waterlogged :(

General Discussion
1

yes, yes, another waterlogged board question. -__-

I’m just back from a surf trip. and my board has a number of “weak points”, cracks, dings, all over that were very likely taking on water. I say this because by the end of the week I was riding low in the water (this is 9’0, shouldn’t do that, didn’t used to) and noticing increased difficulty paddling into waves, had to pay x-tra attention to pearling, whatnot.

I’ve been researching how a PU foam surfboard and water react, and can’t seem to find the answers I’m looking for.

Here’s where I’m stuck:
If my board did in fact absorb water, what would have happened to the water? Where would it have likely gone?

For example, when I suck at an abrasion, I taste a lil salt, but for the life of me can’t suck anything out of there.

So, on PU foam, the leaks are supposed to remain somewhat localized, i,e, just around the point of water entry, correct? As opposed to say, being wicked by the stringer the length of the board?

My fin boxes have some definite cracks around them, so I drilled a hole in the tail and tried to let gravity “do it’s thing” as they say, but nothing came out.

Where did the water go? How do I get it out? The vac routine?

Halp meh!

2

The only way I know is to open up the failures and let the PU blank dry out s l o w l y. Keep it away from humidity and high heat. Have you tried backlighting it with a spot to see color/shadow difference?
ps. Always travel with a roll or two of packing tape. The thin lightweight clear tape used on shipping boxes. Put a roll in your vehicle and keep some there. Don’t leave home without it. Much better than duct or Gorilla tape. Slap some on the minute you see a fracture and then go home and fix it.

3

I hadn’t heard of that trick, but just tried it. Not sure what I’m looking for though, the light to get dimmer? Didn’t notice any of that but it wasn’t the most powerful light.

Oh trust me that stuff is my board’s best friend. My problem was a couple I missed, and a couple I assumed to be watertight but am now not so sure about.

4

Something doesn’t sound right here - a poly blank shouldn’t take on a substantial amount of water in a week from a few dings. Riding low in the water, difficulty paddling, within a week? Maybe post up some pics. I dunno what’s going on, but this doesn’t sound like water just poured into the blank from a few dings. At least its never worked that way on my boards, unless it was a hollow wood board, then yeah, it happens that way.

5

Was your surf trip to a spot located at, or near a river mouth? Or near an estuary outlet, where there is a mixing of fresh and salt water, thereby reducing the water density? I suspect that is the reason for your reduced floatation, and greater difficulty in paddling, not water absorption into the board.

6

Cold water, too. Some of it buoyancy related, but added 5kg of wetsuit and slowed down 4mm arms has an effect.

But it might have been the cheap beer ;-}

7

Keep sucking !
“If my board did in fact absorb water, what would have happened to the water? Where would it have likely gone?

For example, when I suck at an abrasion, I taste a lil salt, but for the life of me can’t suck anything out of there.”

8

Yeah this is what I’m looking for… doesn’t seem right to me either. But few, may be an understatement- badly shattered glass around fin box, 3 pinhole punctures, 4 small cracks, 3 dings with spiderwebbing in them, I think I’m forgetting a couple. Two of which were noticed and covered… ouch.

And I might not say difficulty paddling, despite feeling lower in the water since it still glided pretty well in the water. I would say more difficulty taking off proper. Just felt a little cumbersome and slower.

Board weighs 14 lbs right now. Sound about right for a 9’0x22.5"x3"? Didn’t weigh when I got it unfortunately. It’s totally possible I’m imagining things, but I can tell you that board is far from water tight in a number of places throughout the board.

I’ve only had the board a few months, so have not had much time to get to know it well, especially since I’m inland, so am slightly perplexed by all this.

9

Haha good joke tenderloin, although maybe a little easy on the setup and rather immature.

Idk man I’ve just heard of people sucking water out of their boards give me a break.

10

thrailkill,

You must be on the right track because I was surfing at both Doheny and Malibu when I noticed it more. Could be a combo of reduced buoyancy and a little water in the board?

Although the river mouth at Doheny was closed off, thank god, idk if that makes a difference.

11

So to make sure I understand you-

It’s possible to have surfed the entire week with said abrasions, and not have taken on a board threatening amount of water?

If I did take on any water in that time, it would be confined to a pretty small area concentric to the problem area? And if so, the only way to get it out would be to cut away the problem area and let the exposed foam air out, as mentioned?

Then I guess I only need to figure out if there is in fact water in my board, or not.

12

So after finding out that 14lbs is still on the light side when it comes to longboards, I guess the riding lower was the cool water/rivermouth situation? Sitting in the middle of the board, it could become slightly submerged.

How can I find out for sure if theres water in the board? This thing is in pretty rough shape. Swish Cheese. I really thought I was screwed and waterlogged for sure.

I don’t have the resources to fix it myself right now, so I guess I’ll take it in, when it’s dry, if it isn’t already.

I need to find a new shaper because the last shop I took it to, I was never allowed to so much as obtain their mysterious shaper’s contact info to discuss the work that needed to be done… as he had a day job. The result- seemingly careless, ugly and ineffective patching with opaque white resin -or something- on an orange board. He didn’t use any cloth patches as far as I can tell on pretty good sized dings, and his repairs from two months ago are already failing. Course the 4000 mile high-speed car ride the board endured on top probably didn’t help. Stupid brother wouldn’t sit in the back seat so I could put it inside. What’s more, there were a number of smaller dings he completely overlooked. -end rant!-

One last question and I’ll stop bothering you all. I believe the board to be airbrushed, as opposed to resin tint, would this aid in hindering water absorption?

Thanks so much for all the help everyone.

13

what kind of resources do you not have to fix dings? It doesn’t take much room, I know a guy who lives in his van and fixes dings in the parking lot.

my longboards average around 18 lbs. or so, anything less and I don’t like the glide.

can you post some pictures of the board, and the dings?

if you get a little razzing that gets under your skin, best to just ignore rather than complain, cuz that only makes it more fun to do it again, just sayin’

airbrush vs tint has no bearing on water absorption. Polyurethane foam will take in water over time, but it doesn’t suck water in like a thirsty sponge.

If you’re noticing a change in paddling, there are very likely other reasons besides your dings.

14

I have EPS boards. When they get water in them, I can suck out cups worth. I’ve had old Poly boards that were very waterlogged, but that was from sitting outside with open dings.
Take a vacuum cleaner or shop vac, and a hand towel fold up the hand towel and place it over an open ding and then use the vac over that and see how wet the towel gets. If it gets really wet, you should check the boardlady’s website and see how she has fixed water logged boards. You’ll need a vacuum system with trap to collect the water if it’s bad. You’ll also need to know how strong the vacuum can be.
I’ve taped a small towel under plastic sheeting over small dings, then placed the vac into that and let it run for short bursts.

15

Good points. Sure. Theres a couple instances of cracking within like the 3rd pic, about 4 dings that look like the 5th pic, 3 that look like the 6th. couple more tiny ones I didn’t photograph. Kinda hard to see but 4th pic is the shattered area round the fin box. Worse than it looks in pic. In fact the board in general is worse than it looks in the pics for some reason.

Most of the dark spots you see on the belly are associated with some sort of abrasion in the skin.

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16

Ok thanks!

17

Just my opinion(s)… urethane blanks, while not as egregious as EPS when it comes to taking on water, will definitely soak it up if given 1/2 a chance. I can recall driving home from the beach with a couple of boards inside the car and having water spill out of dings on poly resin/urethane foam boards. My buddy and I for some reason found that to be hilarious(?) When it comes to EPS that has taken in a ton, it makes sense to set the board so the ding is at the bottom to let water run out. Once it stops running out but the foam is still damp, maybe set the board so the remaining moisture can evaporate… I.E. the ding being the high spot at this stage. Poking some paper towels in to the ding might help ‘wick’ moisture out as mentioned above. Consider even drilling a small vent hole somewhere else on the board while all this is in progress… it may take awhile.
Edit - this is with the assumption that you do not have access to a vacuum pump.

18

All good info for sure.

Poly foam will take in water, yes. But we’re talking sitting lower in the water, harder to paddle, amounts of water from a week’s worth of surfing with a few dings. I usually duct tape 'em cuz that’s what I have on hand, and patch em before the tape goes bad.

There are threads in the archives about removing water from foam, board lady may have info on that too.

I’m not saying it can’t take in water, or it shouldn’t be addressed, I’m saying a week of surfing with a few dings shouldn’t cause the board to sit lower in the water and be harder to paddle.

By all means dry them out and patch em up, then weigh the board and if it’s a good 8 - 10 pounds lighter then I’ll eat my words and revise my opinion accordingly.

BTW, looking at the pics, did you change the fins at all during this time, like adding sidebites? Might be distortion but the sidebites look to have an awful lot of toe-in, measure off the stringer and see how much. Or just measure across, between the fin slots, at the front and then at the back.

Also, the board looks “puffy”, did it sit in extreme heat during that week? Foam will sometimes puff up like that in the heat. If that is recent, it may affect the way the board feels in the water.

19

I can get my hands on a shop vac, I’ll have to try that. I drilled one very small hole in the tail near the shattered fin box. I’ll just use the towel thing mentioned to see if theres water and how much drying I have to do and go from there.

but I’m not that worried because I think y’all are right and the problem wasn’t the board taking on water. I was surfing at river mouths, so it could’ve been that. I was waking up before 4 every morning so I could’ve just been tired from the trip and not making the waves.

No the last guy had the sides in but I took them off when I got the board from him. And I see what you mean about the angle. there was 3/8 inch difference front to back. I followed the angle best I could with a straight edge though and it goes pretty damn near straight towards the nose. Idk if thats good or not. Must be the picture, anyway.

And hmm puffy. I see what you mean I’ve never noticed that before. It doesn’t really seem as puffy in person though. Although it was subjected to heat on the drive there and back through arizona and nm desert average 99f till California, wrapped in heavy blankets. not to mention texas. and I stood it up in the shade on a breezy day. never left it in the car.

20

“I’ve only had the board a few months, so have not had much time to get to know it well, especially since I’m inland”
Any chance you’re just out of practice? It happens.