I have a SMIK hipster twin, there is no vent valve in it of any kind. wondering how they construct it so you can travel/fly with it, as most boards have goretex vent plugs. thanks.

I asked the same question when I got my first Smik, its has been in the air and on long road trips and there are no issues. Not needed apparently and seems they are right, no need at all.

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DaveSandan said..
I asked the same question when I got my first Smik, its has been in the air and on long road trips and there are no issues. Not needed apparently and seems they are right, no need at all.

Thanks for feed back.

That's interesting. I build my own wing boards and always put a vent plug in, a lot of chatter about delaminating in the sun. I can physically hear the air moving when I unscrew it.
windsurfed for years with no vent plugs and my starboard sup has never had it removed with no issues.

You might find it useful if it gets dinged and you want to dry it out. Also nice to have a board equalized with vent plug if it does get dinged. For a lower volume board makes life simpler not to have if nothing goes wrong, like most of us I always had standard vent plug on sups and worked well. Are you sure vent isn't inside the handle?

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slsurf said..
nice to have a board equalized with vent plug if it does get dinged.

This is very important.
If you ding the board in a water temperature less than it was at the factory when built, the board will suck instantly liters of water to balance the internal and external pressures.

If there is no pressure difference, the ding stays somewhat waterproof: try to put a block of EPS foam in water, it is not a sponge, it does not absorb water quickly. Of course, you should get out of the water ASAP, but with a vent you have some time before water seeps in.

Colas ,thank you very well explained ,and makes a lot of sense,I have always wondered why eps foam floats,but does not take in water!,but is different in a ding situation

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slsurf said..
You might find it useful if it gets dinged and you want to dry it out. Also nice to have a board equalized with vent plug if it does get dinged. For a lower volume board makes life simpler not to have if nothing goes wrong, like most of us I always had standard vent plug on sups and worked well. Are you sure vent isn't inside the handle?

No, no vent plug I can find. It's prob 5yrs old now, not sure if new ones have them.

Modern Smiks don't have vents, only the very very early ones. I have a large collection of matte black smiks, some for several years. All have had with extensive use in both cool (south west WA) and tropical (Indo/Maldives).

Plenty of dings/dents. Never had one delaminate.in fact I've only delaminated boards with vents.go figure.

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justaddwater said..
Colas ,thank you very well explained ,and makes a lot of sense,I have always wondered why eps foam floats,but does not take in water!,but is different in a ding situation

Also, if you ding your EPS board, try to immediately, really immediately keep the ding out of the water (e.g tilt your board so that the dinged rail is in the air) for some seconds - I'd say 1 minute - while the pressure equalizes before paddling to the shore.

I just had a Smik Hipster twin delaminate after 30 mins on the roof the car in sun on a 30 deg day without a case. I learnt my lesson and will be more careful from now on. Not sure if a vent would have helped.

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TheBotanist said..
I just had a Smik Hipster twin delaminate after 30 mins on the roof the car in sun on a 30 deg day without a case. I learnt my lesson and will be more careful from now on. Not sure if a vent would have helped.

I don't think a vent would have helped much. I have read of black carbon boards with vents delaminate in 15mn in winter in the sun in Italy.

Epoxy soften when exposed to heat, above what is called the Heat Deflection Temperature (HDT) or Thermal Glass Transition Temperature (Tg). It depends on many factors, but especially the temperature of curing in the factory.
If your board has been glassed at room temperature, it will soften at 55C ! (130F)
Needless to say, once soft, it delaminates quite easily, even with a small pressure difference.

Boards that have been cured in ovens will resist to higher temperatures... but they are more expensive.
You may want to look for brands that offer models cured in ovens.
A quick glance for instance shows that Blair does it: "All of my epoxy boards are oven-cured. Epoxy must always be oven cured, if not, it is weaker than polyester."
www.jblairsurf.com/high-performance-sups/
My custom Gong boards were oven-cured ... but they cost twice the price of a non-cured production one.

See: www.ksresin.com/blogs/information/why-does-epoxy-resin-soften-in-the-sun

PS: this is why sanding epoxy is tricky: it can melt under the sander, and you are sanding rubber.

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colas said..

TheBotanist said..
I just had a Smik Hipster twin delaminate after 30 mins on the roof the car in sun on a 30 deg day without a case. I learnt my lesson and will be more careful from now on. Not sure if a vent would have helped.

I don't think a vent would have helped much. I have read of black carbon boards with vents delaminate in 15mn in winter in the sun in Italy.

Epoxy soften when exposed to heat, above what is called the Heat Deflection Temperature (HDT) or Thermal Glass Transition Temperature (Tg). It depends on many factors, but especially the temperature of curing in the factory.
If your board has been glassed at room temperature, it will soften at 55C ! (130F)
Needless to say, once soft, it delaminates quite easily, even with a small pressure difference.

Boards that have been cured in ovens will resist to higher temperatures... but they are more expensive.
You may want to look for brands that offer models cured in ovens.
A quick glance for instance shows that Blair does it: "All of my epoxy boards are oven-cured. Epoxy must always be oven cured, if not, it is weaker than polyester."
www.jblairsurf.com/high-performance-sups/
My custom Gong boards were oven-cured ... but they cost twice the price of a non-cured production one.

See: www.ksresin.com/blogs/information/why-does-epoxy-resin-soften-in-the-sun

PS: this is why sanding epoxy is tricky: it can melt under the sander, and you are sanding rubber.

More very interesting facts Colas,thank you,I'm always concerned about heat and surfboards/sups,so I just keep them out of direct sun,and keep the colours light,staying away from black!,has worked so far ????