I was just wondering what are the realistic percentages (ballparkish) of the two types of boards being produced nowadays? (AND RIDDEN!)? I’m sure there’s a geographic factor in the formula, but, what’s it like in the line ups in Hawaii versus California, or Florida, for instance? (how about the Aussies or Europeans, or Asians, for that matter?). People really hanging onto the polyurethane cores, or is there (substantially) more epoxy/polystyrene in certain locales? I’ve not travelled a lot, lately, and I’m losing touch with the (REAL!) pulse of things. (there’s a whole world outside of our home breaks). Thanks in advance for any feedback. T.
From what I’ve seen in mags, it seems like the gulfcoast and southern east coast of the USA have a large number of manufacturers using polystyrene and epoxy. It’s pretty far between the Epoxy board here in Norway. Guesstimate one epoxy to a hundred or more polyester boards. regards, Håvard
in my local i have about 140 manufactures to contend with in west oz ,up until about 3 years ago i was the only one with a few dabbling here and there, now we got 2 more significant producers of epoxy boards…i would guess in west oz about 1 in 60, australia wide maybe 1 in 150 to 200 …i think way more in west oz than the rest of oz because of the fact the technology started here with sailboards in the 80s …dont quote me there thats total guesstimate… regards BERT
Most of Austrailia is relativly new to epoxy boards although there have been some and there are more all the time. Hawaii is similar to this. California, epoxy is probably 1 in 1000 with only a handful building at this time. Florida, probably, is at about 25% of all boards built being epoxy. Texas is well above that possibly nearing 50% or maybe even more. Fact is, there are more epoxy boards being built in FL that anywhere else and more built in TX than in CA. Climate is a large part of this with reasonable production epoxies for California only just now hitting the market where they have been available to FL and TX for two decades. Also there are power brokers within the industry that have a much greater effect on CA and HI and even AUS than on some of the smaller markets at keeping the status quo. Much of this has changed with the emergence of Surftech and Solomon. Plus, there is a website called “swaylocks” that has finally provided a forum for discussion and this has led to the dashing of many myths surrounding epoxy resins.
speaking of epoxies just hitting the market, I asked this once before but didn’t get an answer – Greg, is your stuff available in San Diego? I’m going to glass another tow in board but “can’t try it if I can’t find it” thanks,
You can buy it in SoCal from Graphitemaster. Call Hank Johns at 323-261-1107 or 760-917-1107 or you can call me direct at 321-223-5276 and I’ll arrange delivery. By the way, Graphitemaster is presently developing new fabrics that will be specially made for use with epoxies on surfboards. This is one of the things that’s happening in boat building right now that is changing that business. I have little doubt that when all is said and done, all surfboards will be laminated with epoxy. As for core material, polystyrene will take a larger portion but urethanes will continue to be part of the mix for a long time to come.
thanks. Does the additive F go in lam or just hot coat, and in what proportions?
1ml per ounce of hardener (not total mix!) All batches get the F. Gary