Are foams like divinycell available at hardware stores or lumberyards at all? I’m having trouble finding some. I’ve found a bunch of different foams that I could buy on the internet, but it would obviously be a lot easier to go to a local store and purchase some. Also, what kind of foam should I use for my first foam board (skimboard)? I’m looking for something that will simply work, considering my first one is not going to be perfect.
Prolly not!
First skimboard should be just 1/8th ply, like Luan, that costs $7 per 4’x8’ sheet.
I’ve made two with 1/8" ply
You can use the HomeDepot blue or pink “closed cell styro”, and it costs only about $13 a sheet of 4x6.
Then gotta glass with epoxy resin.
I’ve made several kiteboards with such, laminating Luan deck and bottom, then glassing.
If you want to try Airex/divinicell, plan on about $60 per board, as it’s mucho dinero.
Even balsa would be cheaper.
I’ve seen some Maui made foam and glass boards that retail for the same as surfboards, using Clark blanks.
I guess that’s why most hi end foam and glass skimboards retail around high 200’s.
Sometimes Home Depot has sheets of urethane foam. It comes with a foil backing that you could probably peel off. I haven’t actually scrutinized it very closely, so I don’t know if it is dense enough, or possibly even too dense. It looks like it’s about 1" thick. You would be able to glass it with polyester resin.
How do you plan on making it… ? If you use those sheets you’ll need to build a mold for the nose. Though it’s probably the easiest method for getting a flat bottom. Cut the outline, round the top edge, glass…
I shaped a Maui style skimmer out of a broken longboard piece of PU. It took forever, toughest thing I’ve shaped, but a great learning experience. Must have taken me 15 full cut passes to get down to size… lots of work on getting it level. Not sure if I’ll be able to use it in SoCal, or if I should even attempt using it… but that wasn’t the point.