Forgotten plug = water in Nalu!

[RainWaves]

 Hey all, just looking for some quick confirmation of the best thing to do here. A friend just called after taking his new Nalu 11'4" AST out for the second time. He spent about an hour out (crappy, raining day here, but he was catching waves), and immediatly noticed as soon as he got back to the beach that his board was heavier: He did forget the plug:  X2

 Anyway, I told him to try to leave it upside down with the plug hole at the lowest point he can manage, and let's see what happens. Is it correct to assume that the only way to get it all out is with a vacuum pump and a drill a hole somewhere else to let the air travel through? I think there are at least a few threads here on this topic?

 Any tips and advice would be great, he just got the board last week and is BUMMED!!

Thanks! Pete.

[surf monkey]

Bummer

You can start with taking a paper towel roll one end up to a point to stick in the plug hole maybe use a tooth pick to hold it. Then fan out the other end of the paper and it will wick out the water slowly then evaporates off the fanned out part of the paper towel.

good luck.

[Ucycle]

+1 on the paper towel trick if you dont have a vacuum pump but it will take weeks before getting most of the water out.  of course it is probably the fastest to get the majority of the water out with a pump but you can't never get all of it out. Also try to get the water out as soon as possible before it move to other part of the board. read here for more info: http://www.boardlady.com/waterextraction.htm

[RainWaves]

 Appreciate the tip on the paper towel trick! I went to the Boardlady's site after I posted up, yesterday, and will pass the info along to my friend. Guess upside-down isn't the way to go after all

Much thanks for the replies!

[swordfish1227]

Tent the board with painters plastic, and put a dehumidifier in the tent with it. run a hose from the dehuey outside to a drain, and give it a few days. Board will probably be drier than it was originally.

[RainWaves]

 Just got off the phone with my friend, and he has been doing the paper towel trick since last night. The board is down to 27.8 lbs (27 lbs dry), so he is making good progress!

 The tent/dehumidifier method sounds like a good way to go also, thanks Swordfish!

[Bulky]

Bummer, but I'm glad it seems to be working out for your friend.

This raises a question though:  Is there a reason to be fiddling with the vent plug?  When I bought my first new board (Starboard WidePoint), Wardog told me it was screwed shut and just to leave it be unless I went up to altitude.  That's what I've done for almost 3yrs and everything's fine.  Of course, I live at sea level and that's where the board stays.

Love to know why people feel it necessary to open and close the things, but I guess there must be some reason to or they wouldn't make them removable.  On my newer boards, I've got goretex vents which are truly "set it and forget it" (and that's what I'll use from now on), but curious...

[swordfish1227]

Just got off the phone with my friend, and he has been doing the paper towel trick since last night. The board is down to 27.8 lbs (27 lbs dry), so he is making good progress!

 The tent/dehumidifier method sounds like a good way to go also, thanks Swordfish!

Had a friend do this with a 15' sailboat - ended up being 15 lbs lighter than anyone elses. and that's a hollow boat.

[paddlebattle]

a little confusion.

Why drill a secondary hole if you are using a vacuum pump? We use a vacuum pump to boil the water out of closed AC systems all the time. A breather hole would just allow more air and moisture in and prevent a vacuum from actually forming.