My Friend purchased a new board with a deep tuttle box for the foil and I noticed water around the pad. On closer inspection, I noticed where the two holes for bolts that go through the deck above the tuttle box I see what appears to be Divinycell without glass or epoxy to seal. Will the Divinycell absorb water? Should I seal the area? I appreciate any suggestions.
Thanks,
Gary
I’d be more curious about why the hole looks elongated and wallowed out. Lots of crashes? Sloppy assembly method?
But either way, there should be no D-cell exposed like that.
The screws there compress the deck toward the tuttle box and mast, and unsupported D-cell will not take that kind of compression, or hold the deck of the board in plane. Over time (some of which has past already), expect the deck to fail at risk of ripping the box out and losing the $$$ foil.
I would chuck a small hex key into a drill and use it to ream out/undermine the foam around the screw holes.
Block off the holes from below inside the tuttle box (i.e. surf wax plugs, tape etc).
Fill the holes with a SLOW or EXTRA SLOW cure epoxy thickened with cotton fibers glass fibers or other STRUCTURAL filler (NOT Q cells).
If you don’t have/can’t get slow hardener, do it in stages, like 3-4mm at a time. When cured, carefully drill out the holes.
What you don’t want is a hot fast curing epoxy to seep through any little crack and get to styrofoam in this critical part of the board.
The good news of this situation is these tuttle boxes often are supplied embedded in a block of structural foam to start with, so that is probably the case here and the actual likelihood of resin tracking into styrofoam and melting it is small.
Still, I would be careful and have the holes lined with something stronger than foam to back up the deck laminate. And use a good fender washer between screw head and deck.
This is a brand new board and foil that my friend paid close to 5 grand for. On it’s maiden voyage we took it behind the boat. When it was my turn I looked down and saw bubbles coming from the vent plug so he asked me to take it home and check it out…it was loose. I won’t say who the builder is but, if I ever hear someone is considering a purchase I will steer them clear. Thanks for the input!
If the vent is Goretex, bubbling from the membrane is good. If it is a matter of someone not tightening a vent screw that is supposed to be open when not in the water…that is operator error. I am prone to leaving drain plugs out of boats, etc. so I opt for membrane vents.
I would have your friend go back to the manufacturer with a phone call and an email with pictures before attempting to fix it yourself. You may get them to fix it, not void any warranty, and they get a chance to review their process and correct it going forward if someone on their end is installing hardware incorrectly.
Thanks!
