Hi everybody - I was thinking about something I read last week. It read like Greg L. was saying the sheet eps, for home insulation, makers had gotten in some “trouble” because their stuff absorbed water… so, and this is the part that is unclear to me, I was wondering if that means they are making the sheet stuff with the new “edro” process - thus making it non-water-absorbing. Has anyone heard if this is indeed a “fact” regarding the “off the shelf” sheet stuff?
Still trying to save as much money as I can - Taylor.
I’m not sure what that new “edro” tech. is, but I can tell you that spending 50 or even 60 bucks on good foam is worth the investment. I’m waiting for some surfcore foam now… coming in from FL… and the stuff is supposed to be so tight that you don’t even need to seal it! According to the manufacturer (also a board builder), there’s just enough bead to form a good mechanical bond, but tight and hard enough to not soak up too much resin as to leave pinholes in the lam. So you save money, time and materials on the sealing. Just thought cost/benefit theory along… If anybody’s used this stuff and has any input, I’d really like to hear it… I’ve never used it before, just trying it out for the first time…
Not sure about the edro myself, tight beads sound good, any weight factor?
But I must say sealing the foam takes little time and almost negligible money. Not worth not doing in my opinion, partcularly with slower curing epoxy.
I was looking at the data sheet on “Insulfoam’s” web site - the 1.8lb still had some water absorbtion… The quote, I guess not by GregL, as I tried to look it up, made me think the manufactures of the sheets may have had to tighten up there beads/use the process which makes it non-absorbing. I can get the “fancy” stuff, but it cost more and is not as easy to get - down the street at the lumber yard - so I couldn’t help but wonder… It’d be nice.
I had success with the blue dow extruded, no delams/bubbles, but, as I wrote before, at 1 7/8" with cabon fiber “stringer” and deep full length channel - I guess it was 1 1/4" thick at the middle - It buckeld in some head high thick reef waves.
I am making one with the pink owens corning, and it has been a bubbley nightmare… I guess all extruded is not the same. Ha! I’ll try the pin holes, and hope for the best. Fortunatly it is not going to be a frequent rider - big gunny thing, so I recon I’ll live with it. Got a 3/4" cedar stringer, so I hope it holds up that way…
One way or another I’m gonna go with the beads next time, I am trying to figure out if I can find “sheets” that will be good enough… although as I think about it, the nice hard epoxy never cracked through on a ding, so the water absorbtion may not be too much of a concern. I stepped on a “rockery” rock on a jetty, fell right on the board on the rail and it only scratched it!! So, that was stoking.
Anyway - thanks for the replies. Keep up the great work. Taylor
well if it’s a complete waste of time to be building a simple surfboard out of this insulfoam cr*p my brother and I have to be complete idiots and fools to be trying to build out a 16’ 4-man Hawaiian outrigger canoe from the sheets…
I don’t know why we’re doing it but it looks like I’m going be busy helping shape and glass this monstrosity over the next month or so… Geez Manoa you thought your fishing board was a challenge… must that hawaiian blood or something calling us…
So much for board building…
My brother sent my these photos as a heads up of what’s coming over to our house this weekend…
I guess we’ll need a temporary tent/canoe house for a while in the back…
well if it’s a complete waste of time to be building a simple surfboard out of this insulfoam cr*p my brother and I have to be complete idiots and fools to be trying to build out a 16’ 4-man Hawaiian outrigger canoe from the sheets…
I don’t know why we’re doing it but it looks like I’m going be busy helping shape and glass this monstrosity over the next month or so… Geez Manoa you thought your fishing board was a challenge… must that hawaiian blood or something calling us…
So much for board building…
My brother sent my these photos as a heads up of what’s coming over to our house this weekend…
I guess we’ll need a temporary tent/canoe house for a while in the back…
Something about having to have a canoe to paddle his kids around waikiki.
Must be jealous of watching all the outrigger boys playing in their canoes out there…
But we do plan on making a wood/fiberglass/corcell mold of it when we’re done. And use that to make more of them using the classic female mold boat lay up technique. My brother’s classmate Kainoa Downing was trying to get him started on it telling him you could sell them for thousands of dollars…
I’ll just be happy to finish the first and see if it works then get back to making my silly boards…
Like Jason said these are way to big and time consuming projects for my tastes who ever has to house it in their backyard like us during its construction is not going to be happy about it… I guess that’s why he’s moving it here…
Better hurry up and finish my three outstanding projects.
Edro isn’t a process it’s an anglisised shortening of the name of an Italian company - Nouva Idropress. These guys have a eps pre-expander that makes very uniform round beads. Older processes produced beads that weren’t round or uniform. When the beads get squished together uniform beads fuse together better, which means less space between beads which makes the foam stronger (stiffer) and less likely to absorb water. EPS made with a Nouva Idropress pre-expander and press is therefore attractive to shapers who are using it as a substitute for PU foam.
However if you are doing compsand boards - well fused foam may be a problem. This is something Bert Burger has pointed out - better fused eps foam will resist shear and will be stiffer than a less well fused core. This might account for differences in experience with guys in the States doing compsand boards and guys in Australia and NZ. As far as I’m aware there are no Idropress machines in AU/NZ.
I would love to have one of those for some of the spots up here. Would love to see and hear the reaction on some of the frost bitten, hood wearing, lizards up here When I bust out my outrigger. HA take it ez, that project looks like much work.
Maybe I can get kalani to do a handstand in seat #1
Lee - Good points. I’m just trying to collect all the info I can.
One - That is so sweet - no waste of time. Looking forward to pics of the full process and finished product.
Pin - Thanks for the info. Helps complete the picture.
Seems like tighter/more uniform beads/denser = heavier is the key to keeping water out. I keep thinking about the cooler I bought for a couple bucks and kept ice/water in for a month, and it was as dry as a bone when I cleaned it out. Could be something about the fact the beads in the cooler are expanded in the mold… I was looking at the web site for the “expanded-formed” blanks from Hawaii. I wonder how much of the “seal” you’d loose as you shaped it down a bit?
