4" Thick EPS foam

General Discussion
1

I live in Trinidad and Tobago and can buy 4x8 sheets of 1# EPS in 1" to 4" thickneses, I am planning on shaping a 6’6" fish and have it fairly thick, like 2 3/4 to 3". Will a 4" piece of foam be thick enough for the rocker or should I glue 2 pieces together while it is curved over another board or homemade rocker table? Also, shipping resin internationally is very expensive and requires hazardous materials permits etc, can I use marine epoxy resin from the numerous boat stores here? Will it likely yellow very fast, would adding a uv inhibitor help? Is Solarez really as good as the website and youtube videos show it be and is it hazardous materials exempt? Are there addatives that I can add to any epoxy resin to make it cure in the sunlight? Sun Cure Ultraviolet catalyst seems to be just that. Does it work for epoxy resins?

Thanks

2

stick with the marine epoxies…a much better choice, but are more likely to yellow as compared to surf epoxies.

the UV stuff is usually for poly resin. poly resin on EPS foam is a no-op.

4" should be fine depending on the amount of rocker and nose thickness…for a more traditional fish shape, that’s fine.

3

add a pigment to the resin, hides any discolouration....then you can use the resin you have access too....

4

All great advice - Go for it and post some pics for us… Esp. riding some cool tropical waves…

5

So I belive I have found a source for PU foam. The factory was calling it polyurethane foam and said they do different weights or densities. So what is the weight of a PU blank? Can I also use boat coloring addatives to tint , like this http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=111748&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&storeId=11151&storeNum=10104&subdeptNum=10296&classNum=10299 or is there a cheap alternative like rit dye.

 

6

yeah dude if that is all you have acces to. you can easily get a rocker from a 4 inch thick piece and glass it with marine resin and pigment. the board can come out very strong if you use lots of cloth. if you cant get fiberglass fabric then you can use other fabrics like hemp, linen .polyester etc

7

If you've found a source for PU foam other than a surboard blank mfr, it's likely going to be heavy (4lb/cuft at least) and yellow, as well as not very easy to shape. I've seen a lot of the marine PU. Surfboard PU is around 2.5-3.5lb/cuft.

The pigments from WM will work in polyester, not sure about in epoxy. I'd suggest asking WM.

The 4'' EPS and marine epoxy might be your best bet, that way it's all local. There is no UV cure epoxy, the additive nature of the reaction doesn't lend itself to UV initiation.

Good luck, have fun, and welcome to sways!