Anyone know best methods of drying out epoxy boards.
Vacuum on Northern Beaches Sydney anyone??
open the valve
drill a hole in the tail
stand it up
put a fish tank pump in the hole.
let it stand for a week.
it'll suck the water out.
for next time glue the plug in, you'll do far more damage getting water in then a little bit of heat
I leave my sup in my car and leave my car in the sun.
The heat just sucks all the water out.
Takes awhile.
Thanks for reply, sounds like you have had some experience with this problem. The thing is with this board it has multiple dings, competition style sup with collapsed deck and pin hole construction faults. The valve however is working fine and minimal delamination at this point.
I recently fixed the tail and am reluctant to do the stand on the tail thing again if avoidable. Did this for two weeks a while back.
Your method may still work if I place the board correctly.
Was wondering if a wet vac sealed over ding site may work or a factory with a proper vacuum set up is available??
Yeah, thanks appsy, when my poor sup stays in the car, I do leave windows down, water bubbles out in a few spots. I can only guess it will not delam with that many leaks??
Here ya go, grab a few beers and read this one... www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/General/sailing-with-the-plug-out/
But be prepared for some very techo babble, and the destruction of a board in the process.
Hi Funnsurf,
just leave it in the sun with the crack or hole at the lowest point. As it heats up, it will push the water out. Depending on how long the board was sucking water, you may need to leave it for up to a week or even more ....
DM
the best way to work out how wet it is is to weigh the board, however this does require that you have a somewhat accurate baseline to work from.
If it has taken on a lot of water you really want to get it out as fast as possible, and now that it has had water in there never ever leave it in the sun or a hot car with the vent closed. You are asking for delimitation problems if you do. You will likely never completely dry the inside of the board, and there will now be salt residue left behind that over time will be degrading the EPS core of the board.
There are any number of methods for water removal, how effective each are really depends on how much water is in there. For only a small amount gravity, two holes and a little heat will help. For a lot that method won't be fast enough to avoid more permanent damage. Start thinking vac pump, or spinners to get rid of the water.
sorry to hijack but im just curious, how does a SUP take on water? Through cracks in the skin? Im only asking as I will be buying my first sup very soon and want to avoid this. What is the best way to avoid taking on water and does this affect all types of boards or just ones of certain cnstruction? 
I do the 'leave in car' thing as well - as long as there is a hole in it other wise it will blow up and delam somewhere. BUT-Do not have direct sunlight on it if it is a hot colour like red or black, etc as the foam underneath can literally melt.
I saw this many times when I used to make/repair epoxy goatboats.
Shayne86 the foam inside most SUPs is styrofoam which is basically bubbles of foam with air inbetween them - perfect for storing large quantities of water. A crack in the shell will let it in! Customs are more prone to it than pop outs - but they are usually much much lighter to begin with!
shayne they dont take on water only when you put a hole [damage] in then or leave the breather plug out lol so
Hi Goaty.
I just remembered having you and DC trying to plug up my sup from being ran over by a free surfer just before the NSW final last year. hahahaha. Two tones of solarez and four tones of electrical tape hahahahaha. Sinking ship.
Thanks heaps for all the info. Great read.
Just removed deck grip around paddle stance area where it had cracked on the rail side of the grip...........Not pretty!
Several cracks, minor delam.
This is an ex PSH team board, no wood veneer, very fun and used to be very light. It has collapsed under the standing area. I suspect the other side may be the same?!?!
Having multiple open points I do not know how the whole gravity, vacuum thing may work??
Previously used moderate sun, gravity and paper towells to fix tail. Not as confident this time.
Never experiment with vacuums. That's what our sex ed teacher told us and I think it applies equally to SUP board repair. Unless you know what you're doing, you can crush the board and ruin it forever. Apparently.
you can only crush the board if you can vac enough pressure to do so. Most will say that is is best to drill a hole in each end and set the vac up on one end. Ideally the hole at the other end will be free to suck air, keeping the air going into the board as dry as possible will help.
However by the sounds of what you have described about this board the damage may have been over a lover term and more terminal than just water egress. It sounds like you have some delimitation and the foam in some places may have broken down, possibly due to the water. To fix that you would be best to cut the offending area away, repair the foam underneath and then glass it all up.
firstly, you can never get all the water/weight out
secondly, do not put a vaccum bag on it , i did it with a carbon skin/ EPS core Kracka clubby board (had a valve) years ago to remove moisture from a dinged rail(and it sucked in horribly on the nearby flat area )
