I tried searching the forum for a while before joining and couldn’t find any information about HD Foam stringers. I thought a thread discussing them and their pros and cons would be a good addition to the resources here.
How do HD Foam stringered boards compare to stringerless boards? How do they compare to wood stringered boards?
Why would one want to use a HD Foam stringer? Why would one not want to use one?
I believe Millennium Foam may have info on their website. They seem to be the Poly supplier that does more of them than anyone.
I have a fish with a really wide wedge stringer in, its from a 5’10rp. It’s a little under volume for me but it has a tht little magic spark so I take the wave count loss.
As far as flex goes, it’s pu with epoxy glass, 6,4 x 6, it is plenty stiff long ways but has a nice bit of flex across the tips of the tail. I’d say it’s not too dissimilar to a ply stringer, but with a little more pop
No matter what, there will be a difference in shear strength between foam vs wood or pvc.
Not that I’ve done any scientific testing, but my 5’3" groveler has one and it’s fine. I guess people use it to tune the flex but I’m not really into flex. I use 2x 4oz S cloth top, 6oz bottom on a 5’3" with heavy double concave and as far as I’m concerned such a struture isn’t going to flex much at that length with that much complex curves going on, and if it does it’ll snap back so quickly that it won’t matter. I could be very wrong though. Maybe if it was thinner it’d bend more. Definitely less bendy than stringerless when shaping, which is reassuring when shaping thin noses and tails. Looks cool too.
Gotta be careful shaping colored ones. I got black dust all over the blank and had to carefully vacuum it out. To be honest I’d kinda rather just go stringerless and slap some carbon on there. That’s how my shortboard is and it’s fine. Survived a few beatdowns in Henri and all other big surf for the past two years.
I remember when colored blanks were a thing. For about a month. If you shaped a green blank you’d be fighting green dust for the next 3 months. No matter what you did there would always be just enough of it floating around to piss you off.
Foam is less stiff than wood…
Stringer is for lengthwise flex stiffening while you shape board. Stiffer stringer ie stiffer blank. Stiffer stringer need more careful when shape to not cave foam around.
Stinger avoid rocker profile modification while you lam board, stiffer stringer do it better.
Stringer, as blank, keep fiber skins distance, allow then to take traction/compression forces while board flex. For same forces stiffer stringer, higher shear stiffness, do it with less deformation so stiffer stringer allow stiffer board at same fiber schedule.
None is better than other depend what you do and want. Flexier is stringer material farther is blank to stringer less one.
My experiance with colored stringers has been as a centre stringer sandwhiched betwen two (or more) nice thin timber stringers each side . Colored foam is hard to these days in OZ , but I think SurfBlanks with still do it for a price . It has a slight effect on weight and flex …it gives a nice asthetic look to the finished board .
That’s why I started this thread, so people who know can share their knowledge so new people can decide whether it’s right for them.
Well, foam stringer add what wood stringer add (my previous post) but less… It’s between stringer less and wood stringer (and there is many kind of wood stringer too from balsa to thick multipli…)
If I would use a stringer that go all the way through my eps core strong skins boards I probably would go with HD foam stringer.
Found this high density foam stringer on the side of the road as I was working yesterday. I think the foam was 1.5lb eps and the stringer feels like divinycell. Might put it back together over the long weekend. If I do, I’ll make a thread. I’ve put a stringerless that I snapped back together and it made it feel really stiff so I got rid of it. But since I have no prior experience riding this board I might not have that mental block of “this doesn’t feel like it used to”. The dimensions are right for me too 5’8x19.75x2.5
Yes they do look real nice. And; An expert can tell the difference, but the average person just sees colored foam. I have done quite a few “Wedge” and double stringers down the middle 1 1/2" or 3" wide and rather than pay the extra for colored foam, just painted the center foam between stringers. I am often asked if the painted foam is HD Foam. The discussion in this thread about the Flex vs. Stiffness pretty much lays it all out as far as ride characteristics. I have yet to order any colored foam blanks from Millennium. I am considering doing so. There may be a qualifier. I may have to order two blanks of the same size and rocker. Which’s allows for a white foam slice in a colored blank and colored slice in the white blank. Not sure how they are doing it these days. Lowel
Clean break, glue with pu foam glue or epoxy slurry, then lam over “light” and it ll go for an another life. Repairs between feet change board feeling, try to not use to much fiber…
The wedge configuration , in particular , can have an increased effect on the overall flex, plus the effect of having two vertical laminations through the increasing/decreasing width of the stringer through the length of the board . It also increases the point where the board would break , when put under stress. It’s been used quite a bit , over the years. Webber lightweight Eliminator ?
She’ll go again. Opted to route in some 10" stringers. Didn’t go crazy with the glass but did make sure to overlap a bit
