Select to expand quoteNotWal said..decrepit said..
It's a big liability if you get water in the board, any water on the inside of the goretex stops it breathing, you can blow the bottom off.
Is it easy to change one to a screw and O ring?
Too many of a particular brands goretex equipped boards have failed imo prematurely & all had taken on water, it could just be coincidence or other errors in construction.
They are easy enough to seal up with epoxy etc & just treat like a normal vent so it's not a deal breaker for boards that have them.
You have to check normal vents all the time also, for some reason in more recent years i've had alot of the o-rings break.
Yes I've repaired a couple of goretex vented boards with blown off bottoms, and it wasn't a dry glass job at fault. The resin had seeped into the foam a centimetre or so. The split was in the foam not the sandwich/foam join.
One of the things I have about replacing goretex vents. is how fragile the top cover is. It's very easy to snap the cover off if you're not careful
A tough call with these vents. I have lost count of the times I've heard of wrecked boards with 'normal' solid plugs because people forgot to put them in before hitting the water or take them out before flying, leaving them in hot car or driving up Haleakal? (guy at the rental shop says this happens all the time in Maui). I think all of us have done this at one stage or another, operator error but still results in a written off board. Over tighten them and you can split the o-ring too letting water in too. Gortex vents sound great but again they won't work if they aren't done up properly or crack the head doing it up too tight.
Not much info on-line about maintenance either. Severne board vents have 'Do not touch' stamped around the vent which is a pretty clear message. If a water droplet can block them from the inside its probably a good idea not to store you board upside down, I might get a valve and test this one out.
Couple of vids here on them, second one is worth a look. Says to just finger tighten with a socket drive and to check its done up properly from the factory. Couldn't find any official torque settings but this post says 1/2 foot/lb Max which is not much at all.
