Just been reading up about coolites or foamies, and I’m kindof confused…
You see I get the empression they are just foam?
Is this just eps? Did they ever last long???
heres a source,
coolite still exists today and they still sell boards they are mainly for little kids that are beginnig to surf
The website for the coolite boards is:
Does Anyone remeber these boards did they ever last long because they are not glassed it looks like
Quote:
You see I get the empression they are just foam?Is this just eps? Did they ever last long???
according to the website:
- foam and hard wood internal stringer
http://www.thesurflife.com/images/materials.internalstringer.malibu.gif
- eps is polystyrene; they use what they call “durafoam”
http://www.thesurflife.com/images/materials.comparefoams.gif
yep, just foam.
yep, nipple and gut rash galore.
the '60s/ '70s ones we grew up surfing had no stringer.
I generally broke at least one a year.
K.F.C. had a ‘G.T. stripe’ model, with the good Colonel’s head [!] painted on it
…if you ate enough chicken to make you vomit, you scored a “foamie” / “coolite” board…bargain !! [and then painted over Colonel Sanders grinning melon !!]
.... chicken , a foamie, and 'chip[s] '
Evidently, the Colonel didn’t surf…
Hi - (different words mean diferent thing to dirrerent people). The first board I ever rode was a Teki foamie, it was a soft top, pop out , deck was covered in rubber and needed no wax for traction. I was more of a training/learning board than enything else. I can’t remember if it had a stinger.
As I remember it was nie on indistructable but then I was hardly pushing it, my mate gave it to me to learn on, then pass on to someone else, well I lost it when his camper van got stolen, but I hope it is still out there some where doing the rounds.
yea same , i averaged about a snap a year , snapped my first one when i was 6 , all i did was jam a bottom turn with my weight in the middle after a 3’ drop , they did break pretty easy …
i used to reshape them , cut channels and grooves , swallow tails i did all sorts of stuff …
nearly every holiday house around us had foamies stashed under them or in the sheds …
as a little kid i had the whole neighborhood quiver to choose from ,
had this sick one that performed real well called a surfer sam , v bottom low rails with shortboard outline … after i thinned out the fin, it went off , way better than the gts chunkas …
hey chip , hows the little shells you could peel of your nipples after they scabbed up …
my mum finnaly got me a glass board when i was 9 , she was getting to many complaints from neighbors when they came for holidays , only to find a modified board , or 2 halves …
thats all they were , just high density eps …
my friend who i surfed with as a kid was always dreaming of a foamie with a glass job …
dont see em around anymore ??
rather see a grom on one of those than a booga …
tend to see so many lidders give up in there late teens and not progress to standups , wonder if it would still be the same numbers giving up if they started on a foamie ???
anyway , they did the job for me …
regards
BERT
found these old pics from 74 , lonely 6 year old waiting for a wave , and another one showing me in the dunes in front of my house …
everyday after school and weekends , even before i started school , out there …
how lucky to grow up that close to waves and sand dunes …
where would we be if foam hadnt been invented ???
scary !!!
Thanks Bert!
I read that before Epoxy was known Kids useto glass them with polyester and get real disaponted…
Josh.
Quote:
Thanks Bert!
I read that before Epoxy was known Kids useto glass them with polyester and get real disaponted…
Josh.
My mistakes were using laquer spray paint, and trying to glue shells onto the styrofoam with model airplane cement. Here’s a Caleco that was on ebay a while back. Interesting template. Two sets of handholds. Possibly pre Jetson Era.
have to call ya the’nipple shell’ man from mandurah now then bert ! [you sick puppy ! I only used to peel great lengths of skin off my nose…the trick was to see who could get the longest single bit of peel…kinda like the ol’ apple peeling contests!]
Yours had a fin ???
woww !!! what a rich kid you must have been…or did ya steal it and glue it on ?!
the fins happened I’m guessing from about 1971, onwards ? [by then I too had my first glass board…or ‘fibro’ [?!] , as the cool 10 year olds called them.
[ nowadays, I guess all the 10y.o.'s would call them ‘bloody standups’, eh ?!!! ]
ben
I just saw a modern version of a foamie in a surf shop. Really hard EPS about 5 feet long, 24" wide and thick. plastic fins that screwed through the deck, very round shape with a big wide tail. Made in Oz. It looked pretty fun but I figured with stacks of foam around the house my wife would kill me if I brought it home. Price was a couple hundred bucks.
My first ever board, a foamie, was made by Firestone (yep the tyre company) had blue and red stripes on it.
Because they had a flat deck on them they were great for skimboarding, and after it broke I had 2 skimboards.
Hmmmm nipple shells, I remember them, and the stomach strips, pue agony but we went back the next day anyway, without sunscreen too. We were soooo tough…
cheers
Hicksy
…And even for a scrawny flyweight 8 year old, they were still HEAPS easier to stand up on than the old surfoplanes…more fun, too.
But when the early, semi-decent Merrin surf mats came along , I was already on a fibreglass board.
It would be fun to try to ride a foamie now, I reckon !
[Hicksy, Gray, Bert ? … Have you seen any at council collections or op shops lately ? Bert, do your kids have a modern one ?]
ben
your gonna hate me …
a few years back when i moved factory , i threw 3 of them out , early seventy originals …
anyway a guy called jeff viddler grabbed them off my throw out pile , said they had sentimental value , as he was state foamie champion of 71 or around then …
i tried to push my son into waves on one when he was little , they just didnt go , i dono how i ever rode one …
anyway , jeff should have some foamies laying around for sure …
regards
BERT
Bert, is Jeff Ken’s brother ?..I think I met him a coupla times, and maybe Ross knows him…he’s a surf gear sales rep ? is that the guy ?
might be able to do a deal with him…photos for a foamie, or something…geez, if he’s got 3 of the flipping things, and they were all FREE…he MAY even part with one…unless he’s got 3 grommets, I guess !
ben
Once I find styro big enough I’ll make a Skip/Lis Fish out of one, (life in the cheap lane) and just a question arent these plain styro boards too flexy?
ken owns a surfshop in queensland now , after he sold the ones he had over here …
your thinking of colin the oldest brother he has the van that does the rounds of surfshops , the original easyrider label …
vidler agencies i think it is now …
yea ross would know him …
jeff is his younger brother …
regards
BERT