Firewire Leash Plug Repair

General Discussion
1

The latest in my series of firewire repairs…

– The leash plug has cracked and is beginning to pull out of the board. I observed this condition after surfing macking waist to chest high wrightsville beach. woohoo!

So, I’m wondering if anyone has insight into the repair of the leash plug. It clearly needs to be removed as the plastic is cracked. It seems to be set in the board with some sort of adhesive caulk rather than resin. It is tanish and soft. I can depress it easily with a fingernail. This caulk has begun to peel away in one spot.

The board has gotten quite heavy from water intrusion.

Sandwich boards are bumming me out right now. Yesterday I surfed a pu/pe shortboard that I got in 1995 after the firewire fritzed out. hmmmm.

2

remove it

there should be high density foam in there

not eps

if there is eps in there id be complaining

hd foam would do a lot to prevent water in the core if the plug rips out

ive been capping my plugs with glass as well as the high density foam inserts

but do the odd one without capping

does say something for leash loops eh?

if the water is getting in there it should come out of there as well

put a towel in it as a wick and suck the water out with a vaccum pump

3

The brown caulk might be 3M 5200, a caulk and adhesive originally developed for the boatbuilding industry, I think. Soft and flexible, I’d not think it best for bonding leash plugs.

4

http://www.boardlady.com/

Ping her…

She fixes everything. Including Firewires. And, she is very nice.

Let us know what you learn. As she does…

Shine On…

5

Don’t know how they install them but I bet what happened is that the epoxy that was used to install your plug was not mixed correctly or the ratio was off. Once again like silly said pull it out and see what is in there. If it is high density foam and you see no obvious damage just mix up some milled fibers and epoxy and put it back in.

If there is no HD foam then take a whole saw and make a hole about a 1/4 inch bigger than your plug all away around.Glue in some HD foam with some 5 min epoxy, glass over it then install leach plug like normal.

Christian

6
Quote:

Sandwich boards are bumming me out right now. Yesterday I surfed a pu/pe shortboard that I got in 1995 after the firewire fritzed out. hmmmm.

please dont make assertions that sandwich boards are the issue …

its unfortunate that one brand and the way the product is built can have a negative rap on the technology …

the irony is , all of these issues were solved a very long time ago …

with systems , materials and formulas …

unfortunatly , loads of people put there hand up as experts , so now we see the culmination of there work …

my theory is , do it right or dont do it at all …

ok i suppose i should offer some advice here , rather than get all condescending …

take a large hole saw , say 2" in diameter and remove both the plug and a large section around it , bore it out , all the way to the bottom skin …

stand on the tail for a few days , if at all possible , see if you can blow some air ,very lightly into the vent , idealy having a regulator on your compressor and then connecting the airline to the vent , this will blow every drop of water out , then the air flowing through the core will dry it out completly (WARNING , excessive pressure will blow it )…

if you have no access to any sort of air pump , then a bike pump with a connection to inflate balls will do , it just becomes a manual operation , remove the vent assembly and you will notice a small hole , that will accept the pump needle …

once your dry , get a peice of high density foam , at least 80 kg pcm , install with either epoxy resin and a filler or 5 minute araldite , you can leave it proud then sand off …

then glass over like a standard repair …

now you have created a sealed high density unit …

now just do a standard plug install …

you should never have any problems after that …

regards

BERT

www.sunovasurfboards.com

7

Let me back Bert up there with a double warning…

Do not even be tempted to crank the air pressure up beyond a point where you can block the flow at the nozzle with your tongue.

Trust me, I blew the skin off my brother’s favourite board trying to dry it in a hurry. Learned hard!

Josh

8

Thanks heaps Bert. I’ll do what you said.

Note that I did finish that sentence with “right now.”

I’ve just been having exactly the problems with my sandwich boards (my homemade jobs) that you said we would. I guess I just need to be patient and suss it out for myself with a few boards. Pinhole issues are kicking me in the taco lately. Like you said, there are problems to work through.

I just feel stupid because I could’ve made 4 of my own with what I spent on the FW. I was just hot to get on one. I like the board fine, but I’ve just been suprised at how many repairs I’ve had to do.

Not intended as an indictment against sandwich boards in general. Had I know how things were going to play out, I’d have waited for a Sunova.

hunter

9

"please dont make assertions that sandwich boards are the issue …

its unfortunate that one brand and the way the product is built can have a negative rap on the technology … "

that quote Bert is also applicable to PU boards. around here we see so much shit PU hackers in factorys its easy to get all PU put in that basket… and im sure with the amount of home builders having a go at compsand there will be plenty of people thinking that about them too! remember everyone in general QUALITY WORKMANSHIP & MATERIALS in any construction method makes an excellent product. take shortcuts in anything and you will pay later…

10

I pulled the plug out of a balsa compsand (rushed the install so as not to miss a big swell) I blew the water out by standing the board in the sun with the vent plug in, the expanding air pumped out the water. Let the board cool down again and repeated the process the next day. When the eps around the plug seemed dry I fixed it. That was a year ago, no problems with the board since. Not sure if this technique will work so well with a corecell skin but might be worth trying.

11

I had to blow the water out of my first firewire because it had a small pinhole right on the rail where the black pinline is.I took the vent out and blew air in with my air compressor.It took about 4 days for it to dry out.Firewire sent me a brand new board after I told them what happened.Oh yeah I am getting a sunova and it should be here by the end of september.I can’t wait to get it

12

I’m a rookie with sandwich boards. Just a couple under my belt. But I just do loops on the skin of the board using fin roving. That is where the strength is (the skin).

Lot’s of posts here on the virtures of loops. Good luck Hunter.

13

That’s what I’m doing on the quad I’m making, don’t need anymore inserts in the tail and can’t see any advantage with leggie plugs.

14

If you make composite boards I highly recommend the Ofish’l plugs. The plug comes as a sealed unit. As your making the deck skin you cut a little hole where you want the plug to go and set the plug in place with a little extra glass. This means the bulk of the plug is beneath the skin, out of sight, and waterproof. When you put on the deck skin you drill a little hole in the foam for the plug to fit in. It also helps center the skin.

15