What’s your take on the parabolic stringer thing? There was a lot of hoopla about this initially, but I have not seen the approach taking over the surfing world. At this point with the yellow formulation we want to isolate the variables somewhat and scrutinize the weight to strength ratio vs. EPS and other cores.
P.S. I’ve gotten some PM’s asking about the weighing in method I mentioned farther up this thread…that can be viewed at the “Mowses & Ice Nine Shape to glass weigh in” thread found elsewhere in the Industry section.
What's your take on the parabolic stringer thing? There was a lot of hoopla about this initially, but I have not seen the approach taking over the surfing world.
I know I wasn't asked this question. However the Parabolic Stringer Thing has been slow do to manufacturing issues and cost.
Well I've shaped the yellow blank and it shaped really well. Really tight cell structure and super smooth. I didn't go easy on it either, ripped into it with a blunt sureform to see how it would handle and there was very limited tearing even when I gave it a hard time. I could run with the plane up the board and it just came off beatifully. This foam has to be up there with the best foam I've used in my relatively short career. Super light and a pleasure to shape.
Finish shape is 5'11" x 18 3/8" x 2 1/4"
I will be laminating this one with 2 x 4oz E aerialite with ATL epoxy. So we'll see how it holds up.
Surfblanks yellow
Skinned and outlined
finished
Please excuse the photography. I'll post more after its done.
…I dont have a firmly opinion yet, you know, to really test something you should need plenty of money and time and about 100 testing ($) boards with enough specs in different surfers, etc…
the basic opinion is that seems to work with light glass in small boards. However, with vac bag and 1/40 wood sheet or some kind of plastic sheet will be not too stiff and perhaps better in performance and in durability.
I dont see any advantage in larger boards yet
also, the surfers I can ask arent so good providing feedback. They, like most, don t know how to describe feelings on the board…
but, Im on the side of adding better stuff always as spraying speed finish
may be the gain is somewhat like 10%, but % + % here and there, in the end will be better
reminds me racing motorcycles (I have and ride mcycles), that the builders do holes everywhere to have a gain in final weight…its almost nuthin but all add in the end
and the most important fact, the psychological one…so anyone can think that its all done to provide him the best performance; so a surfer goes to the water with a better focus
Huie, Verb, and Ding (and others of course)…haven’t shaped my yellow yet but the blues and greens shape really well and I expect the yellow will be (hopefully) like my ‘lyrical’ experience first shaping the Mowses Ice NIne (Walker) formula. If it is, I will be in heaven. Gotta report that the 1/8" basswood was only fair in the SB’s however…nuthin to write home about but the glue ups were excellent. The shape out weight on these “appear” (my quote) to be kicking MDI Cane blanks’ ass and then some.
The foam takes paint really well, is not thirsty, and the cells seem smaller than quite a bit of the other foam out there. I was told by Marty and Andrew that the yellows have small tight cells and are more shaper friendly than past SB’s of two years ago…I can’t wait, but neither can my mortgage banker, so I have to plow through a dozen orders as a painter, glasser, sander, etc. before I get to ‘play’ with my yellow.
I requested profile slices so I can arrange custom rockers for SB’s files, and they made my drop at C.I. factory. I went by there last Saturday figuring no one would be around but the door was open on the office side and I stumbled upon one guy in his office. We wandered through the factory looking in likely places where they would hold the slices for me, but to no avail…still it was a nice tour behind the scenes…a real labrynth…vast…many, many, many boards in all stages of production. Basically a mind blowing experience on how big (and well organized) a surfboard company can be.
We’ve got another heat wave coming tomorrow, so I’m mega glassing all the poly’s and epoxies I’ve got shaped out trying to beat triple digit temp’s…the yellow will have to wait!
Huie…whatcha mean mate? Two? Two what.? You speak in riddles???
As far as the yellow, I expect good things…shaping SB’s blues the claim that they turn out hard and light is TOTALLY TRUE. I’ve done several Stoker V Machines this week…two were 6’6" from the Ice Nine Cane (feather) I had left over. These were glassed 4/4 and 4…then I shaped two 7’6" Stoker V’s using Surfblanks blue. One of those was 4/4 and 4 and the other was 6/4 and 4…
Well guess what? The 7’6"s out of the Surfblanks turned out lighter than the MDI Cane 6’6"s!!!
Same glasser…me. Same technique…same cloth off the roll.
That pretty much says it all to me. The MDI stuff sucks up the resin man. Thirsty resin whores that aren’t worth their mettle…never again.
Lesson learned.
Keep it simple.
And to add to this…the Surfblanks came out rock hard!
When you took those 100's of blanks from my shop I shut down last year I gave you a pile of PU.Did any of them shrink? Just wondering? All the MDI experiences made me reluntant to glass anymore of them. I think you might of got a few in the mix?
Ding…the one I talked to you about that you thought was a Surfari blank…bummer. I shaped it up into a neat little fish then painted it green bottom and lap with a 1/2" margin and teal blue deck…dropped Fusion into it and glassed the bottom…then watched the bottom bubble the 4 oz. off the foam.
Great foam eh?
Huie: …SB’s are good…but EPS still doesn’t f-ck you over like the above scenario.
Nah…the thing will go in to Team BFI. (Browning Ferris Industries). I might decide to act like some cheap old recycler bum and tear out the Fusion system and see how the look…no biggie. No hard feelings. On to bigger and better things.
Board is finished. Bit of a delay as family needs to be fed and playing around with pro's boards doesn't pay all that well, so other orders come first.
Bottom 1 x 4oz aerialite E cloth lammed with 250g ATL kinetix epoxy.
Deck 2 x 4oz aerialite E cloth lammed with 500g ATL kinetix epoxy.
Glassed on shapers M- MF honeycomb fins 7 strands of roving with 4oz up each side of fins. 100g epoxy.
Deck filler coat 250g Kinetix epoxy.
Bottom 250g Kinetix epoxy.
No pro coat or speed finish.
Finished shaped blank weighed in at 1.1kg
Finished surfboard with fins and leash plug weighed in at 2.35kg or 5Lb 3oz.
