Just a quick question is it important to loosen my vent plug every time or is it ok just to leave it done up tight on my Naish board after use, as I'm not planning on putting it on an airplane

I only loosen mine if traveling for a few hours with it on the roof of the car, if not I just leave it....

airplane yes ..loosen ...just in case ...didn't do it on another board ...it got fat ...its back to normal now
but i loosened it off on the day of flight after landing ...it was like jamming a knife in a tyre .

On Iron Phil I have a thumbscrew type vent. I loosen when out of the water.
Then remember to tighten about half way through the next paddle.....

The gore tex membrane type vents are awesome. Not sure why everyone isn't using them.
Water can't get in. Gas can get out.
The board I just received has a colour matched alloy valve. Pretty. If it's a hot day and there's water on the valve you can actually see gas escaping.
I had a board that I swore was tough enough not to need a vent. It blew up like a balloon after 10 minutes in the hot sun. Board wrecked. Lesson learnt.

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Brenno said..
The gore tex membrane type vents are awesome. Not sure why everyone isn't using them.

First, I have gore tex vents on all my boards. Love them, they work well and had no issues. I would not buy a board with manual valves again, too much risk of forgetting them or ruining the joint. But gortex vents have some (potential) drawbacks that may have made Naish afraid to not use them. let's play devil's advocate here:

- If an average customer tries to touch them, he will probably break them, and then after his board is waterlogged, claim it was a manufacturing defect. On the other hand, manual screws failures can always be blamed on the customer.
- there are cheap chinese vent clones that are not very reliable. If you are not 100% sure of your Chinese factories, they may use them to save some bucks
- water can go through the vent... in vapor form. This is why Gore-Tex is used for sportswear: they get rid of your "fresh" sweat as water vapor. So one could imagine that in hot and humid climates the ambient humidity could go inside the board through the vent, and "nest" inside the foam blank. But I dont know of any case where it actually happened.
- air goes through them at a slow speed. I think it is around 0.4 liters / minute. A vent may not be able to release air quickly enough for a board in the hot sun. You definitely need more than one vent for big boards.

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colas said..

Brenno said..
The gore tex membrane type vents are awesome. Not sure why everyone isn't using them.

First, I have gore tex vents on all my boards. Love them, they work well and had no issues. I would not buy a board with manual valves again, too much risk of forgetting them or ruining the joint. But gortex vents have some (potential) drawbacks that may have made Naish afraid to not use them. let's play devil's advocate here:

- If an average customer tries to touch them, he will probably break them, and then after his board is waterlogged, claim it was a manufacturing defect. On the other hand, manual screws failures can always be blamed on the customer.
- there are cheap chinese vent clones that are not very reliable. If you are not 100% sure of your Chinese factories, they may use them to save some bucks
- water can go through the vent... in vapor form. This is why Gore-Tex is used for sportswear: they get rid of your "fresh" sweat as water vapor. So one could imagine that in hot and humid climates the ambient humidity could go inside the board through the vent, and "nest" inside the foam blank. But I dont know of any case where it actually happened.
- air goes through them at a slow speed. I think it is around 0.4 liters / minute. A vent may not be able to release air quickly enough for a board in the hot sun. You definitely need more than one vent for big boards.

All good points Colas. Also, if you see air escaping around the threads of a gortex valve, it may be blocked, even from new, with dust etc from manufacturing. Worth checking. If it's not a cheapo plastic one that is.

Thanks for the replies. Just can't see why they just install Hassle free air vents, probably don't cost that much more and considering the price we pay for a board you would think so.

On my Naish boards, I only loosen them if I were to take it on a plane or at altitude, otherwise it is shut the whole time.

That being said, I was intrigued that my 7'4 Starboard Hypernut had no vent at all (no screw and no goretex) and when I poked around it seems that Starboard only puts them on their raceboards--anything smaller they find with their quality manufacturing it doesn't need it. The board was on a plane once and no problems--cool.

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805StandUp said..
That being said, I was intrigued that my 7'4 Starboard Hypernut had no vent at all (no screw and no goretex)

I think that Starboard uses a closed cell foam on (some of?) its boards, or at least blanks with cells closed near the surface, so they may not have the freely moving air issue normal EPS blanks have.

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colas said..

805StandUp said..
That being said, I was intrigued that my 7'4 Starboard Hypernut had no vent at all (no screw and no goretex)

I think that Starboard uses a closed cell foam on (some of?) its boards, or at least blanks with cells closed near the surface, so they may not have the freely moving air issue normal EPS blanks have.

My Smik has no valve. Been to Bali a couple of times and left in the sun with no issues so far. Saves weight with no vent.

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hilly said..

colas said..

805StandUp said..
That being said, I was intrigued that my 7'4 Starboard Hypernut had no vent at all (no screw and no goretex)

I think that Starboard uses a closed cell foam on (some of?) its boards, or at least blanks with cells closed near the surface, so they may not have the freely moving air issue normal EPS blanks have.

My Smik has no valve. Been to Bali a couple of times and left in the sun with no issues so far. Saves weight with no vent.

weight weenie u.

So if i forget to do up vent - water gets in ?

does it spread thorough board or is it isolated to vent area?

what's best way to get out - leave our vent open

So if i forget to do up vent - water gets in ?

It depends on the temperature difference. If the board was on a hot beach, and the water is cool, the board inside air will retract and your board will suck in liters of water fast. If water if warmer than the air, it is the opposite, and you may not get any water in the board. The same goes for dings, btw.

does it spread thorough board or is it isolated to vent area?

By itself, It is isolated to the vent area, and will slowly creep its way in the rest of the board by capillarity. But as soon as the board cools, water will be sucked deep in the foam, and it will be extremely hard to get out.

what's best way to get out - leave our vent open

If you realize the vent is open on the water, quickly get out and put the board in a warmer place, all the water should get out. Try to never have it cooling during this time. Make the board keep on exhaling, do not let it catch its breath :-)
Otherwise, if some time has passed, insert a wick made of a paper towel fanning out. The water will crawl on the tissue and dry on the fan part.

The definitive read on this topic is The Board Lady site.
boardlady.com/water.htm