Just in from my morning surf and left my brand new, ridden 10X, EPS Epoxy, Blair on my patio for a few minutes.  It's really hot and sunny here.  Came quickly back out and noticed hissing and bubbling around where my handle insert meets the glass.  Obviously, it's not watertight there.  I can't see any crack or defect, but the bubbling gives it away.

1. Do you think I should go through some intense draining procedure before I seal it?  The board doesn't seem like it's taken on much water, but not sure. 

I have it with the leak as low as possible sitting in the sun right now.  A little water is coming out of the invisible crack and out out of the vent plug I just opened. 

2.  With a tiny leak on the deck, do you think water has traveled around inside my board?  If it has, I think I'll need to drill a small hole in the nose and leave it leaning up for awhile, and then seal that hole too.  Because geometry of the board leaves no way to completely drain it from the location of the leak. 

3.  I'm wondering if something more flexible than epoxy might work better for sealing this.  I was thinking about drying and cleaning it really good and then applying some Marine Goop along the seam between the handle and the glass. 

Comments?  Suggestions? 

Called Joe Blair and he would be happy to fix the issue for me for free, even though the board has been ridden a fair amount.  (Joe's a good guy there)  But Solana Beach is an hour drive that I would have to make twice, so I declined. 

He talked to me for a long time and gave me a good procedure for fixing handle issues.  I'm pretty good with ding repair, so I will fix it myself.

Still wondering:  Since there is no visible damage, just a leaking issue, Marine Goop might be a better fix, since it's flexible and very strong.  Anybody ever done that?

Ha!  Joe recommended exactly what you said, Bean.

To get it dry inside, he recommended leaving it in the sun with the leak as the low point.  When no more water comes out he said to hold the board by the handle and see if one side seemed out of balance; like one end was heavier than the other.  He said drill a very small hole on that heavy end and let it stand up for a good length of time.

He also said to leave in in the sun again once the trench around the handle has been cut.  So it can get really dry in that area. 

excuse to surf southern waters!!!