a Foam Shortage Future.

Well, I’ve collected these facts:

Clark makes 90% of the worlds surfboard foam.

Produces 1,000 blanks a day, 365 days a year.

Thats 360,000 blanks a year made by Clark, with the competition

producing roughly 40,000 blanks per year.

Some simple analysis bring these thoughts:

In the next year, Surfboard prices will rise more than the $100 dollars

many shops are right now adding.

The non-professional(hobbyist) shaper will be

dissapearing for a year or more.

Overall, Foam Distributors will favor their Professional Ties

and not sell to the general public with onesy and twosies.

This will support the Industry.

There will be a slight tightening of the number

of surf shops in the next 18 months.

Used boards should start retaining higher values.

There should be a thinning of the #of prof. custom shapers, but those that remain will be earning higher

margins per board.

This should affect the the growth of surfing unless used boards

can fill the breach.

SurfTech will expand their number of Models.

OR (a more likely scenario) EPS and Epoxy will become MUCH more popular amoung those who already have experience with it and those who don’t want to pay $100 more per board and the small time guys that won’t just stop making boards because they cant use pupe. EPS foam will still be in supply with no shortage (maybe not blanks but expect to see lots of guys hotwiring)

does this analysis figure into eps/epoxy boards? because home depot is selling blocks of EPS ranging from 1# to 3#, the 2.5# and 3# are very suitable for shaping, and resin… you can buy the resin almost anywhere… for the clear stuff, greg or surfsource… if you want to color your boards, then you can buy the homedepot stuff and pigment out the brown color. I seriously home depot will raise their prices because of clark… so, one modification to your analysis should be that some glass shops will go under if they dont switch to epoxy. then, hobby shapers will have to buy from home depot or eps manufacturers and learn to wire cut… also, this event will knock out some of the people that buy surfboards and never surf… all the wanabees out there won’t understand the price increases and probably give up. as far as the $100 increase… thats a damn good estimate… I saw it earlier today… and finally… surftech will probably have a 2 year long stranglehold on the market until companies make the transition over to epoxy.

So, to avoid all this craziness… keep on keepin’ on… think of it this way… need to do some home repairs that you have put off because you spend to much time shaping? go do them… make the wife happy, study some more in school… make fins for a year… its not the end of the world, just a detour for a year or so… think of this as an armistice so you all can figure out your lives and maybe pay the bills or go to work on time…

also, if you relax this coming year and not surf a whole lot, then your used boards arent so used… maybe make a profit on them… use the cash to setup for epoxy… which by the way, isnt that much differnet… you shape the blanks the same, lay down some fiberglass and pour the resin on… instead of pushing it in and doing things in a certain amount of time, go get a beer and wath the TV or play with the kids… or your significant other… wink wink…

I guess what I’m saying is just chill out… it will all work out in time… so for now, enjoy the ride…

now… im going to go into my garage and re-paint my aluminum fishing boat… grind off the rust, prime and paint… been needing to do it for a while… no better time to do it… and after that, imma foil a few fins and maybe fix my drill press if I have the time…

as far as sfoam goes… heres a pricelist…

Pricing Information

Price of blanks by Tip-to-Tip Lengths - Rocker Cut only - standard 3mm PVC stringer revised 11.19.05

Up to 6 ' $ 49.50

6 ’ 1 " to 6 ’ 6 " $ 53.50

6 ’ 7 " to 7 ' $ 56.50

7 ’ 1 " to 7 ’ 6" $ 68.00

7 ’ 7 " to 8 ' $ 75.00

8 ’ 1 " to 8 ’ 6 " $ 81.00

8 ’ 7 " to 9 ' $ 86.50

9 ’ 1 " to 9 ’ 6 " $ 94.50

9 ’ 7 " to 10 ' $ 99.50

10 ’ 1 " and larger Price on Request

Outline Cut Add-On Up to 7 ‘ $ 12.00 7 ’ to 10’ 6 " $ 14.00 Custom rocker cut pricing Change in Tip-to-Tip length $ 3.00 Change in nose and tail rocker $ 3.00 Negative change in maximum thickness Free ! Positive change in maximum thickness, per 1/4 " $5.00

Location of maximum thickness $ 3.00 Change in thickness of nose and tail $ 3.00 Custom outline pricing Change in Tip-to-Tip length $ 3.00 Change in width at nose $ 3.00 Change in width at tail $ 3.00 Change in maximum width Free ! Location of maximum width $ 3.00 Change in shape of nose $ 6.00 Change in shape of tail $ 6.00 Replace PVC with Wood Stringers 1/4 " Balsa Wood up to 7 ' $4.05 1/4 " Balsa Wood up to 10 ' $8.10 1/2 " Balsa Wood up to 7 '

$6.25
1/2 " Balsa Wood up to 10 ' $12.50 1 " Balsa Wood up to 10 ’ $25.00 3/16 " Red Spanish Cedar up to 7 ' $6.05 3/16 " Red Spanish Cedar up to 10 ' $12.10 1/4 " Red Spanish Cedar up to 7 ’ $7.20 1/4 " Red Spanish Cedar up to 10 ' $14.40

Note: 3/16 " stringers nominally 0.19 to 0.22, 1/4 " stringers - 0.25 to 0.31, 1/2 " stringers - 0.50 to 0.56, 1 " stringers - 1.0 to 1.06 1/4 " Bass Wood up to 7 ‘ $ 7.50 1/4 " Bass Wood up to 10 ‘ $10.80

3/8 " Bender board up to 8 ‘ $ 3.90 3/8 " Bender board up to 10 ’ (w/ splice) $ 4.90 3mm Okoume Plywood BS 1088 to 8’ 2" $ 2.25 4mm Okoume Plywood BS 1088 to 8’ 2" $ 3.05 6mm Okoume Plywood BS 1088 to 8’ 2" $ 5.65

Note: Adding multiple stringers, curved stringers, t-bands and parabolic - contact us for a quote.

Additional High Density PVC foam Stringers - color Black ( red, blue & lt. tan available on 8 ft. & under ) 3mm $ 4.90 6mm $ 9.80

All prices are US Dollars Prices subject to change On request, all custom rockers and outlines can be saved for future, exclusive use by the customer. Copyright by sFoam 2004.

Quote:

The non-professional(hobbyist) shaper will be

dissapearing for a year or more.

First board I ever shaped was an eps blank coverered with 1/2" balsa planks (the Bob Simmons way). Second was made of XPS + epoxy. 3rd and 4th were PU + UV polyester. Number 5 was hollow wood …

If a hobbyist has to start from scratch and learn how to do it, it doesn’t make much difference which materials he starts with. Hobbyists are in fact the ones who will adapt easier.

look behind you there is a guy dropping in on a 2lb luan mahogany

hollow board.and he is gonn pass ypou up

he introduced two pints of water into station three after the last set

bring the adjusted weight up to 5 lbs

this allowing the vehicle to out strip the plastic

versions so popular in the late 20th century and the begining of the 21st

the outright ban of plastix in 2007

brought surfing equiptment arrogance to its knees

when forced to drop the production of polutant ingredients

hair spliters were forced to bow down to the higher adapted species.

refined shelacs made the production of beetle based finishes

a premium comodity.

beetle farms went into overdrive production and by 2010 anybody with a fixed weight vehicle was left behind scrapping …

the world is a better place without plastic plague.

…ambrose…

foam who needs it

really