Just read that Josh Dowling is walking away from board building or taking an extended break due to becoming sensitized to epoxy. Just wanted to wish him well and let him know how much I’ve enjoyed his posts here and elsewhere. Top notch work and always unique artwork. One of the true originals. Hopefully he can continue to contribute to the craft.
Maybe he could still make boards and just farm out the glassing? This happened to Huie also.
Geez, that’s terrible to hear
From Josh’s facebook page…
This will be my last shot at board-porn glory…for a long time I’d say.
I’ve revelled in the epoxy/composite thing, first playing with vac-bagging in 2005 - The possibilities for light weight and durability turned on all my lightbulbs. Technical innovations from my small workshop in Torquay became a mainstay in production of Firewire. I hand-built boards, to Nev’s designs, for a plethora of the world’s best surfers and surf industry bigwigs. And Taj won Bells and J-Bay on boards from my hands.
So I’ve gone full circle through my one-man band act to getting around with a clipboard, training teams both here and in Thailand, and of course, back again. All the while hands-on with systems reliant on a combination of epoxy and polystyrene.
I have pushed the materials to the highest levels in performance and quality.
I want to thank my many longtime customers, for who the wait for a board had become progressively longer in recent years. My modest livelihood had become more painful to earn.
I have developed an intolerance to chemicals in epoxy. It’s in the resin, the sanding dust, and the paints.
It’s been a long time coming…several years. It manifests as livid red welts on my hands, wrists, and clothing chafe zones. Going to work has become like the Russians pulling on rubber suits at Chernobyl.
Even with the best protective wear and scrupulous care, I get like I’ve stuck my hands in fire. It became unbearable. After trying elimination of possible dietary factors - coffee, milk, cheese, chocolate, gym whey…I’ve finally come to the end of the possibilities, and now it’s confirmed to be the epoxy.
So it ends. Doctor’s orders.
I’m one of a small percentage of epoxy users who get it, but I’ve pushed the odds with longtime consistent exposure.
Very thankfully I’ve gained a place on the Turnbull Surf Team - it took 9 months.
I have ideas…nothing with a big guiding light at this point, but ranging from having JD’s built elsewhere, to training in another industry.
I would dream of a hands-free lamination process to match the shaping machines, or fully 3d printed JD’s.
Maybe there’s a crossover there…go back to school in CadCam, lazer cutting, 3d printing.
And maybe there’s a silver lining in it.
I’d like to bounce back in some new form, but it’ll be a long game.
Time for a lot of thought, some head-clearing, some painting and surfing.
JD
Your work has always served as inspiration for me. So sorry to hear of this limiting development on your creativity, which is abundant. Sometimes things happen for a reason, and end up being an opportunity for you to explore your other gifted talents.
All my best to you and prayers at night that your body clears up to give you daily comfort.
BF aka DS
high performance
He could use polyurea/polyaspartic instead of epoxy.
there are hundreds of adhesives and resins to use and materials that are not epoxy… making boards is unsustainable for other reasons. A real issue is the promotion of surfing for financial gain (bad, as it only benefits the person making the money, so not sustainable.) Trying to satisfy a niche market of high performance (only a handful a surfers benefit from it and no one in the lineup truthfully likes those guys).
The whole belief system and social structure of the rules of surfing from the 70’s is done. Who is a kook and who is a legend - no one gives a shit. Pro surfing is pretty boring to watch. Grown men behaving like alpha males using aggression tactics to get more waves around children is borderline criminal (and creepy as hell).
So diversify. enjoy surfing . let people figure out for themselves like we did . dont promote it. make a few boards out of non toxic shit. dont talk it up about the fish you were catching yesterday. keep it to yourself. dont text your mates when there is waves. throw away your cellphones and be friendly to the people who are there in the water. because they are the truly dedicated. and assume that the crew you’re with can surf, and take turns
It’s really sad to see someone at the top of their game having to step away for health reasons. I’m sure Josh can find alternatives, but it means starting all over to get the formula just right.
He has been an inspiration for where we could be as far as board making goes. I find it interesting that only a handful of people have continued down the compsand path as far as he did.
I miss those speedneedle days when it was new and everyone had a monicker even Paul.
Bert had just come on with greg, holly, delbert pumpernickle, and a band of others
I too got the dreaded exposure years ago from playing around with things like ResinX and others, although I blame it more on System3 and the dreaded acetone mistake.
I should’ve listened to the warnings Charlie Wong gave us when we demo’d our bagging technique at UncleD’s house. but Sharkcountry liked to splash a lot and make a mess for his cleanup boy (me) wiping the drippings off the garage before our pops blew his mind.
Best wishes Josh - this wouldn’t have been as much fun without you here during those early vacuum bag years.
I also have a sensitivity to epoxy. This from 15 years of doing some board building and work on Yachts. Back when I was doing this work acetone was considered the best way to clean up for poly and epoxy. Cheap gloves would not hold up and it was common to get resin on my hands and skin.
I’m sure that JD is not just sensitive to epoxy, but also to many other chemicals as well. Maybe he can start consulting with others. His boards were always amazing looking.
I wish him the best.