Cork decks

I’m in SoCal and looking to re-skin a Softop with cork. Any local suppliers or shops that specialize in this?  I see …Lost has a line of cork deck boards but they’re probably done offshore. Deck is 11’ x about 25" and I would like to have an open cork deck and wrap the rails as on the original design. After searching under “cork” I’m not finding much recent stuff including vac bag techniques. Also PMed a couple people in the threads but no replies. Thanks!

Try PM to **drewtang **(Drew Baggett – Core Cork – Inspired Surfboards):

https://www.swaylocks.com/users/drewtang

https://www.swaylocks.com/comment/477724#comment-477724

Also, I believe Sways member,** bb30**, has some good posts about vac-bagging cork.

There are a good number of passionate backyarders (and “frontyaarders”), who have more experience and commitment to vacbagging veneers and etc. in combination with EPS (of varying densities, seeking the ultimate flex) in particular than are going to come up, here. I hope I’m wrong, because if it comes up here I’ll see it, and learn from it.

I have one of Stretch’s cork-deck, bamboo bottom veneer boards. It’s very PU-esque in how flex behaves (at least to my adv-intermediate sensibility) and is unusually durable in terms of heel/toe dents. That is a plus on its own. But, I also know a local, very passionate backyarder who surfs very good (minimally brown belt level, for those who have BJJ experience and know what that means), who has made a good number of boards that are in play, some with very skilled riders, that is very into cork deck construction in concert with lightweight (lighter than 2 lb) EPS shapes.

My sense is that the primary reason he’s doing cork decks is flex. That is coupled to lightweight EPS blanks. My ears are open, though I haven’t had time to start down that road, myself.

Comparing cork decks on a surfboard to wrapping an 11 foot by 25" soft-top in cork rails and all is kinda like comparing apples to oranges. I have to wonder why someone would want to go to the trouble - what’s the payoff? 

Yeah for awhile a few years back there was a slew of discussion on core cork here on Sways.  Suppliers were linked etc.  One of my Suppliers asked me about three years ago if I was interested in carrying it and I said  “No”.  Sure am glad I decided not to stock it.  Would have probably been a slower mover than Entrophy.

Hey Huck - a Munoz Ultraglide 11’ (same board) is $1249 new. I got my first one free and it works fine as-is but I bought a second one for $120 with a little more degradation in the EVA foam deck and an ugly color. I could skin & sand it in under two hours. From what I’ve seen cork is pretty inexpensive, but I’d like a tried & true source - local preferred. I’m just looking at the techniques for bonding it properly and fairing the edges without breaking away and sections.

The cork is just an alternatie to the existing EVA foam on the deck & rails and only providing traction therefore I want to leave it exposed.  Oneula had a post on doing the same project on the same board about 7 years ago (thread title: Exposed Cork Techniques) and I messaged him to see how the project turned out but no reply,

https://www.swaylocks.com/forums/cork-deck-lam-question

 

 

Cork has some great virtues…the only problem I can see with it , is the cosmetics . Forget using it on the rails - its too heavy . Ive yet to see anyone build a cork decked board , that really looks the goods . It’s not a structural material , but a very practical and good performing material for non-slip surfboard decks…and it’s grows on trees.

You could just redo the EVA.  

Tom Wegener: https://www.tomwegenersurfboards.com/blog/new-“corky”-surfboard

Hopefully some of these report back, again: https://www.swaylocks.com/forums/cork-deck-wood-veneer-bottom-composite-surfboard?page=1

I’m Oneula’s brother, he rarely answers his phone or messages, even from me. Oneula hasn’t been doing boards for a while because he got sensitized to epoxy. Add to that assorted health problems that kept him out of the water for long periods of time. He moved on the wood crafts.

He did cork boards using a vacuum bag, one was exposed cork and the others are under glass. I recently glassed a cork deck board he had lying around for years. I think the exposed cork will slowly wear away along the edge.

I haven’t tried riding the exposed cork boards, but I have ridden the glassed over boards. The Cork used was Drewtang’s Corecork product. BB30 and Drewtang are the guys who will give you the best info on cork.

I bought a used sailboard years ago to use as a SUP. The deck had an EVA pad that was tearing off, so I just scraped and sanded it off then painted the deck. We also bought a beat up soft top and my brother took the EVA off, then sanded it down and I re-glassed it.

Thanks for the info and I wish your brother well. I have really enjoyed his input on many topics over the years.

 

This is the board I made last fall:

Its a Balsa HWS, coverd with 2mm Cork (high quality cork roll origin Portugal).

The cork is wrapped around the rails, bottom is left out, Glassed Balsa)

I applied it using epoxy and vaccuum.

Rode in one week, impressions:

Board works great,

no need for wax, quite comfortable

Drawbacks:

Looks like on some spots there was not any or enough epoxy. On spot in the sitting area at rail.

The cork in general sucks some water, not much, but it does, but the sun dries it off quickly.

Where it is not tightly glued (above mentioned spot), it bulbs up (if sucking water). Mechanical stress (legs) may rub away the bulbs.

If worn away its easily repairable, just mix some cork pieces (i used a mixer to generate them) with epoxy and smear it, or pad it.

 

So finally it is important to use enough epoxy. If bonded well, its quite robust, problems only at corners, but repairable.

If not left open, but closed with epoxy, its more stressresistant, but usually it is not necessary.

I will cover the area around the leash cup and the approximate rail aera in the tail next time, a leash under tension may stress to much

My next board will be corked again, the optics, the feel and no wax convenience values higher for me than the drawbacks. If bonded properly its a very nice deck material.

This is a closeup of the bottom (I think prior to to the gloss coat)

There I filled some voids with epoxy paste and sealed the cork a little.

No problem there at all!

The only problems appeared, where the cork did not bond well due to lack of epoxy. To much epoxy sucks under vaccuum almost up to the surface and hardens it from the inside. The the feel is a little harder, so wet the cork out properly, better more than less, but not over abundant and you get a comfortable board.

If this works on plastics on a softboard needs to be tested…,

I used exposed cork for a traction pad. It came from a roll I got at a craft store. I epoxied it down and paddled out. It worked fine. However, I noticed the same thing that others have noticed: if there’s any spot where the resin didn’t fully bond, the cork will lift and rip away. After that, I sanded the pad off and waxed up the spot. 

I’ve used cork drawer liner as non-skid on a kitesurf and stand-up paddle board. 

Both times I applied it with a vacuum bag. Once with just a thin coat of epoxy resin. Once on top of just wetted 3.7 oz glass and epoxy.

 Both times it bonded fine and lasted at least a few years with harsh use/ neglect.

I’m not a surfer, but I would think a cork deck would be really uncomfortable to lie down on for paddling.

On a soft-top, maybe just correctly applied contact cement and a good roller would work? I’m not sure what is inside of a soft top, but pourous things like cork need two seperate coats of contact cement followed by about 70 psi pressure to bond properly. Just one coat on the deck if it is a smooth non-porous surface.

I think the cork boards when done correctly have structural and practicle advantages. Structurally they are stronger for the same weight regular glassed board when vacuumed bagged/ using corecork and peel ply to maximize benefits. Practically you don’t need wax or you can wax if you want, Then you wrap the rails with fiberglass the no chaffing on your arms. I would fix the soft top with soft top material as mentioned earlier. It’s just a soft top and it would be lots of work to sand and vac bag cork on. Would be easier to build a new board from scratch

long board with exposed only deck, quad set up with all deep futures boxes


Thanks for the pics, that does look really beautiful! I’m in the moment in a longboard building process and want to cover the deck, or parts of it with cork too. Above you describe that you wrap the rails with fiberglass: Do you glass the bottom, cork the deck (maybe on glassed wood) and then apply another layer of glass to the bottom (2 glass layers in total), wrapping around the rails, or do you just use the bottom glass and wrap it around (just one glass layer), or third version, do you glass the bottom, glass/cork the deck and just use another maybe 2inch glass strip to glass the rail/cork area? And finally, If you glass on cork, do you vacuum too, or do you just lay the glass onto the cork? Thanks in advance for the answers, they would really help me, because I never glassed on cork, being afraid, that dents would lead to delam of the glass on top of the cork. My idea was just epoxiing the cork onto the glassed board using vacuum and then just seal the cork from the outside with epoxy only , not using glass, to make it a little bit more resistant to wear and tear…

Its basically what i did and BB30 taught me…

 

You glass the deck first. In that Case from inside to outside you lay up your glass, cork, peel ply and some sucking material for excess resin. 

Fix the stuff with tape, so it doesnt slide and put it in the vacuum bag to cure.

Prepare and just glass the bottom like a normal layup and do a cutlap.

When you get to the hot coat stage, just tape 5mm above your laminate and apply the coat…

 

Thats basically the procedure… No delams yet and i managed to give it a big head sized dent…

 

 

Thanks for the information, but I did not understand it properly. You start with deck and lay out the dry glass, put epoxy on, with roller or squeegee, put the cork on, cover the cork with peel ply and some sucking stuff and then you vacuum it? If done, you just glass the bottom as usual, do a cutlap, meaning the glass does not overlap, but joins, and after cured, you apply the hotcoat, which may go over the cork. so no glass on cork?

I glassed mine a little differently, I glassed the deck and bottom, with a cutlap do, but I did not glue the cork in the first step. I used the hotcoat , the second step for glueing the deck, so I neeeded resin two times, if I understood you right, you used only one time resin for the deck, which should make it easier, especially you do not to fight with spilled over resin.