Epoxy Boards

[Livetosurf]

I got a couple of epoxy boards and you defiantly feel the difference compared to my standard PU ones, they defiantly float you a bit better an like some one said can be a little bit to much in the turns but for small waves I think they a better option as a small wave board or beach brakes as they bit more durable, but defiantly PU in bigger stuff.

[2BCaughtInside4best1]

Epoxy boards suck there to buoyant and going through the back of a heavy sucking wave is not worth the un comfortable feel sounds and if not advised to go smaller than normal foam size for you the style of a stiff hunchback. Foam is not expensive get a good shaper have a template or a few just for you once u find the magic and surf good as it's fun to rip not the whole hippie through back or technology un-needed in simplicity of our boards that work best for us at our home spot and we get better go bigger harder deeper and get more stoke. I suppose I am stating no eps no longboard shaped 6'0" be who you want to surf how you want to just use what you know works especially if spending money on it go for sure thing I say, jerr Oxnard, Ca

[jaffa1949]

Huh?

[benjl]

My mate just purchased a second hand Santa Cruz 'gally' 6'1 epoxy board that I was lucky enough to try out last weekend.

It's an incredibly thin and narrow thing- 6'1 x 18 1/4 x 2.15" and only 27L. He reckoned a guy at a surfshop told him the construction meant it was about 30% more bouyant than PU boards.

Anyway, it was interesting to tryout. The strangest thing for me was that I struggled to duck dive it compared to my normal boards of about 32L volume and which are wider and thicker. I could duck dive it but kept finding myself being sucked backwads with the wave comared to normal.
I was wondering if because of the construction and smaller dimensions, the bouyancy is therefore concentrated in to a smaller area instead of being spread across a wider area in my normal PU boards?
The waves were powerful and very whitewashy but I had no trouble even just crusing on the whitewash on this board.

I'll have to try it again this weekend when it's actually cleaner and see how it goes on wave faces.

[jaffa1949]

You've just discovered that bouyancy is not entirely a factor of volume.
The guy in the shop was telling you the truth, the board was 30% more difficult to duck dive because of its construction even sitting on it you would notice that you are higher in the water than a "normal" board. It is called the "it's a cork factor". More the materials than concentration.

There are some pluses but you found one of the minuses, you will also notice that if you try to ride across and under white water to an open face , you really have to keep downward foot pressure to stop the board from being corked out from under your feet.

[benjl]

The other minus was that it was so narrow it was quite difficult to push up on as i'd have to move my hands in very close to my chest which delayed the pop up. In bigger waves I would've been gone-burgers!

The worrying thing for me is that I was looking at getting a board custom made of epoxy in Bali and the shaper said that it was only about 3% more bouyant than his PU alternative meaning that the dimensions would basically not change from either the EPS or PU construction. Although on this one, the dimensions were drastically thinner and narrower to compensate for the construction.
Do the EPS constructions vary much in terms of their flotation over PU? Ie. could the Santa Cruz version be 30% more bouyant while this one could only be 3%?

I would hate to order this in advance and pay $700-800 only to find it was super corky and way more bouyant than advised!

[jaffa1949]

If you have been talking to the shaper, it probably is as he says , not all EPS is corky as some others .
Varies very much brand to brand. I suggest googling reviews outside the brand website and see how opinions go before you order I'm guessing ok !

[Lebowski]

Just to confirm, epoxy is a type of resin. Boards are glassed using glassfibre matting and either epoxy resin or polyester resin.

The large extra buoyancy in some boards comes from the foam core. Some 'epoxy' boards use EPS (expanded polystyrene) cores, which is low density and generally more buoyant. Other 'epoxy' boards use PU foam cores (polyurethane), which is the same type of core you get in a regular PU/polyester board. These type of boards will have little (if any) extra buoyancy.

You cannot use EPS foam with polyester resin because the resin will melt the foam.

[benjl]

Hey LB

The shaper I was referring to would use an EPS core with epoxy resins. This was the construction that he said would only be 3% more buoyant this his PU / fibreglass equivalent.

He had 3 different EPS / Epoxy construction options- the first was just an EPS / Epoxy combo ($70 USD upgrade) This is the construction that I was interested in and that he quoted the buoyancy figure in. The second was an EPS / Epoxy combo with a bamboo laminated deck ($120 USD upgrade). The third option was an EPS / epoxy combo that he called a 'duralite' sandwhich which was a ($250 USD upgrade).

Would each of these options have different buoyancies? Ie. would the duralite sandwhich construction be similar to the Santa Cruz model I tried out (having to drastically thin out the dimensions to compensate for the added buoyancy)?

I'm just a little confused as all of the above seem to have EPS cores with epoxy resins although on the Santa Cruz surfboard, this construction was apparently 30% more buoyant whereas the one from the shaper I spoke to is only 3% more buoyant.

[Lebowski]

Well first of all let me tell you that I'm not a shaper. I'm just giving information that I've picked up along the way.

I would imagine that EPS cores are available in different densities, with the least dense containing more air and therefore being more buoyant, at the expense of some strength.

If your shaper tells you that his board will only be 3% more buoyant, I'd believe him over me, as he should have done more research on the matter.

I would imagine that the duralite sandwich could alter buoyancy, although I don't know the details of that construction, so it would be best to ask him.

[Iron Lee]

I surf EPS / epoxy and I will never go back to PU boards. They float my fat ass allot better (I'm 6'0" 195 lbs), allowing me to surf shorter boards. They are also light and really fun to surf, and stronger. I have surfed PU boards, I learned on them, but I always had to surf them longer.
I traded in a 7'3" mini mal PU board for a 5'10" / 21" / 2 3/4 retro fish EPS/Epoxy just yesterday. A while back I traded in a 6'10" / 22 / 2 5/8 PU "big" shortboard for a 6'0" / 21" / 3" modern thruster fish EPS/Epoxy.
I see no reason to go back when EPS allows me to surf shorter boards with a more snappy light feeling. It also seems to ride a bit flatter on the water, which coming from a snowboarding background, feels allot more familiar to me.
I'm stoked on EPS/Epoxy. If PU went away forever, I could care less
"That being said", I do love old boards and I collect them, especially from the early 80's. Some boards in the 80's were made from Epoxy, but most were Clark foam PU. But, those boards tended to be thicker and wider. So, I still do surf PU.

[SurfAllDay43]

i have an epoxy 9'2 longboard. it is nice and light and no major dings yet

[morfevs]

I have both, Epoxy and PU.

Tough to decide...

I feel Epoxy floats more while PU feels it can duck dive better.

Regarding looks: PU matte is for me a winner, I love the feel.

Solid: Epoxy is zillion times more solid, no dings or nothing.

Still, I can't choose! probably Epoxy...

[morfevs]

One more thing - my shaper says Epoxy is harder to shape, he stays with PU because he can shape it as he wants and there is less time in the drying process...