I just did a google search, and found that several different densities are available. I was wondering if it came in different colors i.e. white. I saw that in the SUNOVA shortboard PDF that’s circulating around, they mentioned that they are leaving the natural color of the corecell, which is kind of yellowish.
The reason I ask goes into a discussion on the thread about the top 44 and compsands, etc. I thought this deserved it’s own thread. I was recently in the WISE surf shop in San Francisco and took a look at a few of the firewire boards. The shortboards, and longboards, looked really nice. Wish my 9’4" had a shape that smooth. Some of the mid range boards looked really thick, but I digress from the topic. Anyway, some were painted white, and others had a black pinstripe a little way from the rails, with what looked like the standard yellowish corecell showing where the deck had not been painted, but outside the pinstripe. I asked the guy on the floor about it, and he said that they had been getting both styles in, and that he wasn’t really sure if one was older, and another newer.
In an unrelated incident, I examined a friend’s firewire shortboard that had snapped at middle peak here in Santa Cruz. When I looked at the sandwich layer on the deck, it was easy to identify the outer layer of glass, the sandwich material, the inner glass, and the EPS. The sandwich material was a thin (1/16" ?) white foam, that was even in color throughout (not painted), and crumbled easily in my fingers. I’m wondering what this material was?
I know this may be seen by some an an inflammatory thread, but that’s not the kind of person I am, and that’s not how it’s meant. I was hoping to get some clarification from someone who knows. I’m far from anything near an expert on materials, but just wanted to relate my experiences and hope to get some knowledgeable responses.
i believe the crumbly 1/16" white foam is warvel. its a pu foam. im led to believe the negative properties of it are that it breaks down very quickly and becomes like toilet tissue when wet. its not mentioned on this site http://warvelsurf.com/products_wmd.html but a few wispers have led me to believe that a whole load of currently popular composites boards were made with it in australia and now thailand. it certainly doesnt look like something Bert would like to use on a well made board. it is much cheaper than corecell and does not have the durabilty of corecell either.
As Dave mentioned the white core is not corecell, it is polyu foam and doesnt compare favorably physically to corecell. Corecell and Airex are the best structural foam cores that are available but comes at a price. Rohacell is white but its even higher priced. Like everything else, Im sure there are cheap chinese knock offs being made.
I like the color of corecell. Its like wood without the grain.
Dave and Craftee, thanks for those responses. That’s in line with what I had thought. Btw craftee, nice board. What was your treatment of the rails to get that look?
I hadn’t thought of the knock-off angle, but I would be surprised, since it was purchased from a big surf shop here in town.
FlatSpel… no, no pics. That would have been nice, huh? I’m the worst person in the world for remembering to take pictures of things that are interesting at the time. It’s hard to step outside the moment to become the photographer, you know?
It has not been our experience that the standard PU sheet foam Warvel provides breaks down when wet. Some customers asked for a lighter formula and we developed a chem mixture to meet their request. After extensive testing this particular formula did get powdery and we took it off the market. However, our current PU foam for surfboards and sheet stock passes water/soak tests with flying colors. Test results will soon be on the website for reference.
The PU sheet stock should never be compared to Corcell or Divinycel. It is not structural the way PVC products are. When making the transition from PVC to PU (at least in our case) we recommend beefing up the glassing schedule to account for structural integrity. The trade off is flexibility, cost, and cut to size sheets to reduce waste. But, if you need it for structure stick with PVC.
Warvel PU foam is tough stuff. Some standard surfboards have been on the water for 2 years with minimal dings and dents. It’s the first full season for skimboards but tests in the water last fall on both coasts has proven our foam holds up when glassed well.
Structural foam reliability in applications is quite dependent on foam density. The same can be said of soft woods. My guess is that pu skins are denser (heavier) than equivalent structural foams such as dcell and ccell.
The whole purpose of cored skinned boards is strength to weight and shell dent resistance. Adding more weight via denser pu foams skins and heavier glassing seems like going backwards; whats the point of skin coring if the end result is the same as std pupe. Its much easier to get similar results with conventional easier to make eps/epoxy boards.
The PU sheet stock should never be compared to Corcell or Divinycel. It is not structural the way PVC products are. When making the transition from PVC to PU (at least in our case) we recommend beefing up the glassing schedule to account for structural integrity. But, if you need it for structure stick with PVC.
Sorry - that was confusing. Warvel’s traditional PU blanks are tough and durable. They weigh a little more but less resin is needed because the don’t drink it up. Our 2mm and 3mm sheet foam is durable but not necessarily structural. It holds up fine in a sandwich construction with a 1.5 or 2 pound EPS core, such as what is found on our Warvel Multi-Density (WMD) blanks - but it’s not necessary for this light weight, performance type board. When builders use the sheet foam they report that there are no pressure dents from feet and the foam returns to a smooth state. Corecel and Divinycel are very rigid and can enclose a 1 pound EPS core with success but more difficult to work with than PU. All products have favorable properties based on specific applications.
PVC foams also take much more resin that a warvel PU so even though the PU is slightly heavier and takes a bit more fabric in the laminate the final weight is approximately the same as a corecel sandwich. As discussed above, some of the early stuff had some issues, both in the product itself and in processing, but this has appearently been resolved. The WMD blanks mentioned can be used with or without a cored laminate to create very lightweight boards under 5#.
Some pics of a 5-10 made with one of the early Warvel WMD blanks. Glassed with Graphite Master Impact Glass and RR Epoxy. Going into its second season.
