I’m going to glass my new 9’6" noserider with RR. I was able to almost perfectly duplicate the shape of my favorite noserider for the first time in years. Stoked on that. It’s shaped out of a polyurethane US Blank, but I was wondering if there will be noticeable difference in weight/feel between a poly and epoxy glass job?? The thing I like about the first board is the heavy weight and GLIDE I get out of it…Will glassing with epoxy resin make much of a difference in that sense??
Tenover,
I’ve glassed several pu boards with epoxy. They seem to be slightly lighter than polyester. I don’t bother weighing anything though. Just annecdotal. Mike
Thanks. Do you notice any difference in the flex and/or riding characteristics?
Add an extra layer of glass?, or step up the glass schedule a little to compensate? Keen to hear your results. Im keen to try epoxy, and if it is as user friendly as people say, im gunna make myself ( amongst other boards! ) a longboard.
I’ve made 2 boards with epoxy so far and the 2nd one was a fish and it’s definitely lighter than a similar board in poly, not heaps but still lighter. Having said that epoxy is a lot tougher and handles the bumps and bangs a bit better, poly tends to shatter easier than eopxy which soaks it up due to being more flexible I’d imagine.
In regards to flex though I can’t tell the difference but my experience with these things is limited.
Cheers,
Mick.
Had an epoxy HPLB in my quiver for summer surf, light and fun to whip around, a bit skitterish on the tip. So went with a reshape glassed PU w/S cloth, came out a tad heavier then the epoxy board, still easy to whip around, less skitterish on the tip. Weight does settle down the tip glide.
Put enough glass on your log to equalize the weight differential, wouldn’t think there would be much difference. FCD surfboards uses only epoxy on their boards, glasses their single fin logs w/6,6 bottoms, and 6,6,6,6 decks. Gotta think a glass job like that would be weighty enough, sure should be bullet-proof…
scott,
i think with a big ol heavy PU blank and 6x6 top and 6 bottom, using epoxy won't make much of a difference. epoxy come into it's own when combined with a lightweight EPS blank, and highperformance fiberglass cloths.
Shape it, cover it with volan, and use epoxy...It will still be a heavy beast.
Yes… heavy blank, heavy glass, fill coat, hotcoat… you’re good. It will have plenty of weight for noseriding. Other factors like rocker, widepoint, and rails make much more of a difference.
I don’t pay attention to flex, etc. Too fricken subjective of a concern for a recreational surfer like me. My only question is does the board let me surf the way I like to surf or not. It has little or nothing to do with the resin and everything to do with design and how I like to surf. I think they are a bit lighter. I glass all my boards 6x6x4. I think they last longer than polyester over urethane. I have a fish I built this way 6 or so years ago that still has snap and pop. I backed over the tail of my current 6-6 with my pick up truck. Snapped the fins off and did a bit of damage, but pretty minimal considering the loud crunch. Easy repair and back in the water. Was it the flexible epoxy lam job or did I just get lucky? I think it’s the resin. I like epoxy resin. I’m not crazy about supper light boards or eps foam. I think we should try to build things to last. I don’t know much about nose riders, but read people like them heavy. I don’t know. It seems to me if you can nose ride, then you can nose ride. I use Composite resin from Rev Chem. No mixing of sanding agents or excessive worry about dirt, too cold, etc. My shops a toxic waste dump. Ask my wife. Mike
Scott, shaped and glassed many pu blanks with epoxy, yes they are slightly lighter. Shouldn't make a difference not that much weight difference will ride great super fast.
bumping up this old thread for swaylocks member Plank
My experience using epoxy resin on PU blanks is just with shortboards but here are my thoughts: I do think the board will flex more due to the elasticity of the resin…this could be a good or bad characteristic…but it will flex more.
My bigger concern would be denting. Longboards get banged around a bit. Poly blanks do not rebound the way that EPS does. My experience has been that my Epoxy over PU boards dent when banged by knees, other boards and everything else that goes with being a surfboard. Where a PE glassed board would shatter you get a big dent but no shatter on an epoxy glassed board.