http://surfermag.com/features/onlineexclusives/vacuum-pack-surfboards-1-23-08/
thanks for pointing that out. Despite the ‘no one has ever done this before’ emphasis of the writer, it was a nice piece. As a front yard builder, I wish I could get away without the hotcoat. For anyone in production, it seems like this would be something to try to figure out. The article sounds like a lot of the stuff Bert used to talk about, but without the sandwich.
Pat
I will go check the archives, but it seems that Greg Loehr experimented with this many years ago and decided is was not the best way to go if you were not using a sandwich construction. I could be wrong though.
greayt pitch
key word enviro friendly
goes real far
pro endorsement
yes thats good
catch phrase jump up on
makes it a signed number in the equation
with price and durablitee
we have a market revolution…
so whats the factsof the process?
framed visquene vac chamber?
as to make it reuseable?
and wrinkle free surface finish?
the only flaw is lack of information
although I conceptualized the
frames pretty easy.
alas alac of a nail and a shoe was lost… where’s my other chuck ?
…ambrose…
hey pat; if the photos of the boards in bags are a real representation of what these guys are doing, them I’m going to hedge a bet that the “hotcoat” step is actually a chemical treatment of the lam to prep the surface for good adhesion, followed by a spray application of a clear coat. There’s no way they’re getting a smooth surface out of those bags…
nothin there that the average homebuilder can’t do with a couple of sheets of polyethylene or mylar, a scale, a roller, some cloth, some epoxy and a vac bag…
no real denying though; high fiber content = good; reduced resin consumption = lower production costs and higher quality/durability product.
“Shriveled longboards”?
(I’m not even gonna go there…)
Quote:
“Shriveled longboards”?
(I’m not even gonna go there…)
Too funny
Cant view it.
Surfermag is blocked from here and… Well, it;s surfermag so I can’t be arsed unblocking it 
Absolutely Amazing…I spent HOURS spelling out this thing to WES. NOT EVEN A MENTION? He had no clue untill listening to one of my RANTS about how it was all being done wrong. It is nothing new. Basic vacuum bag than “bondo” than paint. Carl Ekstrom was finishing em like that behind my shop 20? years ago. While I have gotten some good boards from Wes I have had to wait 9 mos , after being told 2/3 weeks. Most of my custom orders said they would NEVER get another one because of price and time…To bad he has chosen to dump on the little guy, nothing new.
wow… a new shop with “secret techniques”, pro surfers ranting and raving , claims of “shops will go under trying to figure this out” sounds really exciting. they better watch out, one of those mentioned shapers might take their secret overseas for real mass-production…and i’m not talking about Stu.
Quote:
Absolutely Amazing…I spent HOURS spelling out this thing to WES. NOT EVEN A MENTION? He had no clue untill listening to one of my RANTS about how it was all being done wrong. It is nothing new. Basic vacuum bag than “bondo” than paint. Carl Ekstrom was finishing em like that behind my shop 20? years ago. While I have gotten some good boards from Wes I have had to wait 9 mos , after being told 2/3 weeks. Most of my custom orders said they would NEVER get another one because of price and time…To bad he has chosen to dump on the little guy, nothing new.
Bondo’s the hotcoat??? I knew a sailboard builder here years ago doing it that way with the vacuum bags. That was what made me post that link here, the article talks as if he was doing something entirely new.
I kinda feel sorry for him now…
That is just amazing. Never done on a production level before.? Except for Randy French the last 30 years.
I bet the the mistake on on all those boards are FCS epoxy pooling foam eating mishaps and other rookie mistakes. If you can’t do a hand lay up right I can’t wait to see how the first 100 vac boards come out.
Like anything that humans touch there is a chance for error. Epoxy didn’t magically cause the problem. The problem is always with the human and I am sure if he hires any apprentice to help him they will also screw his “new” green vacuum bagging process up big time.
I take it the author of the article is not a journalist but a lazy editor where if it occurs in Cali it must new, green and super awesome. What an insult to all the sailboard and composite surfboard manufacturers of the past and present.
Coil comes to mind.
NOT! You take that back!
; )
Bondo… and car paint… shall not pass my lips in the same breath as those alchemystical constellations
they forgot to mention the glass job looks so shithouse they have to spray acrlyic over the whole shebang
btw otay
surftech does handlam not vac bagging
im pretty sure ive figured out coil
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they forgot to mention the glass job looks so shithouse they have to spray acrlyic over the whole shebang
im pretty sure ive figured out coil
1, Yep.
2, So you’ll share what you have so far, or no? Are you leaving balsa/foam sandwiches behind?
I never mentioned surftec in my post. Randy French has more about him than just surftech. The 100,000 plus non vented composite surfboards he has produced is very impressive though. The final finish is asthetics only, the function is due to accurately controlled heat and pressure on quality materials. The surfmag article is pure BS and I would like to see a race of who can glass, place fin boxes and have in the shop rack the fastest with the best quality and cost of supplies/equipment considered. 30 boards, head to head competition.
agreed randy knows his shit
building without vent is not a problem
most of us figured it out right from the start
its just a denser foam
there is a reason why sunova vents
surftechs have a very different "feel " to a sunova
i can see even surftech have jumped on the flex bandwagon
folowing in Berts footsteps