poly isocyanurate foam

General Discussion
1

Hello Folks,

I’ve been in lurk mode over the last year and have decided to jump into the fray. First of all an introduction. I’m what some would call a re-entry surfer. I started surfing in the “original longboard era” back in the mid 60’s and then one thing led to another and another and wound up in central texas doing medical research as a carreer. After a lot of years, i have retired and convinced my wife to move to Costa Rica. I bought a Bruce Jones Bisect as a means to resurrect my long gone marginal skills. I have a lot of free time and have been considering building a board. I have located a source of poly iso foam panels used for refrigeration insulation. 3" thick, 4’ wide and 12’ long. With all this beautiful wood around here, I would like to try a foam/wood laminate in a stringer every three inches arrangement. I’m not too concerned about weight and have a full set of measurements that i pulled off a friends 10’ DaCat. I think this could be a good shape for a 170lb 56 year old.

Now for the questions. Is poly iso a decent foam to use? anyone ever used it before?

Resin compatability? I would appreciate any insight, suggestions, warnings, or whatever in this effort. Looking forward to hearing from anyone.

Still got the stoke.

oldgringo

2

Hola,

The Isocyanurate foam works fine with polyester and of course epoxy resins. I’ve used it with the cheapest variety of boat yard resin to build stuff for the commercial fishing trade. Gluing doesn’t seem to be an issue either.

Haven’t tried to make a board out of it, but I seem to recall somebody has - search the Archives and I think you’ll find more.

hope that helps

doc…

3

Old Gringo,

I recently posted the same question on the forum and Doc gave me similar advice (check the archives). He is absolutely right, it works. My friend and I glassed a 2’X3’X3" piece of poly.so. foam with 6oz. cloth on one side and 6oz + 4oz. on the other (I used these weights of cloth because I thought the foam was too soft and you would need that much glass). It turned out fine. In fact I think an even lighter glass would do well- depending on your needs. I am currently gluing a blank together. I am going to put a stringer in because I fear the board snapping since polyester is weaker than epoxy.

Oh, Doc, if you read this thanks for the advice on the hot wire cutter- a 17volt transformer did the trick.

Have fun…

Damon