Hello,
I'm looking for some advice on repairing the damage to my board.
I have zero skill and will be having the board repaired.
I'd like minimal collateral damage and I'm happy to move the foot strap to the inner position and live with it. If I just arranged for a watertight repair would the strength of the inside plug group be compromised?
I have a similar sized board so I can temporarily live without this board, would it be helpful to put this board in the shed for 3-6 month to let it dry out?

Any contacts in Sydney who could do a good repair? Please PM if it is more appropriate.

Any advice appreciated, thanks.

Thats a good one! Will need a new insert so will end up in the same place , you won't have to move it. If you pull it out and put it upside down in the sun for a week it will dry as much as its ever going to....

But a shonky - glue same insert back in, and a few layers of glass over, would cost next to nothing and probably last well enough

The hardest part is peeling the footpad back without damaging it, so it can be glued back down. I use a sharp knife and very carefully use it to cut any resistant glue that wants to tear the pad. You may be lucky, and they've used a glue that's weaker than the pad, it may come off without a problem.
There may not be any water in the board if the plug area has closed cell foam around it. But if it has, my approach is to stuff some long absorbent material in the hole, a piece of toweling is ideal, try and arrange the board so the plug is the lowest point and the toweling can dangle down in the breeze. Cover the bottom of the board with black plastic and leave in the sun. The heated air inside the board will pump the water out of the plug, the toweling will bring this out to the atmosphere where it will evaporate. Once sun is down, remove toweling, as the cooling board will start sucking any moisture back in. Repeat this until towel comes out dry.

Then I'd sand an area about 20mm wide around the plug. As Mark says, glue cleaned up plug back in with some epoxy resin, then several layers of cloth over the top to hold it in.

Gents, thanks for your comments.

I'm unsure of the construction of boards around the footstrap plug area. Yesterday I noticed the footstrap was loose but it held for the trip home with no care on my part, I didn't realise what had happened. I've just tried and failed to pull the plug out . If I screw in a couple of footstrap screws through a piece of wood to give me some leverage and just pull hard will it come out? I'm hopeful that, as described by Decrepit, the board may be dry.

Any particular type of epoxy resin for use with closed cell foam? I'm assuming the yellow honeycomb like foam is 'closed cell'.

Despite being a newbie I think I'll give the footpad removal and plug re-installation a go and get a pro to do the fibreglass.

As described, is this a cosmetic watertight fix or could I use the outer plug for my footstrap?

Thanks again.

Yeah a couple of screws and pull hard it will come out.

The yellow stuff is a foaming additive with resin so as to avoid doing it the proper way but it works OK. I would guess that the break is between the yellow stuff and the styro as that's the weakest bond, and thus that you do have water in it. Rip it out and you'll soon know. Decrepit's paper towel or similar method wicks it out fast.

Thanks Mark.

For the sake of anyone with an interest I'll update with a photo when I get the plug out.

As above peel the pad out of the way , don't panic , gently with a razor blade and make yourself some room. Remove the top foam on the plug . If your worried about the resin thing you could use Araldyte 2 part glue to glue the plug back in . Next day clean the area with some rough sandpaper. Use the same glue and squeegee a couple layers of glass cloth over it all . It's a easy fix . Contact adhesive the pad back down when dry.
It should be stronger than new and u can use the plug again.
U can do it

^^ Yes an OK idea - but you'd want 24hr araldite to avoid heat buildup
And it is not designed for continuous immersion so a bit hmmmm - but acceptable.

Given what Bunnings charge for it and I reckon you'd need 2 of the bigger syringe kits at about $30 all up, its maybe better to just buy a sample kit of real epoxy from Boatcraft Pacific ($15 ish ) and scab some 4oz offcuts from a surfboard shaper, then have enough for the next couple of repairs also.

This is an deal repair to learn on as its covered by the pads! As long as one is careful with removal of the pad its then all easy