Fusion boxes leaking water??

Aloha,

I have a EPS custom handshaped  longboard with FCS fusion boxes.

At least 2 or 3 of them have been leaking for a long time it seems. It looks like they were sanded  through too much.

What is the best way to dry out the board before the repair is done??

Drill small holes in the nose and tail and stand it up for a couple a months??

Thank you 

James

Yes this is what i do. If there is a stringer, one hole 8mm each side of stringer, on bottom at top end of nose and tail be sure to drill up to foam. Often to speed process i pressurise slowly with a bike tire pump, that literaly push water out. while you repair plugs add a goretex valve if you can. It reduce delam problems at high températures and water sucking when dings.

Good advice from lemat.  When your ready to repair; sand and add football patches over the boxes.

Thank you for the Great Advice guys!!

James

 

First, what do you mean, not sanded through that much ?   On EPS any place water can get in it will get in. The day the board was glassed the barometric pressure was xxxx, in the water the board cools, inhaling water as the air contracts.

I pulled mine out of my van an nottyiced a fine film of salt on the corner of the tail, it had the most minute hairline crack, but was sucking in a small amount of water.

sadly all too many glassers do not put enough glass over the boxes, Ding King in Encinitas is next to me,

the number of boards that come in every day with with the FCS fusion and 2’s, Futures all torn out with at times only resin on top of them.

I broke a leash in Hawaii and put my board in the rocks, didn’t fix the dings for 6 years, just left it in rafters to thoroughly dry out before repairing.

drill the corners of tail and leave it standing for as long as it takes and it will drain an amazing amount out

 

I’[ll second Jim, the only things that suck up more water than EPS are balsa and bricked camels. 

A story: 

Once opon a time, there was this guy, I’ll refer to him as a highway surfer. He kept his giant EPS longboard on the roof of his car all the damned time, and it was at least as long as the wee Ford Escort he had. 

Including taking it through a car wash. Which removed the fin and finbox quite nicely. And a month later,. roughly, he contacts me to fix it. Board still on top of the car for all that time. 

Won-der-ful. Giant, ugly, crap waterlogghed longboard, Just what I needed, that and scabies. 

Now, this foam has a structure not unlike puffed rice cakes, wee bits with lots of air in between them. You can pretty much blow through it. Well, I say ‘air’, in this case it was water, plus highway smeg, grit, car wax, car wash detergent,what have you. I am not entirely sure it would have floated by the time I saw it. I put it upright, tail down, for a couple months to drain and even then there was still a bit coming out. But I was sick of the board and sick of his ‘when’s it gonna be done’ whining. He had kept the finbox and fin and I glassed them back in, bedding the box in epoxy and cloth and quite a lot of it, tied in to/lapped on to the bottom pretty well. And he got it back, I did the job cheap just to get it and him out of my life. 

The next time it came off the car, it went into some rocks. The fin held up, but other dings. I was busy. For all I know, it’s still on top of his car somewhere. Not my problem.

In any event, yeah, drain it. Use gravity and time. Don’t even think about a heat gun or similar. That will get very ugly very fast, the air in it will expand and give new meaning to the term ‘delamination’. 

hope that’s of use

doc…

Mahalo Jim n Doc,

That was a fantastic story Doc.

Took my board to a Professional Jay Rush! 

 

LOL!

Thanks again!