…will be made of cardboard… …Specifically the boxes in which Clark blanks are shipped … …No wood, no cork, no plywood… …Please, no jokes about boxy rails, I’m SERIOUS… http://www.hollowsurfboards.com
Interesting idea. I know designers have been working with cardboard to make furniture, chairs, etc. Very strong stuff when put together correctly. 
Hey Synthetic fiberboards are light, waterresistant, easy to work with, bond well with glues and resins, shape accurately, but still slightly heavier than styro or the lightest PE foams. Wave of the future…probably. I’ve seen them plastic based, aluminum based, and fiberglass based. Traditional shaping tools, and rocker tables needed.
What the hell, why not? They do boats out of it ( see below) … and for all intents and purposes the Hollow WAVEs of the '70s were cardboard/glass/epoxy sandwich construction. You thinking of forming the sections over a form or male mold with mebbe a laminate sandwich construction, likewise glass/cardboard/glass sandwiched construction internal frames? I’d maybe think about something with a curved one piece deck section and a flat bottom, stuck together where the rail net the flat bottom with mebbe an interior fillet or flange for extra gluing surface, frames glassed to the deck section ( again, flanges for adhesive where the bottom glued to it) You could do a nickel-and-dime vaccum bag arrangement with a shop-vac for suction to form it over a mold or an armature kinda thing, which would prolly be good-not too much vaccum that’d in turn crush the cardboard cells. Or just form over something- another board? - cut vees in the cardboard to get the flat curved panel to conform to curvilinear shape, like you would doing something with sheet metal, glass one side, flip and glass the other or something a bit similar to the way you do the carbon fiber/wood decks on the hollow wood boards. Double-stick tape would probably be the way to go, form-to-cardboard, to hold it to the form while making the shape happen. The bottom might be best as a couple layers, glass/cardboard/glass/cardboard/glass, 'cos that flat panel might tend to need a helluva lot of framing otherwise, with longitudinals, and even then it’s do whjat we in the boat trade call ‘oil canning’. Easy way might be to form and fit a glass/cardboard/glass sandwich panel to the framed deck section, then do the second layer on top of that when it’s stuck permanently in place. Dunno, that’s a few off-the-cuff ideas… be very interested to see how it goes. Best doc… http://www.gcbr.com/port.html
Tom Morey made one out of cardboard and silicone sealant for an advertisement. http://www.legendarysurfers.com/surf/legends/lsc405_1966.html#paper_surfboard
Hey Doc Good stuff. Wave Hollows were honeycomb sandwich hollow boards with trusses to keep the halfs apart and in place. They would have been OK if they could manage to integrate some strength in their rails, and also solve the expansion/contraction of air in the hollow form. Regular vent valves leaked and their hybrid membrane one way valves just cloged up with any grit or organic matter. Oh, yea, I forgot…their shapes could have used some sprucing up, as well.
Hey , Lee Yeah, I remember those things all too well. Talk about your ‘not ready for prime time’ technology. Sold them for the one year they were out…hooboy. Talk about returned factory defects… yeesh. I recall Gary Chapman was the East Coast rep for the things. And somehow he had gotten hold of this Citroen with a Maserati powertrain in it…another bit of horrible technology, even had a suspension that’'d go up and down almost a foot - a bizzare Franco/Italian low rider arrangement… and after a few pops at the shop one hot August afternoon he decides to do a little product demo. Takes a really ugly twinfin hollow outside, fires up the car and proceeds to do a burnout across it. Flung it high in the air and down it came with a crash and a bang, pretty much intact except for a black tread mark on the deck and a few scratches. I suspect they just gooped the halves together with cabosil and epoxy, sanded lighhtly and hoped for the best…which didn’t work out too well. Never saw the membrane valves, but the squirtgun surplus plugs I did see didn’t impress me much. And then there were the Hansen foam hollows that came out in competition with 'em… gah. That was a real bad year to be running a surf shop. Best Regards doc…
The story of how the paper surfboard began… http://www.legendarysurfers.com/surf/legends/lsc405_1966.html#paper_surfboard
I got a different take on what killed the hollows…it was the leash. Who needs an indistructable surfboard if you never lose it to the rocks? In those days, boards were still shaped with denser foam and heavier glass so they didn’t dent. We lost them to the rocks at the Lane faster than you could pressure ding them. Surgical tubing and a suction cup killed the hollows and changed the whole sport almost as much as wetsuits…Yeah, that’s it! It was all O’Neil’s fault…
another rendering of the storey is in the surfers Journal…one of the bound ,1-2-3 vplumes…cap the voids in the corrugations,thats what led to the ultimte dimise of the corrugated paper surf board…ambrose…I love the color or resined cardboard
what about paper cuts. Sorry guys
i remember seeing an ad in an old surf mag made by a cardboard company who actually made a surfboard out of many layers of cardboard ( i guess to prove their durability.) i think i remember reading that it fell apart after a few waves, but the photog got their shot and the rest was history. i think they made a log out of the stuff–looked real topographic… http://www.mandalacustomshapes.com
Sounds great, I love the idea. I’m always trying to find new ways to recycle waiste and use materials safer for the environment. I’ve been thinking for several month about expansed cork, then wooden hollows … but then wood/cork is expensive and I can’t afford it right now. Cardboard would provide a cheap and “green” way of building boards. Tell us more about your idea. Do you plan on using cardboard to build a honeycomb blank or is it to build the “skin” ? Pierre 
HAHA Hey man, lucky for you I work in a box plant designing boxes. There are all sorts of different flutes of boxes that you can use to achieve the best combo of durability and lightweight. If they can build a box that can hold 200 pounds and is lightweight, then yeah, it should be able to be made into a surfboard. Email me if you have any questions on flutes and things of that nature in terms of boxes. I can also probably supply you with a specific flutes if you need that.
I did suggest paper honeycomb in this other thread…what might turn out to be difficult are the rails…no problem though if your shell is going to be wood/veneer anyways. What about a paperhoneycomb/Foam(rails) hybrid? is paper honeycomb lighter than foam? whats the weight/m³ ratio of honeycomb? After all Snowboards are also built using (aramid)honeycomb pr pe-honeycomb. There was even a skateboard once that was built out of hollow aluminium…didn’t work out cause the rails got really sharp when it got older. Honeycomb is also a little tricky to shape maybe? cheers Marcus http://fluid.kajakworld.at
How about a ribs and frames structure made of cardboard and where ribs and frames are spaced every 5 cm (2"). This structure would then be covered lengthwise by narrow strips of cardboard (a bit like canoes built with cedar strips. Next, several layers of strips of brown wrapping paper would be applied diagonnaly, crossing at 45°… Pierre http://www.riparia.org/paperboat/paperboat.htm
I got a different take on what killed the hollows…it was the leash. Who needs an indistructable surfboard if you never lose it to the rocks? I had a 6’9" diamond tail Hollow that I rode in everything - California in all seasons and sizes and South Shore Honolulu to 8’. Never had a problem with the original drain plug or rails. The rocks at California Street did get the deck in pre-leash times. I don’t recall that particular honeycomb as being paper or cardboard - I still have a sample somewhere. In the end the whole mold process probably kept them from constant upgade of shapes. I think Pope and Johnson sold to a waterski manufacturer. I know at the very end they had some kneeboards, although I never knew if they were for surfing or waterskiing. Those days weren’t only pre-leash, but pre duck diving. Highly bouyant…I don’t think that would have worked. Don’t know how much the leash had to do with duck diving, but I would note for the record that duck diving came about after the leash. Enough of us around here remember the feeling of “turning turtle” and having the board either torn from our hands or, should one have a good death grip, having the heaving wave suck one with one’s own precious board over the falls. Heh heh heh… The product demo at the Ventura Surf Shop when they first came out: They had one hanging near the entry door at the old shop on Front Street. Blinky, the owner and one of the plug shapers, had a broom handle…walks over to the Hollow and just cracks it across the rail, hard, with no effect. Think low tide Rincon, California Street…rocks sticking up, loose board tumbling through the whitewater in imminent danger…younger minds stirred, a time when Something New meant more than having to buy new stickers and t-shirts…
Another successful paper vessel. Check out this site’s homepage as well. http://www.home.eznet.net/~kcupery/PBArtic/Hookam.html
Why not try the corrugated plastic that’s used in the US Postal bins. May last longer and the “sonic welding” sounds out of this world! Rob Olliges http://www.mdi.org/plasticTotes.php?PHPSESSID=d1c6ea1718c5b1702cd5d3c0eef281c7