Anybody here know any specifics about the construction? I’m wondering if Steve has to reinforce the corners of his scoop, areas that seem to me to be where a weak spot/load concentration occur? Also, since I’ve seen most of his boards stilluse fin systems, is he only scooping out to 3/4" thickness, or maybe he leaves little bumps where fin plugs go?
I know maybe I’m wandering into “proprietary” zones here, but I was going to try something similar, to solve my previously contradictory aims of volume and flex…
When I saw this thread topic I was really hoping you were contemplating gouging all the foam from the tail of an existing board and reglassing the back 1/4…
I’m doing a new build. I’m contemplating gouging out the blank to 3/4" starting about 22" from the tail, so basically scooping out the back 1/3. Any less than 3/4" and I have to go glass ons which I’m not sure I want to do.
Allan give me a hint, where’s the thread where you discuss the build of the black tail flex board (if one exists), or if there’s a discussion on your website, where is it?
Also, if there’s a thread, or some discussion somewhere on that finless board in the Gallary 5 could you point me to that too.
I’m not sure that there ever was a thread on the builds…they’re always a little different, but, basically, its like a Greenough spoon, but lighter materials, and some foam back-fill, like Mitchell Rae does, or that other Aussie whose name escapes me at the moment- he does very cool looking, pinny fishes, some with reverse cut tails…
All this flex stuff is just something to keep it fun and to keep the “what would happen if…?” quality going. Overall, there are pluses and minuses…they have a different kind of resposiveness than rigid boards, and a much more fluid feeling. Also I think that it allows a wide-tailed board to handle a bit more wave power and hollowness without getting skatey or drifty. The minus being maybe not quite as input-friendly as a stiffer board- meaning that its sometimes best just to let the board do its thing.
Although I should add that the stiffer the flex, the more power you can feed into it. There’s lots to play with there, for anyone who cared to venture down that path.
The gallery 5 pic is of a shaped-blank 6 channel. Its a tri-fin.
Sorry that there isn’t more text (yet) on the site- I just threw it together with ipod viewing in mind (maybe like recording music for transistor radio?)
If that gallary 5 board had turned out to be finless, and that was you or someone riding it on that wave, that would have been wild.With that in mind, maybe its best that you don’t add a lot of text - its was a nice little bit of torture not knowing.
Thanks for sharing. The board in the vid looks quite different than the one in the stills. It almost looks like the whole deck was EVA foam? And maybe the last foot was scooped to just glass?
ON a practical note, what adhesive did you use with the EVA(?) foam?
I’ve made quite a few variations on a basic theme, so things change all the time, but all the foam/flex board fall under the “nextboard” heading.
There are actually 2 boards in the clip- the one being ridden is a sandwich of carbon/bamboo/eps/minicell foam, etc…; the one being flexed on the floor is basically a more refined version: carbon/e-glass/eps/EVA foam. The epoxy itself is the adhesive for the foam- its all done in one fell swoop (exciting!) and the foam is trimmed/dialled in later.
The “Reflex” boards are basically the cores (or skeleton) of the
“nextboard” w/o the foam (muscles and skin). I was really intrigued
with the idea of turning boards inside out in a sense- getting away
from the hard exoskeleton (that shears itself apart with use) and
building something a little more organic.
I’ve been fortunate to have access to top-flight surfers who are
willing to collaborate on different stuff. It takes some coordination to mesh
schedules with swells and being away from cameras and crowds, so it
takes some time to gather feedback, let alone build the things in the
first place!
One guy who I was working with insisted that the foam detracted from the purity of the design (made it seem like a “kook board”), and so I made a couple for him (and a couple for me)without the foam. That was pretty much the impetus for the “reflex” boards.
He rode his at 6 foot J-Bay, and reported back that it was “the fastest board he’s ever ridden”. I’ve ridden a couple of versions, and they are very fast, indeed, though I like the foam top and rails- they feel nice paddling and under your
feet, have a good buoyancy, and they’re nice a clean and wax free. Light-ish (6-1/2, 7 lbs).
Durable, too.
I’ve been pretty busy with other work lately, and haven’t been so focussed on the messy construction projects, though some aspect of it is always percolating on a back burner.
To get back to your original question, well, i don’t know exactly what the Pendoflex boards have going on, so I can’t comment, but I do know that if you’re planning on scooping out the (structural) foam down to glass, the first lamination needs to be sturdy enough to retain its shape without the foam. At least 3 layers of 6 oz, in my experience.
I'm not sure I understand the concept, I do better with pictures. As for the eva foam I recently did a project lining the floor of a canoe. I used DAP contact cement, just follow the directions on the container. I used a sharpie to outline the areas I was going to cut. Big mistake. EVA will not absorb the ink, leaving me with sharpie all over my hands and tools. Hope that helps.