I don’t know about dingproof but this board was as close as I’ve ever seen. Balsa with graphite bottom.
Have some carbon fiber layers in it, to increase strength, but it probably is dingable still
Been done before-- think it was a Dwayne-in the 60’s-rubber baby bumpers all around.
Ding Proof!
When I was in Hawaii building outriggers, Karel Tresnak showed me an ama he had made with carbon prepreg. It was very light, about 2-3 lbs and he tossed it 10-15’ into the air and it landed on the asphault. Picked it up and no dings and hardly a scratch. So then, Shape yer sanwich construction board, Vac bag the laminate, then cover the whole thing with another lam consisting of .100 (4 layers .025) uni prepreg clocked at 0, 45, 90, 45 over 1/8" pvc foam. betcha that’d be fairly ding proof.
Dream on, can’t be done, always will be tried, always will fail.
I’ve seen more broken ASD sailboards than any other brand.
All that space aged tech is for space cases.
and threw it in thair and the 8 oz ama landed with a clatter !!!
,the peanut gallery went wow
the polynesian art has truly been clipsed by the long noses of europe!
while their mouths were still in the 0 position
the transendental image of DALE,THE VELZYcrossed the aisle and drove a two by four through the finely tuned plastic composite… or is that a screwdriver…its hard to tell from here
the value of hau is the renewable feature as well as the
lightweight flow-tation
undingable? is that a valid quest? yes but the renewable or eminently repairable is another question that should be addressed when being deluged by the ‘UNDINGABLE’ sales pitch
ajl… kudos the mat yes undamaged by a trip through 2’’ deep water on the fly,bounces off rocks impervious to elbow knee and cranial impacts in clinical studies using the hardest of heads,fins,as well as fins broken off at factory
to comply with unbreakable clause in the brochure
…ambrose…this one hair growing out of my right ear is unbreakable
Prepregs is a maybe a little more hassle then I think I can manage. 
Isn’t kevlar quite flexible? I wonder if a lam made entirly out of kevlar would be to flexible and thus the core or bond to the core would fail. So you would have to combine it with glass and or carbon, but if the kevlar then flexed alot upon impact, wouldn’t the carbon or glass fail? Does carbon cloth help against impact in any way?
Will thick glass over lighweight(soft) foam be more ding resistant than thinner glass over heavier(harder) foam? Why is sandwish surfboards more ding resistant? Is it all about spreading the load of the impact? I guess a more flexible resin/core would help (like a mat…), but that’s not by spreading the load rather it would store some and dampen some of the energy then release the energy(spring back).
There was some talk about a reef proof board in the past, don’t remember the techology behind it but think it was kevlar or carbon.
How about those boards they hit with a mallet on expos and stuff? All smoke and mirrors?
Sorry about raving about this like a mad man, but I’m just a little sick and tired of ding repairs.
regards,
Håvard
Let’s think about it…
Strong skin, weak core…must mean strength in the skin, so ding resistant, eh?
Moderate skin, moderate core…must mean it dings easier, but since the whole structure is semi even in strength, might be stronger against breakage…
Weak skin, strong core…eminently dentable, soft riding and mushy feeling, will look like cancer after a while, but good for slow response and ease when it hits you…
Kevlar is almost (85%) useless as a board building material, possibly workable if you limit it to the bottom, but you’d use very little.
Carbon is super stiff and non giving, so you have to figure how to mate it to foam.
If I wanted strong, I’d long into Gary’s bambo composites.
Aw, c’mon, a toy ain’t half the fun unless you can BREAK it!! And then get a NEW one!!
no such thing as ding proof , just more ding resistent …
i have boards that have lasted 20 times longer than a conventional p/u p/e , but in the end start to show signs of use and wear …thats my boards tho and there super light …
i have customers who show up with there first ding after 5 or 6 years , on my regular standard glassed boards…
flexible outer skins , absorb impact then spring back …with features built in to make sure the ride is still there in regards to flex and quick memory , so now you have ding resistence , performance and reduced weight …
secret , less resin more fabric …dont use materials that dont have memory …
regards
BERT
I like the more glass plan, Bert. Ambrose made me an 8’-7" last Spring, lots of glass, such that when I smacked the rail near the nose walking under an overhang on a pavilion at the beach, the wood in the overhang dented and the board just got some paint on it which buffed off. If I had done that with my lightly glassed 9’-1" the foam would have probably been crushed.
Howzabout carbon cloth on the 45 bias for localized stiffness and twist-resist, then kevlar on top on the 0-90 for puncture resistance and length-strength…Finish with a thin layer of glass for ease of sanding, etc. All over light sandwich…end result would be a bit heavier but bombproof, and still a bit flexy…
Haavard, like the rest of the guys said, either impossible or to exspensive/time consumming, I just finished no5 fish a gem at 5’8" 4ozx2 deck single on bottom of the strongest stuff i’ve used, the guy at Fiberglass Hawaii said it was 60% stronger than reg. “s” glass cloth they called it Direct S glass w/UVpur, My friend has surfed it for 2weeks straight and not a pressure ding, I rode it to test out my new fin design, it was so short! but caught waves (very small) so easily at 2.5 thichness 21±" width, I’m 5’11" x170lbs, anyway He Dinged it this past weekend, no leash+low tide+rock dance=reef wins ding No 1. Rocks and the reef are Hard period and not much you can do. BUT I do have one question of you, How did you ding so many boards, 1.No leash? 2. not holding on to your boards? 3. Kooks dropping in or are you daKind? 4. How many people actually surf in sweeden anyway? Ps. You’re the Programmer, Figure it out, maybe some old cobal, or fortran could help, showing my age now. G
This pic is mine and I don’t care what people think, its art for arts sake! 6’8" 3pc inlay via kinkos sweet.
Quote:
1.No leash? 2. not holding on to your boards? 3. Kooks dropping in or are you daKind? 4. How many people actually surf in sweeden anyway? Ps. You’re the Programmer, Figure it out, maybe some old cobal, or fortran could help, showing my age now. G
- Closeouts combined with extra low tide exposing the underwater rocks a little more than usual.
Norway is still not the capital of Sweden. Sorry, not old enough (just almost) to know cobol or fortran. Will SELECT COUNT(*) FROM tblWorldPopulation WHERE surfs=true AND country=‘Norway’ do? Somewhere between 50-100 surfers in my area that surf year round. God know how many people surf in the summer.
regards,
Håvard
Hmmm, I wonder what they make the floor of aircraft out of? Hard as steel but light as a bird… Darn spider keeps dropping down on me while I’m typing this out, I’ll suck im up with this vacuum cleaner when done posting. Wow, this phenolic backed veneer table top that my computer sits on is sure strong and dent resistant. Damn bamboo, I can’t get rid of it, or cut it down, there goes my back again. I’ll just try to bend it and break it, argghh. My pop used to tell me if you want to think outside the box, get rid of the box. What do I do with all these damn Wheaties? Storage bag?
“Norway is still not the capital of Sweden.” Thanks for the sweet laugh. And good luck on the quest. One season I was surfing a little rock reef almost daily, coming home to tear open the ding(s) put on the heat lamp, etc. etc. Lots of good ding repair practice. One thing to keep in mind, more complex construction may equal more complex ding repair, and dings will eventually happen, so… Peace, and good luck, Taylor E. Olson
When I set up my vac pump, I practiced with a 1’ square piece of EPS, 6oz E glass with epoxy, and 1/8" balsa. I vacuumed it all together, then tried to break it. The EPS broke but the glass kept the balsa from even splitting. Imagine how strong this construction is with more glass on top and a whole 'nother sandwich on the bottom…
The Aluminum/stryo boards that Dick Van Staalen Vaccuum bagged… the strongest i i can think of…
…josh
Last week I saw one of the prototype lexan boards from Chris Ruddy that was mentioned in a thread a few weeks ago. You can hit it with a hammer, jump up and down on it, whatever, and no damage. I haven’t rode one, but if you want a ding-proof board, this is as close as it gets.