Since Oneula and GregTate have posted their bamboo boards I figure I should keep the soul going with the boards I’ve been developing.
All boards are vacuum bagged with bamboo veneer, Greenlight’s bamboo fiberglass, some with Resin Research and some with a new epoxy system we’re developing to work in conjunction with natural fibers such as bamboo, hemp, and silk.
Bamboo stringers and bioplastic leash plugs are in all the boards too:
5’3" Fishcuit with concave deck (still need to hotcoat and install ProBoxes)
6’6" Rocketfish
6’3" Single Fin with biocomposite fin box & Bamboo fin made with ResinX
7’2" Funshape
6’5" Thruster
6’0" Fish nose veneered / random chopped bamboo reinforced deck patch
10’6" SUP with bamboo paddle (need to finish)
&
SUPER EXPERIMENTAL:
Ground up EPS foam scrap + Bamboo dust + natural binder compressed blank (Didn’t work - too soft, hard to shape, and broke at the nose when I dropped it off the racks. Ugh!)
5/16" cross laminated cambered bamboo veneers inset each side of bamboo stringer (Don’t ask, didn’t work as I expected)
Abandoned it, never surfed it, back to the drawing board…All in the name of progress I guess…
There’s a bunch more experimental bamboo boards I’ve made that didn’t turn out so well. I fear my camera might break if I take pictures of them
Hey. Good stuff. Tell us about the rails. Foam? So you are just floating the veneer over the foam? Or glass under? Why did you use a stringer? Tell me more. thx
I don’t bother veneering the rails, just 2 overlapping layers of bamboo glass is all that’s needed. The bamboo veneer is vac bagged directly to the foam with ResinX and it’s strong. I’m trying to stay away from fiberglass and conventional materials as much as possible.
I’m relatively light (160 lbs) and haven’t experienced any pressure dings at all. Got a couple heavier guys who bought boards and they haven’t dented them yet either. Although I did have a demo board I gave a local surf shop to pass around and a 215+ guy put his knee though it and dinged the deck into the foam.
Currently working with other natural materials to make my board tough enough for the big boys now.
Bagged hemp fabric under the veneer on a board a while back but the power went out at my shop (birds playing in the transformers all the time) and the lam didn’t take. Too heavy anyway with the hemp absorbing resin.
I prefer to use bamboo stringers for the additional strength and powerful flex characteristics the bamboo provides. It probably also takes most of the force on the deck venner therefore I don’t have pressure dings.
Hi Greenlight, Nice boards with Bamboo. Like the energy you have and enjoy reading the steps you take to get to that point. Keep up the STOKE. Mahalo, Larry
Got some neat developments in the works with different natural materials. Eventhough not many others really care about alternative materials and constuction methods I’m having a lot of fun and excited to be doing something positive.
I bag the veneer right on top of the foam. When wrapping the rails with bamboo fabric I use the edge of the veneer as a cut lap border and it’s all flush after cutting the lap.
But…
Sometimes I also use a roller tool for replacing the screen in screen doors (pushes the gasket into the frame’s groove) and push the edge of the veneer or laminated fabric into the foam.
I was just going to dremel a inset groove into the foam along the rail and stringer for the veneer to sit in flush against the foam and stringer but both your ways is so much easier…
And not having to sand laps is even a better incentive.
Got the LM35 yesterday and Matt’s ResinX the day before
Can’t wait to get glassing with the stuff
I even bought a special set of shears to cut the teeth in my yellow squeegees for the ResinX so I don’t have to cut them all out by hand with a razor.
did you use glass with the ResinX to put on the veneer or just resin?
The last time we glassed the jersey with regular FGH epoxy we got a milky look over the wood.
Is there something we’re doing wrong?
We did notice that the bamboo glassed compsand is way more flexible than a normal fiberglassed compsand with solid wood rails. Kindof helped because the board we glassed lost alot of it’s rocker when we bagged on the deck skin so having a flexible plank makes it rideable at least…
Glad you got the epoxy, I was worried the post office was gonna keep it for “inspection”.
I just use ResinX for the bamboo veneer right on the foam. But I am glassing a board right now with 4 oz. underneath the veneer to evaluate the toughness. I’ll get some heavy guys to jump on it!
Never used FGH epoxy but expect a slight muting of color through the bamboo glass. Not cloudy though. I use RR and have had great results with our new epoxy although there’s no UV protection so it yellows some. I don’t care because it looks even more natural that way.
Yes, the bamboo glass is more flexible the regular fiberglass and I feel it makes for a more lively board through without flexing too much and losing speed.
It’s like you said before “we now understand that proper design is way more important than materials”.
I believe if you design the board to compliment the material properties you have a winner! One of the reasons I choose to play with bamboo - the properties are intriguing to me.
Sure, I hear you. Mahogany is as far away from green as one can get. It’s ironic, but I use it myself on jobs that I do. That doesn’t mean I can’t think about rainforest destruction though. Glad to hear that you too recognize rainforest and watershed destruction.
Domestic over use of redwood and Douglas fir is in the same category of watershed protection and grows in the same types of habitats.
Just because its wood doesn’t mean it’s sustainable.
I absolutley agree. Overuse of wood continues to drive deforestation which leads to run-off and contaminated watersheds / waterways. Not to mention decreased oxygen replenishment to the ecosystem.
There are SO many alternatives to using wood in any project (bamboo being one of the best) that are much more sustainable and oftentimes lead to a better final product.
Only problem is breaking the inertia of a few millenia’s worth of choosing wood as the "go to " material for most things.
Hey, it’s kind of like trying to cure the surfboard industry away from 40+ years of Polyurethane and Polyester addiction!
Bamboo fiberglass - Coke bottle green tint in the epoxy lam resin
ResinX Pin Lines
Bio-plastic leash plug
5 ProBoxes installed.
I found out this board performs better and is much more fun to surf as a Quad from swapping the fins out in thigh to waist high waves.
Been out three times as a thruster in head/overhead hurricane swell and got pounded a lot due to low entry rocker and wider nose shape (15 1/4"). The waves I did make were really fun on this though.
