XTR blanks

Where can I get XTR blanks in white? I know the companies that sell the boards, but where are the blanks coming from?

I don’t think you can or atleast not if you don’t go through Javier at xtr.

http://epoxysurfboards.com

They may also only sell them (if your lucky) and if you have them glass it. I believe the main reason for not selling to the average joe is due to bonding issues.

  • all this info may be bogus- just what I’ve pieced together through my interactions with others - nothing first hand.

Everything that WideAwake said jives with what I have heard/read…

Really lame because XPS shapes really nice, rides really nice, and is FULLY waterproof.

The one XPS board that I built was really durable. Only had a single bubble of delam after it was 5-6 years old and I left it out in the sun on hot days for about a week straight.

interesting.
all the best

Patagonia does them as well. It does seem a private source though.

I did about a dozen boards through Javier’s factory - and glassed a couple of them myself - before Javier cut me off. Too busy. Plus I suck. This would have been 12+ years ago. Half of them were before he came up with his thermovents and the other half were after.

I heard through the wireless - dunno if it’s true - that his supplier changed the formula at one point and he was having serious bonding issues no matter what they did. I’m sure he got all that worked out a long time ago, though.

Javier had very specific instructions at the time about not cooking the boards because the foam outgasses when it gets hot. As long as I followed the instructions the glassing held up. But then my kids would invariably leave a board in the bed of their pickup while they were in school or lay it uncovered out on the sand all day, so they all eventually died of heat exposure.

Whatever you do, don’t let a finished board get hot enough to melt the wax on the deck. If you can take care of them properly they’ll hold up. One of the boards I shaped is still surfable because my friend has always kept in in a bag and out of the heat. So it is doable.

damn teenagers

Do you mean FC surfboard? I believe it’s their own closed cell formula.

In the past you had to be certified by Javier to glass for XTR. If you know anyone glassing XTR boards, you might be able to go that route. A while ago, our local XTR glasser went off to Bali for a while, and he sold me a blank and resin. It was to get rid of his inventory and it was very good foam and resin. He had 2 beat up small blanks, so I only bought one. In hindsight, I should have bought both.
Maybe research who supplies Javier the foam. It was a slab cut, and I bet it’s made by someone else. The resin was made by Polymer Composites.

5 or 6 years ago there was on the market ixps foam wich was extruded ps foam from China they say without the outgassing problem. Some Grand Britain shapers used it, i don’t know if it’s still exist. Salomon bleu boards were made with DOW xps core. For homemade airplane they use a spécific one for composit called spider foam without adhésion problems but it’s bleu too.

XTR is Javier’s own formula “version” of XPS. That’s why they want to do the glass work on them for quality control. At least, that’s what I understood Javier to say a few years back. Policy may have changed since then with regards to glassing.

I get why they keep tight control on production using their blanks… I am just frustrated that I can’t buy their blanks and glass them myself… I would buy blanks from XTR if they were reasonably priced.

Rooster got a billet of the blue stuff a few years ago and we hotwired and made a couple blanks from it…

If I could get a large billet of XPS, I probably wouldn’t have sold my hotwire setup.

USBlanks PU is good enough for me anyways.

I found a vendor who will sell me some. Only if i buy 1/2 a semi truck load, shipped from the mid west. I’d use blue Dow first, and just paint it

Honestly, why bother?

15 years ago your primary choices were Clark or Walker in PU, or EPS. Javier’s XPS blanks offered a slightly lighter closed cell foam than you could get in PU, just under 2# pcf. But now the PU vendors have the lighter densities that are competitive with XPS. XPS is known to have bonding issues because of outgassing and from what i’ve heard it’s also known to have inferior shear properties. I never had a problem with that but other builders have commented on that in the past.

Besides, IIRC you don’t even build boards that require ultra light finished weights. A little weight in the designs you do would be a good thing.

Yeah, I stick with EPS because of price, availability and versatility of making my own rockers as I need them.
As for XPS, I suppose one could enquire about buying an uncut billet:
http://www.polyguardproducts.com/mechanical/dow-styrofoam-xps-pib-billets/

Just curious what density the blue is? I can only get the pink here and I think its 2.5. It seems very heavy.