Hi every one,

I have a foot strap insert that is leaking on my old drops free ride board that I noticed when I was going to change the straps over, the hole had a dark edge to it unlike all of the other holes & fibres seemed to be blocking the sight line into the insert hole so I did the soapy water test with the vent plug closed in the sun.

My question is, is there a way to tell if the leak is due to the screw being pushed through the bottom of the insert or from a delamination of the skin over the insert? (only the original screws that came with the board have ever been used & I got it as an ex demo board). To me it looks like the fibres of the skin are frayed/damaged in the hole in question.

I was hoping not to replace the whole insert & just grind a small section of the skin down to expose most of the top of the old insert & re laminate back up from there (the old insert seems to be held in place securely) unless some one has a better/easier solution?

The top photo (with just the yellow around it) is the insert hole that leaks, the bottom photo is the insert hole on the other side of the strap as a reference (doesn't leak).

Thanks in advance

Ok, try something long and thin, big safety pin opened out, long thin nail etc, compare how deep you can get it in the suspect hole to the others.
That should tell you if it's got a hole in the bottom.

Screw a longer screw in, (not too far) and see if you can wobble it around. Too me looks like the plug has come loose and is just held in place by the deck sandwich.
If this is the case, just glassing over the top will be ineffective. You'll have to remove it and replace, if the plug is undamaged reusing it shouldn't be a problem.
But it's hard to know what's under there until you start removing stuff. It almost looks like the sandwich is on top of the plug. I'm not sure I like this idea, it may help stop the plug pulling out, but the sandwich isn't giving the plug any sideways support, so it's possibly easier for it to wiggle loose.

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decrepit said..
Ok, try something long and thin, big safety pin opened out, long thin nail etc, compare how deep you can get it in the suspect hole to the others.
That should tell you if it's got a hole in the bottom.

Screw a longer screw in, (not too far) and see if you can wobble it around. Too me looks like the plug has come loose and is just held in place by the deck sandwich.
If this is the case, just glassing over the top will be ineffective. You'll have to remove it and replace, if the plug is undamaged reusing it shouldn't be a problem.
But it's hard to know what's under there until you start removing stuff. It almost looks like the sandwich is on top of the plug. I'm not sure I like this idea, it may help stop the plug pulling out, but the sandwich isn't giving the plug any sideways support, so it's possibly easier for it to wiggle loose.

Thanks

It also looks like at least some of your screws are either not stainless (stains present) or have become so old that they no longer have stainless qualities. New screws also may be a recommendation, crusty screws can wear away the threading.

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Mastbender said..
It also looks like at least some of your screws are either not stainless (stains present) or have become so old that they no longer have stainless qualities. New screws also may be a recommendation, crusty screws can wear away the threading.

Yep I have new screws & backing/anti twist washers to go in

Yeah looks like rust to me. The board wont rust , only the screws or washers.