Warning disclosure: Frighteningly scary backyard shaping bay pictures view at your own risk, that is if I can get pictures to load.
Mahalo to Ice9 for the sample blank. I would have posted better pictures of the shaping process but the lighting is terrible. Had to take pictures after I turned the rails later in the day when the sun wasn’t so bright. Coming from an EPS only newbie perspective shaping the Ice9 cane blank was a dream. So easy to fine tune every aspect of the board. The smaller cell structure of the PU makes it a pleasure to shape. Foam was consistent through out and the stringer was very straight. Biggest difference was the time to shape the board, much faster and easier to shape over the eps. Board is 6’5 3/4" 11" nose 19 1/8" mid and a 14" tail, thickness is 2 3/8" with fuller rail for my 195 lbs. Single concave from starting 1’ from the nose running out through the tail with the tail tip being almost flat. Deepest point of the concave is forward of the front fins.
Glassing was interesting. Compared to a sealed EPS it was a bit more resin thristy, maybe an ounce or 2 more over eps. But no weird off gassing. It was actually nice when tucking the laps on the bottom lam to have the blank absorb some of the resin. It was easier to tuck and flatten the laps on the Ice9 over the Markos that I normally do. Went with a 4 bottom 6/4 deck. I just couldn’t glass the board with a single or even a double 4 deck. Even for a free blank it seemed foolish to do for my weight. Doing the sanding coat now and once it’s done I’ll post pictures of the finished board and give an update on how the 6/4 deck is handling under my size 12’s.
The CE resin was straight forward. Pretty much exactly the same as the regular RR epoxy. Same hardener, Additive F, and the X55 all worked just as it does with the regular epoxy. Only difference is the windex color. I’ll take some pictures of the resin to show the color. It might have been the temp when I lammed the board or maybe it’s just the resin, but it just seemed to go a bit better than the regular epoxy. Seemed to be a tad bit thinner, easier to wet out and work with, but like I said it was almost 90 in the shed.
Thanks again to the Sways community this board is #43 and I would have been nowhere with out all the help from the Swaylock’s community.
With out the archives and the in depth posts from Barnfield and the many others I would be lost.
I’m glad my camera doesn’t take better pictures. I noticed the nose thickness profile was off after I got it laminated. Got to get a proper shaping room with lights. Shaping outside next to the garbage cans has got to go.
long overdue ride report. Blank was an Ice9 cane 6’6" hps of unknown density. I’m thinking that it was one of the heavier densities, but it was a free sample blank so no matter.
I glassed it 4oz. bottom with a 4 butterfly fin patch. Deck was full 4 e-glass with full 5 warp. Glass job was overkill even for my weight of 195lbs. Could have gone single 4 with a 4 stomp or at the most single 5 warp.
The pictures are from 30 days of use. Aside from it being heavier than my usual eps boards, the ride is like night and day. I can’t say enough about the flex rebound and the drive. I’ve jumped back and forth between my eps ones and this board and I honestly don’t like the feel of the eps anymore. The ride is opposite of what I expected. Marko blanks glassed 6 bot. 6/6 tops have a flexy dead feel. I never believed what people said about the feel but it is true. Perhaps it’s my weight.
For my orders I don’t push the eps unless it’s requested. So far I’ve shaped and glassed 6 of the Ice9 cane for customers. Just the time savings and the ease of glassing over eps is enough. Most of the feedback that I’m getting is the spring and solid feel that riders are getting over their other boards. Almost all of the customers ride pu/pe.
I had subtle issues with expansion of the foam after leaving the board in the back of my truck on a hot day. It was mostly a cosmetic thing, but I wasn’t aware of the heat sensitivity. So all boards come with a warning “don’t heat over 140 degrees”! The owner of Ice9 actually made the time to help me with the issue. I was surprised after some backyard testing to find that my bedliner on a hot day gets well over 130 degrees.
I’m not completely over eps and feel that it definately has it’s advantages, but I’ll be converting my own quiver to the cane ice9 and can’t wait to make some bigger boards for next winter.
DMP, Does the RR epoxy CE still look blue after it’s on the board? Or is it just blue in the bucket? I just ordered some and would prefer clear over blue for the finished product, and I still have time to change the order. Thanks,
It doesn’t look blue on the board. Under shop lights next to a regular poly or an eps with regular RR it has a super slight grey or dirty white tint, nothing really noticeable just an odd tint. Even up close it is hard to see any blue on the board, just kind of a funny haze.
The illusion is when you take it out in full sun. It will look brilliant white. Something about the way the human eye see’s colors and precieves the color of white. But then again the ice9 foam isn’t as white as the eps.
Also no yellowing after 2 months. I’d forgotten how badly pu foam yellows in the sun unprotected. The cutoffs after a few days turn a dirty yellow.
A glasser that helps me with my glassing is using regular RR to laminate and then the CE for sanding and glossing on boards with colorwork. But I’m finding that I enjoy using the CE over the regular RR to laminate, it might just be the foam but it seems to flow a bit better.
A tip that might be unique to my high humidity/temperatures is that I have to wipe any previous sanding coats down with denatured alcohol to recoat on the CE. If I don’t it doesn’t stick very well and that is with using the full recommended amounts of X55 and additive-f. With the regular RR I don’t have this issue.
I’ve got a 6’8" that I just finished for myself and will try some more color. I’ll try to post picures of the painted foam and then how it looks after it’s glassed with the CE.
