast track so if you undo the screw half way the board still breathes but you can't get the mast base in next time you go to rig up unless you do the screw up because it sits up above the deck of the board. I have noticed that some other brands of board have the vent screw in front of the track so it's possible to rig up and leave it open. Maybe there is a reason but i don't know what it is.
The JP position only makes a difference if you don't take the screw out all the way too but i don't because 1 it won't get lost and 2 i won't be sailing with a loose vent screw.
Yes i know some of you would rather sail with another board brand full of water than sail a dry JP but regardless of what you think i recon it's a good safety measure. I used to leave my vent screws done up all the time because i was worried about forgetting to do them up but since i realised the deal with the mast base they are always undone when not in use.
)
I wondering how the moles managed to squeeze thro the vent plug?
Either very small moles or a very big vent plug!
this afternoon i resumed vacuming the board. replaced the filthy oil from yesterday. due to the high humidity i devised a plan to very cautiously let dry nitrogen through the hole i had drilled. dry nitrogen is great at absorbing moisture. i had the nitro set very low through a regulator.
i had the system up and running and it was working perfectly, heaps of vapour coming out of the pump.
see my set up below
well i totally f#c!ed it up.
went to the loo, then took a phone call and on my return some how the nitogen pressure had gone up. basically it prssurised the board and blew it to pieces.
totally gutted...
i can't get how the thin bits of blue tack didn't give way first.
pretty stupid really.
sorry to hoops and jas at nude for destroying a piece of art work that really ripped in the waves. i would get another in a heartbeat but time and funds are not on my side.
two very tough lessons learnt.
sorry to hear that dunko,
judging by the look on your dogs face i think he may have tweaked your mix while you were on the phone.
