Can Water Get in My Board?

I have found that many of my customers are under the impression that water cannot infiltrate their epoxy surfboard. Some have told me that the dealer where the board was purchased even used that as a selling point. Unfortunately this is far from the truth. Foam blanks used in making epoxy surfboards are very light. This is in part due to the fact that there is a lot of "air" in the blank, meaning voids, or empty spaces. Because of this, epoxy surfboards expand and contract depending on the temperature of the surfboard. Put a pin hole in, let alone a ding in the board, and this expanding and contracting can now be likened to breathing. If the ding is in the water while the board is "inhaling", you guessed it, water is going to get sucked in. Because there are voids, or empty spaces in the board, not only can the water get in, but it can travel. For this reason it is very important to get your epoxy surfboard out of the water as soon as you notice a ding. To get water out of a board I use a vacuum system. In the following example, I removed more than three fluid ounces of water after only eight hours of vacuuming. This is nothing, I have heard of more than five pounds of water being extracted from a board under a vacuum, a process that took several months. Now I'm sure you do not want to be without your board for that long so please get it fixed ASAP.