Has anyone seen these blanks? They don’t look like they"re imporving either. Some of them look like they didn’t use release paper. Stringer? They really should invest in a bandsaw and a few more clamps.
I have shaped 2 and my buddy has shaped a few as well. The foam is actually quite good. Yes, there is a little peeling off of the skin i’ve noticed, but it’s just the skin of course, it’s all coming off anyways, right? I have noticed the tiny gaps between the stringer and foam but as you cut in it gets less apparent. As far as shapeability, i’d say good. Seems WAY more uniformly dense than a Clark, that’s for sure. I guess the new elova has less twist problems as well. So far in Fiberglass Hawaii in Santa Barbara, they are carrying a 9’3 longboard blank (worst quality out of ones i’ve seen), then they have some 7’11’s with plenty of thickness and also they have a, i think, 6’9 which looks super good for a retro single fin as it has little rocker. I like those the best, yet to shape mine though.
average C-
I think our local supplier may be getting ready to have a fire sale on Elova blanks. They look like they’ve been burned. I guess if you cut deep enough you could get rid of those “gnarly” deformations. But it does make one wonder what’s below the surface? Those voids along the glue-up: How deep are they? McDing
is this in so cal? I need some reject blanks . . .
Years ago I bought a few “fire sale” blanks from a shop in Santa Cruz. Some of them looked like burnt marshmallows. They hadn’t actually caught fire… just heat and smoke damage. The insides were fine.
…Elova foam is still a product in development…there re all your answers…
…I used a lot, at all their development stages…
In Santa Cruz (Fiberglass Hawaii) there’s been a bunch of these blanks going around. I’ve shaped 4 boards out of them and don’t have much good to say about them. Here are some of my experiences:
- negative -
*they have deep craters and air pockets that come out during your rough out phase
*the foam feels softer than Clark and generally weaker
*the stringers from the batches we’ve been getting are as crooked as a politicians back (choose your blanks carefully!!)
*stringer separated from foam on my last shape
*a bit expensive for shoddy blanks
+positive+
*C- foam is better than no foam 
Larva------------Take the time and the drive to Pacifica and buy a few blanks from Matt Ambrose. Surfblanks Aus.( Midget Farelly). More variety of blanks, good density, hard foam and brite white. Nice small t-band stringer, no voids, good glue-up. You won’t waste any more time or money with Elova after you’ve tried a few Surfblanks Aus.