Ok I can do basic board repairs. As long as its not fin boxes, but fixing Firewire boards seem so hard mostly due to the EPS foam sucking up water like a sponge. I have dried my board for two weeks, used napkins and gravity to suck up the moisture and put my board next to a dehumidifier, and the foam still has some moisture in it. Any advice please???
A suction pump?
How much moisture? If it is not making any difference to the board's original weight then buoyancy will be unaffected. It supposed to be bad to leave water in an EPS blank because it can travel with heat through the void between the foam cells and spread and then with heat added it apparently break down cell membranes and then penetrate the foam cells. Still think that would be large amounts of water, if you've left it for 2 weeks to dry out you've probably done nearly all you can do. A few molecules here and there I don't think will do any damage.
Jesus is coming, look busy!
Moving forward or just spinning faster?
5'8 RF Vanguard 32.2L FCS H3 quad
6'0 FST Dominator 34.8L FCS PC SF4 quad + stabiliser
6'0 FST Spitfire 34.9L FCS PC R2 quad + stabiliser
6'2 FST Jacknife 33.3L FCS PC quad front/rear TC Redlines/TC Aqualines
6'2 FST Hellfire 33.7L FCS PC R2 quad + stabiliser (x 2, yes 1 here, 1 there!)
6'4 FST Alternator 34.?L FCS PG7
6'7 FST Hellrazor 36.5L FCS R2 thruster
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6'5 FST Hellrazor 33.5L FCS coming
Well its for the most part dry, but when I put the solarez in the hole, small bobbles of moisture was popping up. Dont think that was the epoxy reaction because it was in the shade when it was doing that. Going to give it a few more days, then try again!
I use a "protimeter" moisture detector as part of my job and have found this to be the ducks nuts when assessing whether a board is dry enough to repair, probably a bit expensive to buy as a one off ($500 app) but just checked out ebay and saw some very cheap(other brand) ones, whether they work or not....
Last edited by silentp; 10-05-2012 at 03:58 AM.
48 yrs old, surfing for about 40, 6'1 86kg
CURRENT FIREWIRES
RF 6'1 Elfuego Futures TT1 and T1 rears
FST 6'3 Hellrazor Futures SA3
PAST ONES
MB 6'2 thick (great board, may go back there)
Subscorcher 6'2 (too much volume, should've gone 6'0)
Thanks for the tips guys! I put the board next to a dehumidifier for several hours and the foam felt very dry. Feeling confident, I poured in the solar rez and right on cue, little bubbles came out of the ding. I officially give up and took the board to a professional ding repair shop to let them deal with it!! The wonders of EPS foam! I have never had this much problems with regular poly foam blanks!!!
Do you mean air was bubbling out of the resin? If so, I think it could be to do with air in the foam expanding when you put the board in the sun to cure, rather than the effect of water in the board??
For the price they cost, the company should use the same EPS than tufflite, which is doesn´t suck water, if it does it will some amount of water. But the final result is there nothing like a Firewireboard under the feet.
It was very easy to fix my Futura having a huge fin slice near the tale.
I used epoxy cement which comes in two vials that you mix.
I waited a few days with it being in a closet and did the repair at night. It was very clean and simple compared to my old Solarez days. I really hated that crap to an order of magnitude.
I do recall some air bubbles but didn't think twice as I thought they were due to the porous nature of the foam blank. The board has an air valve for a reason although the newer ones don't.
I feel much more confident in fixing a FW then a standard PU. Handling Epoxy cement is much easier and less stinky than Solarez.
5.10 Futura - What else do I need?
5.5 Baked Potato - Well ok, I need this.
5.11 El Fuego - Oh ok, just one more.
6'1"@whopping 150LBS
Mediocre surfer, ie; typical.
* XM Clear Grip as a wax alternative.
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