so topper tole me that delany can get styro foam sup blanks from fiberglass hawaii for cheap
and they are from arizona?
any input?
is this the samesuperior stuff that segway
uses?
…ambrose…
looking for comparitive anaylsis to
pacific allied…?.
styrofoam.
Howzit Brose, Any idea of the name of the company selling them. I will be in Az in a week and could look into them for you. Aloha,Kokua
Aloha to you guys. Just the info i’ve been looking for. I hope some one could tell us some.
FGH gets their EPS from us at White Hot Foam. Probably a bit more pricy than allied, but the quality is amazing.
Is White Hot likely to be coming to NZ anytime soon? I would like to see how one of your blanks holds up with just a “regular” glass schedule.
Hell! They been stocking them at FBGH Kahului for at least a year.
White Hot Foam is also sold down in south Ventura, it is a division of Pro Wall. The mother company, Great Western Building Supply, has a processing plant in Casa Grande AZ. They supply the home building industry with drywall l and other types of building materials. David Steele is the General Manager, Daren Story is the California contact: (805) 983-4989.
The foam they developed is called “surf specific” EPS. They use a secondary curing process that yields are nice crisp foam that shapes excellent, and doesn’t need sealing previous to glassing. They are not preformed in molds like Marko, but can be hotwired as slab or with outlines.
I currently use 1.5, 2.0, and 2.5 lb. foam. It is very consistent and you can finish this stuff beautifully with a low variable speed power sander, softie pad, and some 150 to 220 grit. The foam’s crispness makes working with it quite easy.
The 2.5 lb foam I have, I plan on glassing with a cloth schedule like regular PU blanks. The 2.0 turns out stronger than all get out with 6/4 lams, the 4/4 are also stong, but have slightly more flex to them. when pushed hard with your thumb. I am glassing two 2.5 lb White Hot blanks this week, one with 6/4 deck and 6 bottom and the other 4/4 deck and 4 oz. bottom. These are two of the same blank, and I can come back to this thread with accurate weights once they are done. If someone glassed these with 6/4 top and bottom, they would be bomb proof. What I am after is being able to glass a strong EPS w/o the need for “extra” cloth thereby impacting the cost.
They currently have a good selection of SUP blanks. I have agreed to submit some utility designs to expand their surfboard blank selection. They will also have some of my proprietary private blank designs on hand which will save me considerable time and labor with finished rockers & foils without the need for machining them. This is particulalrly true of designs I am doing that lend themselves well to flat decks.
These guys can supply and are well worth a look see for your EPS needs. From the size of this company, I have no doubt someone could contract to receive containers of their blanks to NZ and OZ if one were motivated to do so. With the economy being what it is, perhaps they might partner up with a PU blank supplier, like Ice Nine or U.S. Blanks for interested parties?
Thanks for the props Dead. Good to see you didn’t jump ship yet on the states. There is still hope! Creativity, marketablity, and positive thinking will get us through. Although ditching this circus for warm water, uncrowded waves, and latino women is always a good choice!
Yes, it would be great to get our foam out to Oz and NZ. Distribution is the big thorn in the foam biz. Competing with the overseas foam providers with regards to price and distribution is a challenge, especially during these dificult times. But quality needs to find it’s place in this industry. Too many shapers claiming that they are making Ferraris, but using Volkswagon parts. Many of the problematic and costly issues that are connected with EPS/Epoxy are due to cheap materials. Along with our foam ( White Hot ), our competition ( Marko/Austin ) have successfully dashed the many bad stigmas of EPS at the foam level, with regards to flex, shapeabilty,and water resitance. It’s just a matter of getting it out there to upset the grade curve a bit. We all just want better boards, shapers and surfers alike.
Also, FBGH are a great bunch of guys. We are stoked to have our foam with them in the islands. Hit 'em up if you are looking for blanks.
D.
Perhaps things are settling down as far as innumerable foam choices?
At least we are headed to summer (already!) and a whole crop of summer surfers will become born or active again. If nothing else, summer is a fun time that people on the East Coast have been cooped up all winter and can go hit the Jersey shore…or Maine, or wherever. Cali gets the south swells, and let’s hope that hemisphere producs more than we got over winter.
Yeah, I got disgruntled about all the gloom n doom on the nightly news…and it was nice to get some invites to exotic places as well as OZ. I guess it’s time to take a little break and head back to Cabo and go screw around down there.
I make no bones about using both EPS & Polyurethane foams. Each have their strong points depending on what I’m making. I use White Hot for EPS, and Mowses Ice Nine for PU. Each shape their own distinct way, but both shape out very nice. Both yield very strong end product. Both are RELIABLE.
Viable options are U.S. Blanks and Surfblanks. Yes, there are others out there, but a man could go crazy jumping around trying to reinvent the wheel. These last two I mention have very extensive blank choices to pick from and this is extremely important for hand shapers: how many of us are still around would be interesting to know…I mean other than hobby guys and wannabes that have shaped 50 boards and multiply that by 100…we call it the “BSF” (Bullsh-t Factor).
Machining is certainly a reality and valid approach to today’s model orientated marektplace. It allows the consumer to identify what they want “I want it just like the Zooey Goo Emasculator”…and so on. However, one has to be aware that machining represents a middleman and impacts price structure that can result in a different pricepoint at the end of the line.
IOW, if you expect to charge a premium price to the consumer, you had damned well better have something unique that works exceedingly well and is in demand by the consumer. Otherwise any middleman costs come out of your product in order to compete in the real marketplace. Oh, and if it IS THAT HOT, you will be copied overnight.
I truly believe there is a viable way for board builders to make a decent, if not good, liiving if you,…and I ve stated this numerous times on Sways…build a quality product at a fair price, treat your customers like gold, and…DELIVER.
The reality of achieving this can hinge on many aspects…if you only shape then hand your work off to a glass shop, be sure that the glass shop is reputable and has a history of performance that gets the work out. It is far better to pay them a little more to assure a good end product, than to look for the cheap guys that are hit or miss on quality while taking short cuts on the materials they use on YOUR boards. You don’t want to be stuck over a barrel because the glass shop has had the board for five weeks when it should have been two. I had one customer that came to me that had brought a repair into a glass shop (where they originally glassed it) and it had sat in limbo for TWO YEARS. He pulled it out, gave it to me and I repaired it in one week. It was a magic board for him that I had shaped way back when, and once he got it back, he then ordered a new one from me as well…see how it works?
My formula doesn’t fall prey to other people not performing…I do smaller quantity entirely by myself. Why? Because I can. This means I don’t need a ton of accounts and logisitics including running around finding out who is or isn’t performing. Or which account has sold my boards and I didn’t get paid only to hear “sorry, we are going under”. The day or two I decide to take off is probably a lot less than the yutz’s that didn’t show up at some glass factory and decided to go surfing or are nursing a hangover at home. No wonder China is busy.
Surfboards can be an good cottage industry if you have a work ethic and car about what you make…it’s up to you to figure it out. Otherwise we’ll see you at The Home Depot.
I believe that the mother company is known as The Great Western Building Supply, it has a processing
plant in Casa Grande AZ. They supply the home building industry with
drywall l and other types of building materials.
Read the thread…I gave contact name and numbers in post above. Now posted in bold.
I've seen the stuff and it's first rate. Austin, Marco, US Blanks molded EPS, American Blanks, Imperial hard shot, all good ... real good EPS. Lots of good choices for EPS now.
Greg, your objective comments on other suppliers shows what a class act you are! You get one prop for “Pro Tip” whatever these props mean…LOL!
Long may you ride!