We do have the capacity to do this. We may not be in position to offer much credit is all. But we can produce the resins. Airframe is ready to gear up on the blank end. None of this may happen overnight but it’s all stuff that can be accomplished in a reasionable amount of time. You know, to fill in this period of time can be done, we all just have to work together a bit and help each other out.
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and what about the big guys like merric and rusty, what’s gunna happen to them after their blanks run out?
they go overseas, like they have already.
so what was the estimated market share of clark foam for high end boards? does anyone have an idea?
there are plenty of alternatives, but none that will be able to fill the void for quite a while
Is anyone aware of how long it takes to get a business up and running in Mexico? With all due respect to good intentions, time is of the essence. A two year lag in getting a major chemical company going across the border will leave you with zero clients. We need to look at NOW.
I think we are about to see a sudden price hike in boards across so cal. I think alot of the shops will make alot of money at first (because all of their current stock will have been much more cheaply produced/pre clark close). But eventually they will have to pay the price of higher costs and this will shut them down. Whats going to happen to all of those small fantastic surf shops and shapers that are just getting by? Will shops like f-ing surfride win the day? (I hate that place). Its bad enough when they hike their prices in response to the price of petroleum going up (=higher resin costs) but this is going to be nuts. I hate epoxy! I don’t want to and will not use epoxy materials or buy an epoxy board. I hope they (Clark) move to mexico. Surfs better there anyway. God damn! I never thought something like this could happen…this is like saying hey uhhh…we’re not going to make tires anymore. WTF! Some one will have to buy them out right? There is just too much money to be made with their products.
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All those custom rockers that took years to perfect, Rusty, Rawson, Yater, Eaton etc…gone.
I agree with you on that! Scanning though the Clark foam catalogue has almost become a ritual for me. Everytime I get the itch to make a new board I start scanning the catalogue to help me figure out what I am going to make next.
Time for a new Sway T:
“Heard it first on Swaylocks”
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I think we are about to see a sudden price hike in boards across so cal.
Well, I have a few ORIGINAL CLARK FOAM blanks right now… I’m selling a few of them as of today… 9’7"B Triple Stringer $500, 12’8" $600, 6’2"C $380, 8’8"H *very rare!!! $750, 7’4"R $400, 9’2"R *1/2 way shaped! $825, Call 1-800-555-5555 Tell the receptionist you are a desperate shaper for a free used planer blade!
Retail shops will be fine. There is plenty of surfboard production worldwide to fill the US needs. The real questions are when the Clark stock will run out, and how the gap in surfboard blanks will be filled thereafter.
Will Rusty and Al crank up the Cobra production 100-fold and flood the emptying domestic market with Thai-produced Rusty and CI poopies? This would be a death blow to any small surfboard producer that couldn’t get blanks or sell eps/epoxy boards under $500.
Will EPS and epoxy take off like a rocket as a drop-in replacement?
Will someone with resources put a factory in Baja and supply the US with blanks and life will largely go on as it has been?
It’s actually less critical for Al and Rusty than it is for the smaller shapers. A lot of them need to produce this year or start framing houses (or cutting cabinets, running electrical wiring, etc). If they can’t fill customer’s needs with blanks they can get they will be gone forever. Rusty and Al have multiple production mechanisms, make profit from other sources, and have overseas production that could be cranked up in six months time to replace domestic production.
And the REAL DIRE situation is the glass shops. If there is no domestic PU blank supplier they need to learn eps/epoxy glassing. To the extent the production mostly shifts overseas, they are mostly gone.
Howzit Greg, What about Az. for Clark to move to. Az seems like they are easier on the chemicals since there are so many boat building companies there. Would be a logical move it seems.Aloha,Kokua
Yeah I feel just like how I felt when I got the call that Dale died. But this feels bigger - more impactful. That’s because it is. Thanks for the head’s up Clark.
I had all these initial thoughts:
- It is like if they decided to close all the major grocery stores. No more packaged food. Only guys like Ted Nugent would survive.
- This is bs now we’re going to get more crap boards from overseas because domestic mfgs can’t get raw materials to make boards to meet demands. This summer will be known as the summer of expensive poly boards, eps and surftech.
- Big trucks get to Baja. Does anyone have the soundtrack to Somkey and the Bandit?
- The loss of all that tooling
- Isn’t someone already over in China selling the store so that they can make blanks that we’re already accustomed to using? (rhetorical question)
- All that talent, industrywide, will be laid off this winter.
- So how much are the condos and when will they be built?
- Shouldn’t this thread be moved to Industry Talk?
And then I thought… time to go surfing
Hey, the google ads at the bottom of the page tell me that foam is still made in our country.
Grubby just got lazy!
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Is anyone aware of how long it takes to get a business up and running in Mexico? With all due respect to good intentions, time is of the essence. A two year lag in getting a major chemical company going across the border will leave you with zero clients. We need to look at NOW.
True, wonder if Grubby thought of it a couple years ago and hasn’t told anyone? He may already be up and running down south…
As an EPS-only guy, I still feel bad for the glassing guys like Moonlight who have done such outstanding work.
But remember, the EPA (apparently) shut Clark down for a reason. The EPA is our friend, remember? 10 years to prepare seems like a fair warning. And the Aussie PU foam will be here in a month, long before anyone can set up Mexican address.
I’m looking forward to seeing some killer Moonlight Epoxy glass jobs. Can’t wait.
It was nice to pick a blank and rocker from a catalog and not have to hotwire a chunk of styrofoam
and glue up a stringer,etc.Hope they set-up somewhere else.It was nice to get blanks at
Clark Foam in Melbourne Fla.Now what?The price of shipping Sfoam is alot more than a Clark blank.
Maybe I’ll order that surf mat from Dale.The importers are definetly happy today.
Hey carl anyway to get me a copy of that fax? I would like to see it for a magazine article
My first time on swaylocks…I’ve been broke twice trying to improve on Grubby’s technology. (see Surftech’s website under McTavish) But finally have a heat and pressure molding system and fabulous tight 35gr EPS blanks in production NOW! Blanks 6’2 and 7’9. The foam is so good it supports FCS and all other fin systems without extra re-enforcing. Single 40z if you wish. Lightest boards you’ll ever see. Near the port in Brisbane, Australia. Anyone interested?
Bob McTavish
wow, im speechless…
very sad…
might be a good time to stock up on eps…just in case
im sure someone something will fill this new pu void…too much demand to leave such a big open hole in the market
…geez
Bob McTavish on Swaylocks!!! you’re joking.
Are you really Bob?
Welcome aboard…
Greg, what about the spike in the short term on eps foam production? Weren’t there some issues about styrene availability? I know there are even folks recycling it from existing eps foam, but with so many other industries looking at eps applications, will the surfboard industry be at the back of the line pricewise? The lag in getting some other pu source going would seem to push more people into the eps market, if only for a short time, as there are probably too many people comfortable enough to not want to change to a new process.