Here are a couple of shots of recent sandwich longboards that I’ve done and wanted to share.
The first is a 9’1" x 22.5" x 2.75" longboard gun. 10kg eps core, 1.5 mm balsa skins, six once glass top and bottom. This board is really fun in decent sized surf but lacks some weight to be functional when the size gets too big. This was the fist sandwich board that I worked on, in partnership with Atuacores.
The next board is a 13kg core with 2mm balsa skins and double six deck/single siz bottom (by memory 9’ x 22.5" x 3"). This one was designed by Pierre for his personal longbard gun- the weight is good, and the board is loose enough to be a pretty good all-arounder. This was out first try with an epoxy tint- the board stayed glowing raspberry for days but finally settled into this red.
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On our later boards, we’ve gone over to 16/17kg density EPS and we’re sticking with double 6 oz decks and single 6 bottoms. Everything gets hotcoated with epoxy and then the gloss coats are done in polyester. Weights are a bit under what I’d get for a comparable poly/PU board, without being so light that you loose your drive and glide. I haven’t been venting them, but that may change in the near future. No problems with delam despite some pretty heavy variations in temperature, and deck-dents seem to be a thing of the past. The one problem that I’ve had is that if a customer doesn’t notice a ding… the balsa really transmits water effectively, leading to long drying times and discoloration.
I’ll post a few more shots if the weather stays sunny this afternoon, or you can visit www.mana-moana.com and get a look at some of the other sandwich boards we’ve been doing.
Thanks, I keep working to get them where I’d like.
I haven’t tried a 30kg core on a sandwich board yet, though if I do another gun-style board I will definitely do so. The weight question really only comes into play with the guns and classic-style longboards, but I’ll post and let you know how that goes when it comes up.
On my all-around longboards, the 16/17kg weight seems to come in just where I like it. With that density and the 2mm balsa skins, you don’t have that ‘vibrating’ feeling that you get from the lightweight boards and thinner skins. Everything stays crisp, but the ride is a little smoother.
The boards that are skinned by Atuacores are done using their pump, which is a professional pump running at around -0.1/.2 bars.
While the skins are glued using Resultech epoxy, we’ve gone over to the Resin Research for our laminating and hotcoats- the production times are quicker, the surface is nicely sandable, and the resin very predictable.
The fridge pumps work great; Pierre built us a nice one that we used to get started and break out from time to time. I’ll ask him to post an image of it as I don’t seem to have one in my collection.
For my personal use, the RR seems to be a more user-friendly resin. Less odor, very predictable setting times, nice penetration. The quicker setting is nice if you plan to set boxes/plugs into 10 kg EPS without a PU/balsa insert, otherwise you end up topping off like a madman and the weight goes up. We’ve tried balsa inserts, higher-density foam ones as well, but as long as your base density is over 13kg and you line your whole with glass, I have yet to experience any stressing or cracking. I had some issues with potential epoxy allergies when I was using the Resultech, which have not been a problem at all with RR. Getting the stuff, though, can take some time (Seabase just got restocked by the way, if you’re interested, they should still have some available for a couple of days). Couldn’t state a noticable difference in strength.
Thank you John, and Tom. Despite the relatively few occassions that I get to ride them, I sure do enjoy shaping a longboard style gun every now and then.
Is anyone else out there doing sandwich longboards? I saw a board of Nev’s at the 2005 Waterman’s ball (I was really a fish out of water there, but that’s another story) but it was so light, high-performance and flexy as to be almost completely unrelated to the type of longboarding that I’m usually into.
I actually just bumped this up after seeing a recent shot of the first longboard gun at the top of the page. The guy who ended up with it still surfs the board up in Brittany when there is size (not a problem this year!) and it’s holding up great.
One of those boards that I’ve often thought I should have held on to… darn, there are a few of those.
