My question for Mr. Loehr is valid and does not represent the rest of the crew at Moonlight. He opened the can of worms first, I’m just trying to follow up.
I was wondering if epoxy guru Greg Loehr had opened up a 100% eps/epoxy glass shop in California yet? Clark Foam closed down over 3 months ago and interest in epoxy surfboards is at an all time high. Loehr has the support of the surf media and has a solid cult following on swaylocks.com. It seems like a no brainer to open up a shop, especially in southern California or Hawaii. He could even hire guys from swaylocks.com to shape, glass, fin and sand. He could supply eps blanks to the public and have a cnc shaping service on site. He could be doing over 100 boards a week to start for the big labels and underground shapers alike. Best of all none of the laminators would wear mask or gloves because his resin is environmental.
All it takes to start a surfboard factory is a building (plenty of spaces available in Oceanside), some racks, work benches, and hand tools. He has a direct line to his own supplies so his only real expense would be worker’s comp. and payroll taxes (no cash under the table employees, gotta keep it legit). It’s a good idea to get a big van to deliver boards and pick up shaped blanks.
It’s seems like it’s all right there for the taking. I can see the sign out front, Swaylock’s Epoxy Glassing.
Am I out of the loop, is this happening?
Maybe Greg has no desire to live in Southern California, where everything is already perfect.
My question is why haven’t the Californians figured it out for themselves, since they probably sell more surfboards than anywhere else and have the entire surf industry located there? It all seems like one big giant question mark at the moment.
Personally, I love some of the epoxy I have had, but I don’t think it’s the total answer. It has it’s issues as well.
Didn’t seem to be a problem in the 40-60’s too much for those that crawled around in it in attics or worked in it in the shipyards.
Also working in nuclear reactors didn’t seem so bad for the guys overhauling subs and carriers through the 50’s and 70’s until my uncle’s face fell off in the 90’s…
Why does something that isn’t a problem and is certified “safe” for many many decades all of a sudden become a problem so many years later?
It never makes any sense
never does.
In the 60’s
We washed in acetone
we siphoned and swallowed gas
we sanded and glassed with no respirators in sealed rooms and enjoyed the legit high from the fumes
none of it was bad for back then
then all of a sudden it is
it’s a joke…
Paradox
An idiot tourist kid from the mainland comes over here, walks over into a restricted area for a photo op with some tourists chicks avoiding all the posted signs and trying to show off his sticks his dumb a** right over the top of the blow hole which is our version of old faithful. Sure enough when the next wave surge comes mother nature blows him 15 feet into the air where he falls back into the hole and drowns.
Family still sues…
they said the signs in the parking lot weren’t big enough and there’s was no dedicated park ranger to protect him from his own stupidity. You think the lawyer actually cared what made sense? No the family wanted “justice” that’s all. Same “justice($)” that the remaining families of dying glassers, foamers, shapers or any other production laborer or shop employee will seek from anyone with some money in the bank. A small business owner’s nightmare. Friends are friends till money gets in the way.
I feel sorry for the industry guys like TFAD and understand what he’s saying…
It’s kind of like the kids family
the buck keeps moving to another man’s pocket that’s all…
It has a lot to do with the identity of the parties who have the ear of the press and the politicians at any given time. For most potential carcinogens and other workplace hazards, it’s most likely a genetic crapshoot. Some people will have a sensitivity and manifest ill effects. Others will be able to endure repeated and long term exposure with none (as I heard several electricians say of asbestos and lead: “I’ve probably eaten a ton of that s**t”) Asbestos is bad because the fibers are so small in diameter that they can potentially migrate right through cell walls and play havoc with the nucleus. The fact that many environmentally induced cancers take 15-20 years after exposure to develop to a stage where they can be diagnosed doesn’t help to accurately analyze risks. Toss in a bunch of greedy lawyers who bribe physicians to lie under oath to clueless jurors about the interpretation of x-rays (with billions of dollars in damage awards and the fate of entire industries at stake) and you have a real mess.
Howzit oneula,I remember when that happened at the blow hole and thought to my self, what a stupid dip head. How about when the state decided that having life guards at a beach could make them liable if a person drowned at that beach so they cut back on life guards at the beaches,stupid. Lumahai is one of the most dangerous beaches in Hawaii when it comes to drowning and we still don't have any life guards there. Granted we are lucky to live in such a beautiful state but I sometimes wonder what our government is thinking when they enact cetain laws, the gas cap especially is a crazy law as we all know. Aloha,Kokua
Don’t feel sorry for me Onelua, I work in a safe well ventilated building and wear high end mask. My worst experience in the surfboard industry was my reaction to epoxy dust. Eyes swelled shut, rash all over my body and throat closed up. Too bad I wasn’t anywhere near acetone so you can tell me how stupid I am.
You know, you guys can make all the epoxy boards you want. I personally hate the way styrofoam rides. I was thinking about starting up a separate epoxy only glass shop in the next building even before Clark Foam closed down but from reading the bad attitude from the resin salesman on swaylocks over the past year I think I would rather not. You guys can have it, make a million dollars, I will even happily send you customers despite you “dead glassers” comment. I guess if you knew what I know you would realize how ironic that statement was.
My only wish is that folks like you survive and prosper epoxy or no epoxy.
I don’t think resin or foam will be an issue but more about how you guys can get finally paid what for you are doing to make it all worth while in the long run.
that’s the crux of the problem not the chemicals.
You folks are definitely due more compensation for what you do but I just don’t see the mentality of the new Johnny Surfer Boy/Girl the media circus has created supporting that train of thought. What you do is being rapidly commoditized by forces outside your control. When you become a commodity its all a price war at that point.
I pray everyone wakes up and realizes really what you folks do versus what’s they view of the end product. And then maybe there’ll be hope. As long as the industry is fighting among itself for the pennies at the bottom of the pot, they let the media circus moguls siphon off what is able to go in the pot in the first place.
Epoxy smoxy who cares?
technology changes and soon todays cure all will be proven as bad like everything else over time. Then something else will come around in due time and wipe out the I love epoxy argument as well… And as far as the styrofoam comment, well guys alot older than you say the same about their balsas, and guys older that said the same about their hotcurls, its all relative.
Hang in there survive and most of all prosper
folks like you and your shop make up the backbone of what needs to survive.
TFAD, I don’t feel sorry for your working conditions. They sound pretty nice. I do feel sorry for your passive aggressive writing skills. If you are a moderator on a site, I would think you would tend toward objective, perhaps positive commentary. Of course those feelings may just be pent up and released here, as evidenced by the clip of your other post that was grabbed and stuck here. It is public domain, at the current time, so it can happen. I think you will find that if your communication style, whether it is written or verbal, follow the patterns shown here, you will accumulate more argumentative and non constructive responses. This is all has nothing to do with your concern of the subject, just they way you discuss it.
And to follow another typical query on this site…about the reaction…got any pics?
I would also tend to stay away from a business that makes you physically break out and rash, regardless of what you read about salesmen to sway you. think about yourself on that one.
I work in a safe well ventilated building and wear high end mask. My worst experience in the surfboard industry was my reaction to epoxy dust. Eyes swelled shut, rash all over my body and throat closed up. Too bad I wasn’t anywhere near acetone so you can tell me how stupid I am.
Dude, might want to look for a better ventilated building and a higher end mask when using epoxy. Sailboards have been manufactured safely with epoxy longer than you have been in the industry. Was this reaction verified to be from epoxy? what type of epoxy? Did they use the sirens in the ambulance ride?I suspect it was the epoxy from years past, probably a 4:1 or greater mixture type. Probably total wrong application of product. Didn’t read up about it at all probably. What decade did all this drama happen in. Lets compare MSDS sheets with the chemicals in your shop and mine. You seem to be stupid even without the acetone.
Moonlight Lawn Services order sheet
Customer: SWAYLOCKS GLASSING
X Side lawn
X Front lawn
X Back lawn
_ Resin swirl cut effect
X Electric mowers/trimmers only
X Hand hedge clippers only
Special comments: No resin swirl mowing ever again. It scared the humming birds. Try to finish by 10 am, the noise bothers our employees. Any cinnamon flavored dust on the premises should not be eaten,VERY DANGEROUS!!!