http://greenlightsurfsupply.com/ventedleashplug.aspx
I am working on a hollow wooden board and was wondering if anyone had used one of these?
Did it work as expected? I have done several tests with mine and it seems to work as described… Has anyone used one for a long period of time? IE, do they wear out?
I used one in my hws, and it works great - as a leash plug. The vent, not so much. I also added a standard vent, and I'm glad I did. I think what happened is that I wetsanded the board without masking the leash plug, and the fine sediment in the wetsand juice plugged the pores. Just a theory, but the vent doesn't work.
I noticed because when I unscrewed the standard vent screw, I heard a whooosh of air.
So I don't use 'em anymore.
Greenlight Brian’s working on a new, improved design for his vented plugs. He’s pretty thorough about testing them, so it might be a little while before he puts them out there. Looks good so far, but it’s still in the early stages of development. The ones he has now are good, but from what I understand products like these are inherently difficult to design and apply. I think even some “big name” manufacturers have had their share of problems. But it can, and will be done, because there’s obviously a good idea there.
Huck,
Is that a wide central wood stringer you’ve got in there? It looks like it’s over 1/2" wide and the vented leash plug is mounted directly into it. That might explain why the plug didn’t vent effectively. You have covered up the gore-tex lined hole in the bottom of the leash plug with the stringer, which is probably only 1/2" wide. That leaves only the very small slots out the side to vent air up and out. That would certainly hinder air-flow.
I’ve used a bunch of these plugs on regular EPS construction and they seem to work great. I was having foam expansion/contraction problems (high stringer) before, and with the vented leash plugs I don’t have the problem anymore. Can’t wait to see what Brian comes up with next. Would be great to have a sand-off top like Ofish’l so I don’t have to waste several hours dedicated to installing the leash plug. Either that or Brian figures out that 3-minute epoxy install he was talking about in the fin-box resin thread.
Just wanted to share a GREAT experience I had at Greenlight Surf Supply yesterday....drove up to see Brian to pick up some blanks and saw how many things he is working on to make shaping your own boards a better experience. His customer service is beyond good and he's stoked to help anyone. Since he's not on here promoting his new website I will do it for him....forgive me.
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Huck,
Is that a wide central wood stringer you've got in there? It looks like it's over 1/2" wide and the vented leash plug is mounted directly into it. That might explain why the plug didn't vent effectively. You have covered up the gore-tex lined hole in the bottom of the leash plug with the stringer, which is probably only 1/2" wide. That leaves only the very small slots out the side to vent air up and out. That would certainly hinder air-flow.
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The wood you see is all 1/4" plank strips. The vent worked fine when installed. Then at some point, it stopped working.
This is what I am worried about… Or that at some point it develops a leak…
I had some similar questions:
http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/greenlights-vented-leash-plug
I’ve yet to try it. The boards I’ve been making were either too thin for the plug or the future finbox got in the way.
I think I am going to take the approach to put in the gore-tex vent / leash plug and then put one of these in just behind it for good measure. So if the leash plug fails to equalize, I will make sure to use the vent screw.