I tell you they are trying very hard to take away this industry from the hands of the surfers…still trying but without luck.
The only problem that I see is people like Slater and his followers. The followers can do (and buy) whatever he shows as the ultimate surfboard. Letting the industry in hands of the businessmen.
I don’t know. Who’s going to buy that fugly board? What’s up with that nose and tail? Maybe they can sell them for 60 bucks at Walmart or something. Do you really worry about this kind of shit reverb?
…hmm. not specifically worried but as mentioned, the public and surfers too can buy anything that some Pope pontificates.
See the last 40 years in this industry to see the relevance on some things.
In this precise case, Bayer!..businessmen ; corps…still trying; someday may be they achieve it. Hope not.
Hi reverb. Mechanization and assembly line mentality has been the norm for a long time. Surfboards are late to the game. I don’t like it either and would not buy a board built off a mill from a reputable shaper let alone from some factory by workers that have never surfed. However, this shit will not go backwards. It never does. I think the best a handshaper can hope for is some sort of a boutique niche market for guys like me that are locked romantically in the past or at least insist on things done from the brain through the hands of the artist. Mike
…hello Rooster, yes of course but couple of weeks ago I had a interchange via blog with a shaper from California and he really think this other way and laughed at me; he did not listened any of the points that I marked about their boards (he think that their boards are done in an special way…but its not) and if one of these guys have the opportunity to work with one of these corps, more if have contacts with any of the popes the stuff will remain at top of the line.
There s nothing new under the Sun, and if you have a proprietary method etc, ok but the problem is when the stuff is taken away by businessmen only.
Unclegrumpy, yes; hence I mentioned “still trying”, 40 years trying…still we are winning
Hey Reverb,
I really don’t think this is anything to be concerned about. The video was posted by Diamond Liners, an industrial coating company in Los Angeles county. I’d be willing to bet money they were just having fun seeing what would happen if you coated a shaped blank with one of their materials. Someone in the company no doubt surfs, or may even be a hobbyist shaper on the side. I’m in Florida, and Ive heard more than one story about people doing site vists to industrial paint shops and finding some employee building surfboards in the back of the warehouse.
I manage a small industrial coating shop, and I build surfboards in the back of the warehouse. It’s a thing; I don’t know why.
If you check out their website, you’ll notice no mention of coating surfboards. It would be small money for the type of operation it takes to apply that stuff.
(By “small money” I mean small profit. Not worth it.)
Bayer dropped the carbon nanotube research in 2013. I saw that video when it first came out. Seems like a lot of over spray and it would require the proper work environment. But, you never know, maybe an automotive paint company could do something that would rival the finish process for surfboards. They could do surfboards on the side when the car work is slow, or an enterprising person could make a deal to use the facilities when they aren’t busy. To me the Wavestorm is becoming an alarming nuisance in Hawaii. It is hard to beat a popout softboard that costs under $150 and comes with a guaranty. Entry level surfers aren’t buying real boards, they aren’t even bothering with made in China poly boards, they just go to Costco and get a wavestorm. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306374713701106
Saw that done 10 years ago. label a couple doors down from me was claiming it as “The next big thing”. No one bought it. I mean literally, no one bought it. As you would expect pretty shitty. laughable at best.