If we wanted to build a truly eco-friendly surfboard we thought we had to just get rid of the fiberglass+resin solution and replace it with someting else since this is what creates the most environmental/waste/health problems.
We heard of some vegetal resins but, as of today these are not available locally and therefore are not an option for the local shaper.
Using epoxy with vacuum bagging and infusion is also a good way to reduce the amount of resin used but this takes a long time to master and we really wanted not to used any resin at all.
So we chose to use just plain wood veneer instead of fiberglass/resin. We don’t want any wood from endangered species cut from from forest that are blindly destroyed by exploited local labor force.
So we chose wood from trees that are locally grown and come from well managed forests (ash, beech).
Next comes the foam core … We though about vegetal foam (expanded cork …) but nothing is appropriate so far (it’s either not available locally or have the wrong dimensions or properties).
Hollow wood is not an option either : too much labor required and a pro shaper can’t use his experience (you’re no longer sculpting a board, you’re constructing it).
So what we have left is PU, EPS and XPS. From an environmental point of view polyurethane foam is out of the question. It is now even becoming illegal to manufacture blanks in europe due to environmental reasons… Plus, shaping a PU blank means producing a lot of foam dust, even with close tolerance blanks.
EPS is then what seems the best alternative since it is lightweight, has good shear movement properties, has memory…
But EPS has small open spaces between its closed-celled “bubbles” and that soaks water. This is OK if you laminate you board so that it’s fully waterproof and it’s even better if you use a sandwich skin (you then have very little risks of water reaching the foam). But, this would not work with a thin wood layer as the only way to isolate the foam from water contact …
Then comes XPS. XPS has often been presented as the miracle waterproof foam. I’ve tried it and after a while, like anyone else I had huge delams …
Until now we’ve built boards with the idea of a foam core that fears water and that we protect with a waterproof skin.
So we looked at it differently with the idea of using a blank that’s waterproof and a skin that might not necessarily be.
There comes the idea of XPS covered with wood veneer. The veneer is treated with a water based varnish that stops the water but lets the air go through. In case some water still go through and hit the foam, we’re safe since the foam is hydrophobic. On the other hand we expect to avoid the delam problems known to XPS since the skin is not air tight and lets the wood and the foam breethe.
So this is what we’re working on. So far, we’ve done a few panel tests and are about to build our first prototypes.
We work very closely with Atua Cores (Pierrek’s business of computer cut polystyrene blanks) as they’ve got some good knowledge and experience with polystyrene foam and vacuum bagging technics. Oh, and they do recycle all the waste/offcuts from the blanks. These are sent back to the local foam factory who puts them back in the producing process.