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,

Place mouth over vent hole and suck. If water in mouth. Taste = yuck. Water = in board.

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

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.

The best way to rid yourself of a heavy board is on the Buy and Sell section of this site.

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

the skipper said...

The best way to rid yourself of a heavy board is on the Buy and Sell section of this site.

No chance if people read the forums..

DrJ said...

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.

just curious does the tube have to be air tight on the vent hole and bore a small hole somewhere else to suck in air at the same time???

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)

FormulaNova said...

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.

Yes, it will evaporate easier but where will it go to with no flow?

Much better to run air through the board witha hole in oen end and vacuum on the vent hole

FormulaNova said...

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.

This is correct don't drill a whol unless you are talking about a lot of water in which case drill a whole in the. Very end remove vent plug and stand on end let water run out

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.