RealSurf Surfers' Forum

Epoxy shortboards.
Love them, hate them?
Improved over the last few years?
Never had one but curious.

TSA has got it down. 6oz top and bottom, a stringer, way lighter and more durable than glass, but a similar flex pattern - perhaps a bit more flexible than glass.

They do yellow a bit, just get some colour, the price is the same.

So if you wanted more float than your current board, could you just go the exact same dimensions because of the extra floatiness of epoxy, and would the performance be relatively the same?

I’ve had the old generation tufflite. Mostly hate them - too stiff and reactive. And have had the SLX style epoxy. Feels a bit more like a standard pu board - lighter but feel a bit dead in comparison.

When you get up to Midlengths and mals the differences become dramatic. A high volume epoxy can do some amazing things if the design is tuned in. I appreciate both for what they are.

Gumby wrote: ↑

Mon May 14, 2018 10:14 am

So if you wanted more float than your current board, could you just go the exact same dimensions because of the extra floatiness of epoxy, and would the performance be relatively the same?

ahh fcuk there's a lot of differences, what people loosely call "epoxy" are usually polystyrene core boards glassed using epoxy resins. There's vacuum sealed ones like Surftech, etc, there's Firewires which are made in variety of different ways, there's Hayden's FutureFlex and a range of followers in that carbon-strip class. So much different stuff out there.

It's the styrofoam that makes the key difference, it's way lighter than PU foam, tricky to cut even with a good CAD cutter, and isn't easily split for a wooden stringer, so mostly is vacuumed or has carbon as a strengthener. Styrofoam is very corky and easy to paddle. It can cause you to feel like you're suddenly surfing quicker and more responsively but this usually proves a bit of an illusion over time. The corkiness can also cause the rail to feel less sensitive and a bit soggy in major turns -- it's hard to put an edge on a rail in styrofoam. This is just my take but I feel styro epoxy tech best suits short short boards, reduced volume and/or surface area, and can be awesome in beachies, rip bowls and stuff. Maybe the thicker-coated vacuumed stuff can be made to work in bigger boards, there's plenty of SUPs made out of 'em that's for sure, and they tend to be a bit bulletproof.

Exact same dimensions won't perform the same as a PU/PE board, it'll be corker, bouncier, easier to paddle, harder to penetrate the wave in deep rail turns, and won't be an exact match in any case because of the problems matching shapes over materials switches.

That said I saw an American guy get out of the water yesterday morning with a SD SciFi, the thing had just exploded.

I took a close look and was stunned, the lamination was like paper, the apparent “carbon” clearly wasn’t, and the high density foam bar along the board had simply ruptured. The styrofoam hadn’t cracked open, it just disintegrated. Worst manufacturing I’ve ever seen in a broken board. I could snap the lam layer between two fingers.

He said it was the second one in a row.

I have several FWs that are good quality solid laminations, this thing was like they’d resined on ricepaper and skimped on the resin.

Wasn’t a prominent shaper scathing on the construction of those things?

Claimed the ‘carbon’ was black paint etc .

Check out Leighton Clark's Ding King FB page. Really good board shaper/builder. If you scroll down you'll see plenty of repairs he's done on almost new boards for things that weren't the result of collisions or impact, just shoddy manufacturing methods, all styrofoam/epoxy.

https://www.facebook.com/thedingkingAUS ... LY&fref=nf

Nick Carroll wrote: ↑

Fri May 18, 2018 1:59 pm

That said I saw an American guy get out of the water yesterday morning with a SD SciFi, the thing had just exploded.

I took a close look and was stunned, the lamination was like paper, the apparent “carbon” clearly wasn’t, and the high density foam bar along the board had simply ruptured. The styrofoam hadn’t cracked open, it just disintegrated. Worst manufacturing I’ve ever seen in a broken board. I could snap the lam layer between two fingers.

He said it was the second one in a row.

I have several FWs that are good quality solid laminations, this thing was like they’d resined on ricepaper and skimped on the resin.

Are they FST ones? They seem to have a good rep for durability


What's the point of going hi tech when the boards end up "surfing like a pu", but also end up lasting as long as a pu? There's no benefit other than people paying more for a board that's just like their old Pu board

marauding mullet wrote: ↑

Fri May 18, 2018 4:13 pm

Check out Leighton Clark's Ding King FB page. Really good board shaper/builder. If you scroll down you'll see plenty of repairs he's done on almost new boards for things that weren't the result of collisions or impact, just shoddy manufacturing methods, all styrofoam/epoxy.

https://www.facebook.com/thedingkingAUS ... LY&fref=nf

The ding king instagram - Leighton does top quality repairs also does a quality Slater design copy ...pic way down on his insta page

Anthony Pols - The ding shop insta- once again way down his page Slater brings in a personal Sci Fi for repairs that looks suspiciously PU with a stringer and fake carbon /rice paper tape .

That’s an interesting page, some dodgy build quality in there.

'eco' boards and products in surfing are the biggest swindle going around

tootr wrote: ↑

Fri May 18, 2018 2:37 pm

Wasn’t a prominent shaper scathing on the construction of those things?

Claimed the ‘carbon’ was black paint etc .

Prominent shapers are scathing of any boards not made the way they make theirs.

Beerfan wrote: ↑

Fri May 18, 2018 4:26 pm

Nick Carroll wrote: ↑

Fri May 18, 2018 1:59 pm

That said I saw an American guy get out of the water yesterday morning with a SD SciFi, the thing had just exploded.

I took a close look and was stunned, the lamination was like paper, the apparent “carbon” clearly wasn’t, and the high density foam bar along the board had simply ruptured. The styrofoam hadn’t cracked open, it just disintegrated. Worst manufacturing I’ve ever seen in a broken board. I could snap the lam layer between two fingers.

He said it was the second one in a row.

I have several FWs that are good quality solid laminations, this thing was like they’d resined on ricepaper and skimped on the resin.

Are they FST ones? They seem to have a good rep for durability


What's the point of going hi tech when the boards end up "surfing like a pu", but also end up lasting as long as a pu? There's no benefit other than people paying more for a board that's just like their old Pu board

FST type construction has the best durability for weight you can get. They also feel nicer underfoot - the FW heliums are meant to be very good too.

they Slatr ones are LFT, mostly.