Some might find me to be misguided in my destruction of my old board, and I will say that I put a lot of thought and planning into this project before taking the chisel and cutting wheel to it. If you look at the pictures on the thread I pasted in my posting above you'll see that my initial plan, 2.5 years ago, was simply to patch up the old board. I ground off the old bottom paint, and then I decided to let her sit for a while indoors to fully dry out. After all, the boat had been in the water all of her life, and I had no idea how long the cracks had existed. It was obvious that there had been earlier patch jobs made, especially around the pin area. At any rate, a lengthy home improvement project ensued. I forgot about the board and let it sit for about 2 years while I worked on my house and worked on other projects on the boat from time to time. When I finally got around to focusing on the board again this past fall, I was disturbed to find that over the two year period the the small cracks had developed into big cracks which had distorted the board and in my opinion rendered it useless. After making many detailed measurements and drawings I tore into the board. What I found was quite astounding. Even after two years of sitting up in a climate controlled setting, the steel on both ends of the board was still wet. Moreover, I discovered that all the steel in the vicinity of the pin hole was completely rusted away. This meant that the only thing holding the 150 lb board in place was a thin layer of foam and cloth. I was immediately pleased with my decision, since I saw that this was obviously the reason why other E25 owners have lost their boards while under way. Read, for example the postings by former E25 owner "Kringe." My advice to other E25 owners who opt to hold on to their original boards that have split (and allowed water intrusion in the pin area) is to replicate the modification made by Rob Hessenius in the thread I attached in the posting above. Rob strengthened the pin area with metal plates on either side of the board. Rob advised me to make this modification 2.5 years ago, and I probably would have followed his advice if I had not gotten side tracked with my house. I think anyone who does not make this modification will end of losing the board.
As far as the approach I have made to building an entirely new board to original specs is concerned, I can say that the total cost will end up being not much more than $200. I used scrap carbon steel, and ordered two-part foam from US Composites. The most burdensome task has been the making of the tedious measurements and the building of the mold. Why am I going to all this trouble instead of just making a flat-style board? I'm aiming to replicate the foil shape of the original so that the board will provide lift and thus better pointing ability.
Attached are a few more pictures. You can see the rust damaged area around the pin hole, and you can see the moisture that still remained on the steel after two years worth of drying time.
Regards,
Roscoe