Hi Everyone!!
Always we talk about weight and strengh but we forget the flex of the board and I think is very important point.
Out there is a lot of fins flex but not about board flex.
Somone have any cents to share??
Which foam and glass job you will choose to get a flex + light and strong board.??
I´m talking of mid length board… from 6,10 to 8
Worrying about flex is overated on anything but a high performance shortboard. Just go with something that is as light as possible but as strong as you need. The pros notice flex because they are ridding disposable, ultra thin, ultra light glass boards that flex massively more than anything else on the market. On mid lenghts and up you are not performing to a level that is affected by flex enough to matter. Unless you are doing high speed floaters, high G force carves etc, flex wont matter. You may feel a difference but its just different, not better or worse.
Flex has become a popular chatch phrase but it takes a back seat to overall shape, thickness, volume, rocker, etc.
For my midlenghts I use US blanks or similar, ‘‘red’’ foam density, 6oz e glass+ 4oz s glass deck, and 4oz e glass bottom. Critically, I cut the blank to within an 8th inch of the deck to maintain as much outer (and thus stronger) foam as possible.
I am sure others will dissagree on my feelings towards flex as its highly debatable and there is no right or wrong.
???..there has literally been thousands of discussions about board flex , both in private , over the internet and extensively used as advertising fodder…have you been living on another planet ?
From my little expérience, lighter is board flexible it must be to not shatter or bog too much when it’s not glassy. But with common build tech and materials, a flexible is not as durable as an heavier stiffer one. So all is a compromis, like most off things with surfboard build.
Shapers don’t tend to talk in the correct terms and we haven’t seen as good science as in other fields. I’m new to this but basically it needs to be words such as Youngs modulus,breaking strain, point of deformation or whatever the correct terms are. A material has a point at which pressure will make it deform, a point at which it will deform permanently and a point at which it breaks. It’s also got the energy release. Most people mostly don’t need flex… But… I could be imagining it but I always found a PU board soaking up bumps a bit better…thks suspension system does have some merit…? A fully steel board to test?
Edit, so you want something with high elastic but also high breaking strain… Which tends to be very rare? You’d have to use 2 different materials to get the best response… Maybe even moving parts which is unreliable. What happens if you put different elastic strands with different elasticity but the same break point so that the stretch stops progressively rather than the sudden snap we tend to see with carbon fibre
Stringerless composites for strength plus flex. Aerialite is a dense foam that’s more flexible than, say Divinycell
Stringerless 2lb EPS. Min 12 oz wrap over rails, or it’ll snap pretty quick.
Dome vs flat deck, boxy vs round rails - most of the ideas have beed discussed a lot.
Flex is over rated as a design consideration.