I called and confirmed that White Hot Foam (a division of Prowall) is now defunct.
U.S. Blanks offers a full line of high grade EPS foam as do other sources depending upon the area you live in. USB bought Austin Foam sometime back. They can cut from block using their catalog blanks, and also have some preformed blanks that are available. Visit their website for more information.
The thing I like about USB is their EPS is Machine Friendly. Also the service is amazing. If you can’t meet a delivery date whats the point?
Hey Fellas, They never really got the whole thing going. They have the manufacturing of billets down, located in Az. but never got the blank side going. If you remember, the crew from laboratories of lower technology scored many blanks at a discount. The warehouse is in Oxnard Ca. and is a building materials yard. They had a stock of foam pre-cut or in billet form and were bought out very early in the process, so they liquidated the inventory on hand. I scored a 2# billet 16 feet long by 3 feet wide by 18 inches thick for $40.00! Don’t know if there is any left in the warehouse, but Steve Padilla is the guy to talk to. He’s very cool and easy to deal with. He helps run Great Pacific Building Materials on Lombard St. in Oxnard. They still have access to the billets from Az. because they use it in building as well. Just to clarify.
ps. Good foam quality.
Bring me down a couple of billets and I will cuts some boards for free.
S’Ding I’ll check with Steve. It may be all gone by now. This happened a couple of months ago. I’m planning at least one lay down paddle board. Haven’t got to it yet. Got lots of good advice from Spencer and his build thread for the Catalina Classic. Thanks for the generous offer. It ain’t easy moving that mother by yourself! Almost cracked an egg moving it into the garage.
t........... yes, they had a final sale of inventory last month..... Daron Story had called me to see if I wanted to grab anything. When I called and emailed I kept getting a "not available recording" so I finally just confirmed this with the Great Western/Prowall office person.
The "Surf Specific" stuff they were doing shapes really well and they were well stocked. "SS" involved a secondary process that made it crisper and wasn't the same stuff as standard builder's grade EPS. I guess it just didn't turn over enough for a big comany like that to bother with it. We had discussed my designing some new blank designs for them, but such is life.
Jeff Holtby gave me the low down on their material and capabilities at USB, and their delivery is very reliable. They have some preformed blanks designed by Yater, and the ability to cut from block any of the blanks currently in their catalogue. They have very reliable delivery, so this becomes a very viable option for many builders. I have no doubt they are (or have the ability) to stock an East Coast distributor. Of course there are other options like Segway if that is your preference. Somebody mentioned that Insulfoam can produce a better grade EPS for surfboard production, but I haven't done anyhing with them since the 80's windsurfing boom.
The EPS makes total sense to me for the vac baggers and SUP builders, just as I found it did for slalom sailboards..... but you still have DIY guys out there buying crap EPS from Lowe's or Home Depot or wherever too. IMHO, I just don't see why someone would want to build a big heavy SUP out of PUPE. Don't get me wrong, the guys at USB and Surfblanks are doing incredible new stuff that I use and swear by...... I just don't see it for behemoth designs.
The age old negative for EPS is water invasion, for PUPE it's denting.
Funny business this industry. As it stands, I've still got a couple hundred EPS blanks from Surfding's downsizing a couple years ago. I'm reseaching and experimenting with ways to shape, then apply a material that will penetrate, then expand while sealing the EPS air space/fusion to prevent water from being drawn in when dinged. Surf Tech has got the EPS as shown on their You Tube "does your foam suck"? clip..... I'm seeking to do that.
Of course I'm keeping this one under wraps.
That’s right you have Spencer @ IShapes in Ventura. He a good guy to work with.
I would love to get some of those billets however for vacuum bagging I like the 1.5 pound.
SUP’s are so big it’s better to target a lower weight.
Great deal. If I got some I would have to hot wire them on the spot and put them away as blanks due to minimum space.
You guys up north get all the deals!
Kind regards,
Surfding
Yeah S’Ding, great deal. S. Kellog is here and have bought Walker blanks off him a while ago at his older shop on Front St. Good guy. The Spencer I referred to is another guy on this site and made/paddled a board in the last race from Catalina. Also a very nice guy and incredibly helpful.
ps. You might be able to go straight to Prowall for billets. DS., I didn’t miss the inference…good one.
The inference?
R U talking about "under wraps" or something that's gone over my head?
If it was under wraps, I don't mean that literally or as a pun.
?
No, The name posting. TBlank=T…
White Hot........... R.I.P
This is a portion of the foam I p/u from Surfding for around 8 cents on the dollar. He got one of my Clark Hitachi's outta the deal as he buffed me out with a lot of foam, milled stringers, and other goodies. My wife isn't too happy my "new warehouse" includes our cabana by the pool.
Dead that Clark F30 is like brand new after Jeff at US Blanks tuned it up with new brushes and blades.
Better than a Skil 100 and way more powerful. However they are so hard to come by.
The foam you scored for $0.08 on the dollar was a good score I wish I had the storage I once had before down sizing I was able to write it off on my taxable income so you got a good deal and I came out OK in the end. I did make some really light boards with that foam. I think that stuff was 1.7 density?
Sorry if I upset your wife! Looks like you need to crank out a bunch of boards and clear out your Cabana. My garage including my storage unit is full of woodworking equipment. Hard to let things go.
That what friends are for. Those blanks will make some very strong light sticks, all in due time. They paid for themselves in the first 3 weeks of having them. The rest is phat.......
S’Ding, DO NOT sell your woodworking tools!!! If you do I can almost guarantee you’d be sorry. And as far as the wife goes, they are for fixing up the house.
ps. If you do…CALL ME!!!
Looking back on all that foam I had and what you got was only a small token of what I started with. (75’ wall x 30’ ceiling all blanks)
I remember making 25 blanks a day. My woodworking equipement was running everynight making stringers for glue ups.
Guys using a light dimmer to cut out there Home Cheapo Blanks with Ni-Crome wire telling me I don’t need a variac just makes me cringe.
Building blanks for a business is not a good business unless you own the market.
Build boards not blanks.
I buy them now.
Pick and choose your battles!
Our old web site is still running: www.americansurfindustries.com I just don’t make stringers or blanks anymore.
Surfding,
What was the final result on the testing you were doing a while back PU vs. EPS? For your standard thruster, which do you like better?
From a manufacturing perspective PU/POLY is a no brainer
One the other hand EPOXY boards are slow in production plus thay cost a lot more to build
Customer wise I get 20 POLY orders to everyone EPS/EPOXY order
My son loved the EPS for Glassy days but perferes PU if there is any wind on it.
He has 29 PU boards and 1 EPS in his quiver
I like EPS personally
For the EPS vs. Poly, Do you change anything in the shape to compensate? Thinner or narrower for one over the other? Or are the conditions to be ridden in the compensation?
In my limited comparisons, EPS rides higher in the water. Makes EPS paddle in flat water faster, but sometimes gravity is helpful in pulling a little more mass of the PU down the wave face.
And thanks for all the testing you did on it, and your willingness to share.
“And thanks for all the testing you did on it, and your willingness to share”.
Everysurfer.
Second that, Thanks heaps S’ding.