Quiver thread

[alakaboo]

The blank is just to aid the manufacturing process, otherwise its not needed.

Bert always used the shitiest (lightest) polystyrene foam he could find.

Yeah, that's the problem.

[foamy]

Peter Mel was talking about boards during Bells, and Mel did win a comp in Santa Cruz on a board he shaped.

He was talking about the mysterious pro level 'magic board' and getting a copy and it just isn't the same.
He theorised that it was possibly all due to the blank. Could be same model of blank, to the same formula, by the same manufacturer. But the blanks are never exactly same - made under different temperature, humidity, a different batch of inputs, by different people. Maybe the magic blank contributes to the magic board which is why the board can not always be recreated.

[Cranked]

STs usually just get cosmetic damage.

Until they don't, in which case they are fcuked.

ST are not all constructed the same. I've noticed a big range in weights for similar boards.

I don't know whether it's something deliberate or not.

There where some big batches of boards that used a wood laminate instead of divinicel, these were infamous for breaking, but they probably wouldn't amount to one percent of the boards made

[Cranked]

The blank is just to aid the manufacturing process, otherwise its not needed.

Bert always used the shitiest (lightest) polystyrene foam he could find.

Yeah, that's the problem.

I think Nick believed Bert's boards were at least good with good flex and ST weren't. So that isn't the problem

[tootr]

Lay down say five layers of six ounce cloth on a concrete slab, and a pillow.
When cured, Hit each with a hammer.
The skin is not the problem.

[Cranked]

Ride the 6'1 Zot as a quad this morning

That really quirky board is utterly transformed: it now does everything I ask of it, I can just forget about the board and concentrate on surfing the wave.

I can't believe that Geoff doesn't just wack the quad option on as well as the single. The board may not have been designed as a quad, but it certainly works great as one.

Not surprisingly, I've been told that Zots are no longer being produced by TSA.

[Cranked]

Lay down say five layers of six ounce cloth on a concrete slab, and a pillow.
When cured, Hit each with a hammer.
The skin is not the problem.

Fanatic produced a waveboard that had divinicel skin glassed with carbon and Kevlar fibre in epoxy. A sailboard shop had the last 3 foot section of the board so that you could see the construction method.

I was checking it out and asked the shop guy how strong was it. In reply he picked up a heavy claw
hammer and hit it hard a few times.

There was no mark on the board. I was impressed.

I said let's give it a real test. It had the footstraps attached, so he held it out and I took a good swing at it. Still no mark.

So I stood back, wound up and swung the hammer as hard as I possibly could. It produced a tiny, insignificant indent shaped like the rim of a quarter moon.

The foam blank was playing no part in the strength of the board, you could see and feel the crappy soft foam in the board section.

Not quite your test Tootr, but pretty impressive anyway

[Cranked]

Just back from another surf.

The wind was side-on so there was quite a bit of chop on the face.

I must say I was very disappointed that my heavily glassed poly McCoy didn't handle the chop that well at all

[Beerfan]

I'd they'd used a better blank they would've been much better.

Could say that for all forms of surfboard construction.

[Cranked]

Goddamn you guys are thick!

Sometimes I just don't know why I bother

[alakaboo]

I don't either.

The blank is just to aid the manufacturing process, otherwise its not needed.

Bert always used the shitiest (lightest) polystyrene foam he could find.

Yeah, that's the problem.

To clarify, the problem is that with a shitty or super lightweight blank you are relying on the shell for strength. To achieve that they went with stiff composite materials and ended up with a lightweight and very stiff board.
It is those characteristics that most people don't like, or don't like except in certain conditions.

I ride mostly sandwich construction boards. Some have had PU cores but been too stiff and light and I didn't like them as much either. Some have had lightweight EPS foam and been flexible, I liked them but they didn't last long, and they were undersized compared to my PU boards.
For me it is stiff or light, but not both, unless it is really short.

But I suspect a fair bit of why good surfers don't like them has to do with the rails. I've never seen a tuflite board with proper hard edge in the rails or deep contours. You're riding waves, and board sizes, where you aren't reliant upon lift and release.

I wouldn't dream of ordering anything​ but sandwich construction for a wave board.
I would never have a full carbon paddle ski.
I would always want as much carbon as possible in the paddle.
They are completely different applications.

[steve shearer]

I'd love to try a varial blank but they seem expensive and hard to get. Anyone tried one?

[Beanpole]

Okay....glad to know the master surfboard ding fixer reckons tuflites are expensive to repair and can only be done by master craftsmen. I bought a board about ten years ago. I have flogged it to death and it's had a serious finchop in the back. About three inches deep. No mean feat for a tuflite. Repaired it myself. Actually noticed the paint job was looking a little thin over it today after a surf. That repair was five years ago. Basically easier than poly all up. My sons got a 5'6" HPSB we bought for him when he was about thirteen. So he's had that about six years. Rode it last two times we were in Bali. We've both got other boards but he's gone through probably another five over that period and I've gone through four.

[Cranked]

In reply to 'boo.

I'm still not sure we are talking about the same thing.

All glass, resin and foam surfboards are composite sandwich construction, but over the last 30 years or so, compsand has usually been restricted in use to surfboards that use a tough and stiff layer such as divinicel or wood in the construction.

Typically, a blank is shaped and glassed, then resin is applied and the next layer is vacuum bagged (or whatever) on. The board is shaped again and glassed again. A cosmetic layer may then be applied.

The shell is where the strength is. The strength is partly from the laminate, but mainly from the box like structure created by the two layers of glassing separated by the thickness of the laminate (divinicel, wood, whatever). This seems the main point of the process, hence my comment that the blank is just an aid to the construction process.

That is certainly the case for surftechs, Berts boards and most windsurfing boards.

I guess some people have started trying to modify the compsand process by limiting the stiffness and strength of the shell and attempted to use the blank to augment that strength in a more flexible way.

I'm not at all knowledgeable about that construction. Seems to me that it would be easier to work with modifying the properties of the shell.

As for hard edges, both surftech and Delta can do rails as hard and sharp as any I've seen on a poly board. Delta bogs them up and probably finishes by hand, ST I'm not sure, but probably done by hand as well

Not sure what you mean by deep contours, but I've seen every bottom shape, channels and concaves, done perfectly

[Beerfan]

You tried FW boards cranked? They seem like an improved version of surf techs. Bit more weight in the rail with the timber = less chattery. Still a basic tech compared to what some mad scientists get up to these days. Apart from some very dodgy treatment of the original players, FW seem to be alright boards. The FST ones anyway, some of the more recent constructions seem a bit more fancy for the sake of fancy and not as durable

[Beanpole]

I had a Dominator. Good construction.....but arguably one of the worst boards I've owned and about the most expensive.

[Cranked]

You tried FW boards cranked? They seem like an improved version of surf techs. Bit more weight in the rail with the timber = less chattery. Still a basic tech compared to what some mad scientists get up to these days. Apart from some very dodgy treatment of the original players, FW seem to be alright boards. The FST ones anyway, some of the more recent constructions seem a bit more fancy for the sake of fancy and not as durable

Yep, I had a 6'6 Aadvance about 6 years ago, but preferred the surftech, not by much, but they didn't use closed cell foam, and as far as I know, still don't use it

[buddy]

I liked direct drive firewires better than their standard ones. Do they still do them?