As far as alternatives go, veneers are a little stronger and use a lot less resin.
From my experience, for our use (skin over foam) at same weight sandwiched veneers are far stronger (durable) than plain fibers if you deal with water attack. Always at same weight Pvc foam sandwich are ultra stiff but puncture fragile, you could find an happy medium with cork sandwich.
For greener build I would go the wood/cork sandwiched with eglass and ecoresin on recycled eps. That way you can build strong long life board at good weight and feel.
That's it right there. Any shaper/builder can do it. But even guys like me who believe, won't. At least not very often. It comes down to economics, costs etc. Most here on the West Coast USA are using traditional Poly/Poly or EPS/Epoxy with a hand layup. Some throw a few unique things into the layup like Carbon, Tapes, Nets etc. But still a hand layup with E or Warp fabric. Three or four equal quality Poly foams and three or four EPS Foams. Not much change or innovation there. Although all thre Poly Foam manufacturers have greatly continued to refine their products. EPS quality has not changed in my opinion. Even a new start up here in the Nortwest doesn't look any different than established and existing EPS foams. Maybe not as good.
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That which can be assorted without evidence was read in an illegal magazine.
IMO a simple retail-grade epoxy-over-PU build is not too heavy to hinder most surfers in day-to-day conditions. They're at their best when they're properly post-cured. .They're not ding magnets and even if you do get a ding it doesn't become a life-altering event for the board. If a glasser wants to max out an epoxy glass job without incurring the weight penalty they can bump the glassing up to S-glass, although I think E-glass is still a better match for epoxy than it is for the PE resins.
I am not averse to doing a veneer but the main reason I'd do a veneer or a hemp fin patch is for the aesthetics and if it fits in with the board design. Which brings us right back to the point that the shape is still the thing.
For a "nice" weight, on board that "need" lightness to "work", skin weight allow by PU blank is too low to build what I think is a durable board, a board that not ding "for nothing". For that you need a beefier, heavier, skin and so start on lighter foam. Skin don't need to be very stiff, that give a higher bending stiffness, good for ultimate buckling strengh (ie break in half strengh), but though, that give strengh against dents and dings.
I did a lot of research and development of natural fibers and composites from 2004-2012 and had a custom white flax fibreglass woven for us. Here's a image of a 6'0" bat tail quad I built and surfed a bunch back in the day.
Flax and epoxy is pretty bullet proof - heavy and stiff though. Natural fibers absorb a lot of resins. Treating with a fabric softener creates somewhat of a hydrophobic barrier on the fibers and reduces resin consumption by about 10%...
Flax doesn't sand well at all so I made paper stencils of Hawaiian Tiki Gods to cover the lap line.
Overall there's a good reason we still use fiberglass for surfboards - it works well, easy to use, and relatively inexpensive.
The greenest board is still the one that is sufficiently well designed and built - and sufficiently well cared for - that it never needs to be replaced.
I can't tell you how mad I used to get when my kids treated their boards poorly, not using board bags, not covering them up when they were laying out at the beach, throwing them into the back of a truck to let them bounce around loose. An Epoxy/PU board that's even nominally taken care of can last indefinitely without breaking down.
Last sentence says it all. Wish I could convince more people of that combination. Gonna start doing more of them myself. I already do a board that has a dent free deck. Hard as a rock and that's with Poly. What one needs to do is figure out the cosmetics that fit Epoxy best so as to please the crowd. Stretch has done pretty well at that by using Pastel colors sprayed on foam.
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That which can be assorted without evidence was read in an illegal magazine.
Stretch's program is so impressive. His use of deck channels and his post cure program are top notch. Some of the hi-tech exotic builds might be equal in build quality but I can't think of any production builders with build quality that actually exceeds. I might be wrong about that but if so I doubt it's by much.
There are others that try, but Stretch is totally consistent in what he does. Because I sell Marko up here, I know that he is their #1 guy. They pay attention to him and what he thinks(input).
like
0
That which can be assorted without evidence was read in an illegal magazine.
Most dings are made out of water by not taking care of board, when you have ever make, sand, one you take care LOL. A thicker lam is far stronger against dings, epoxy better here than poly. Board snap I more from waves shape. Place I make board for eat boards. One guy use to buy imported stretch boards, they don't last so more than others. I make him thick micro sandwich skin with strong biax and omega carbon stiffners, not light but they survive.
From my experience, for our use (skin over foam) at same weight sandwiched veneers are far stronger (durable) than plain fibers if you deal with water attack. Always at same weight Pvc foam sandwich are ultra stiff but puncture fragile, you could find an happy medium with cork sandwich.
For greener build I would go the wood/cork sandwiched with eglass and ecoresin on recycled eps. That way you can build strong long life board at good weight and feel.
That's it right there. Any shaper/builder can do it. But even guys like me who believe, won't. At least not very often. It comes down to economics, costs etc. Most here on the West Coast USA are using traditional Poly/Poly or EPS/Epoxy with a hand layup. Some throw a few unique things into the layup like Carbon, Tapes, Nets etc. But still a hand layup with E or Warp fabric. Three or four equal quality Poly foams and three or four EPS Foams. Not much change or innovation there. Although all thre Poly Foam manufacturers have greatly continued to refine their products. EPS quality has not changed in my opinion. Even a new start up here in the Nortwest doesn't look any different than established and existing EPS foams. Maybe not as good.
That which can be assorted without evidence was read in an illegal magazine.
IMO a simple retail-grade epoxy-over-PU build is not too heavy to hinder most surfers in day-to-day conditions. They're at their best when they're properly post-cured. .They're not ding magnets and even if you do get a ding it doesn't become a life-altering event for the board. If a glasser wants to max out an epoxy glass job without incurring the weight penalty they can bump the glassing up to S-glass, although I think E-glass is still a better match for epoxy than it is for the PE resins.
I am not averse to doing a veneer but the main reason I'd do a veneer or a hemp fin patch is for the aesthetics and if it fits in with the board design. Which brings us right back to the point that the shape is still the thing.
www.greenlightsurfsupply.com
I did a lot of research and development of natural fibers and composites from 2004-2012 and had a custom white flax fibreglass woven for us. Here's a image of a 6'0" bat tail quad I built and surfed a bunch back in the day.
Flax and epoxy is pretty bullet proof - heavy and stiff though. Natural fibers absorb a lot of resins. Treating with a fabric softener creates somewhat of a hydrophobic barrier on the fibers and reduces resin consumption by about 10%...
Flax doesn't sand well at all so I made paper stencils of Hawaiian Tiki Gods to cover the lap line.
Overall there's a good reason we still use fiberglass for surfboards - it works well, easy to use, and relatively inexpensive.
flaxfibre.png
The greenest board is still the one that is sufficiently well designed and built - and sufficiently well cared for - that it never needs to be replaced.
I can't tell you how mad I used to get when my kids treated their boards poorly, not using board bags, not covering them up when they were laying out at the beach, throwing them into the back of a truck to let them bounce around loose. An Epoxy/PU board that's even nominally taken care of can last indefinitely without breaking down.
Last sentence says it all. Wish I could convince more people of that combination. Gonna start doing more of them myself. I already do a board that has a dent free deck. Hard as a rock and that's with Poly. What one needs to do is figure out the cosmetics that fit Epoxy best so as to please the crowd. Stretch has done pretty well at that by using Pastel colors sprayed on foam.
That which can be assorted without evidence was read in an illegal magazine.
Stretch's program is so impressive. His use of deck channels and his post cure program are top notch. Some of the hi-tech exotic builds might be equal in build quality but I can't think of any production builders with build quality that actually exceeds. I might be wrong about that but if so I doubt it's by much.
There are others that try, but Stretch is totally consistent in what he does. Because I sell Marko up here, I know that he is their #1 guy. They pay attention to him and what he thinks(input).
That which can be assorted without evidence was read in an illegal magazine.
Most dings are made out of water by not taking care of board, when you have ever make, sand, one you take care LOL. A thicker lam is far stronger against dings, epoxy better here than poly. Board snap I more from waves shape. Place I make board for eat boards. One guy use to buy imported stretch boards, they don't last so more than others. I make him thick micro sandwich skin with strong biax and omega carbon stiffners, not light but they survive.
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