Decided to depart from wood for a while and embark on an adventure in foam. So I’ve just been on to Seabase UK to see what they are stocking, has anyone in the UK used their new Xtra-foam blanks yet? Are they any good? The nice lady on the phone couldn’t really tell me too much, she was very nice though.
I’ve not, but I’ve used homeblown blanks www.homeblown.co.uk and they’ve been good, I like the fact the’re trying to be enviromentally friendly making their blanks as well.
Its good news that Seabase have foam back on the menue, I used homeblown and it was good but slightly more prone to the foam tearing than clarke but over all very good.
I spoke to a prominant welsh shapper a couple of weeks back who said that seabase still have some clarke blanks left!, but I guess if its true ther’ed be off the menue for the back yard guys.
I heard that Seabase were going to start stocking R+R epoxy soon too, is the Xtralite foam EPS or PU, be interested in giving it a try.
homeblown blanks are a bit more expensive that the clarke foam that sea base used to sell what sort of price are the new blanks compared to old prices?
Yup I have been using Homeblown for the last 4 years. Nice bunch of people and a great service. Nice to see that Seabase will be stocking R+R though. I have found that if you move your planer a bit slower over the blank it will not tear. For your info Seabase blanks are produced in South Africa
I spoke to a prominant welsh shapper a couple of weeks back who said that seabase still have some clarke blanks left!, but I guess if its true ther’ed be off the menue for the back yard guys.
If it’s the same in the UK as in France, there ARE some Clark blanks left, that’s true, but only lesser used molds. You won’t find any 6’2"C or 6’9"A or 9’1"Y, all those are long gone… So, if you’re not looking for one of those very popular blanks, you might still score one (or several).
And, yes, X-tra foam IS PU, not EPS. And prices don’t seem so much higher. (Actually, no difference between ex-Clark’s 9’8"S and the new X-tra’s 9’6", for instance) I haven’t tried them yet, but plan to in the near future. (Although I’m using spanish foam right now that is a real pleasure to shape, very dense and regular, with THICK blanks. I like that, I never liked close tolerance blanks so much…)
Hey Tej, it was the environmental thing that I was trying to get info on from the “nice lady” she didn’t have any concrete info on the Xtra-foam geezers so I’m still a little dubious. I might give Home-blown a go. Where are HB actually manufactured?
Are Seabase definately going to be stocking RR, that will be well good, I’ll get some EPS from Wickes’ in readiness if they are, that’ll save me struggling with the xtra-foam/Homeblown conundrum.
The Xtra-foam is PU, it would have to be as Seabase only stock poly resin at the moment as far as I’m aware. Seem to be around the same price as Clarkes were as far as I can remember (never paid too much attention to them as I’m into timber).
Hey Nativeson, no idea what the availability of anything is like in the SW as I’m based miles away from anywhere in the Midlands, but Seabase is in Cornwall, they are the main suppliers of surf build kit in the UK. There are also plenty of builders yards and DIY shops, depends on the grade of stuff you want I suppose. Where abouts you moving to? Might see you in the water.
well, the deal is i have to wait for my wife to find a job(she’s brazilian) then we will decide from there. we are hoping for somewhere in the sw, but after seeing some of the waves in the ne, i may change my mind…
anyway, when we get there and get all settled in, would love to start having brit-locks meets(can’t let them ozzies and yanks have all the fun.)
Yeah man, the NE waves look great but my old arthritic joints couldn’t take it. I wear a 5mm winter suit with gloves in the summer in the SW and still ache the day after. Still, it’s all good.
1/ homeblown are made in cornwall, but they send stuff out fairly efficiently, there’s some info on their website about their process and enviromental impact, and the guys are really helpful on the phone.
2/ Yorkshire is ace, I’m at uni in Sheffield, about an hour and a half to Scarborough, there’s some awesome spots. If they weren’t cold and brown they’d be a lot more well known (sorry to go off topic).
Hey Tej, is Sheffield still a really good place to be? I lived there for a couple of years in the late eighties. I used to work with an anarchist circus group based around the Wicker (pretentious twats we were). I had some excellent times there, really fond memories, 5p bus travel to anywhere in the city etc. Never been back since I moved away, things change too much.
I’m going to check out the Homeblown site in a bit and maybe commit to a lump of foam if the mood takes me.
apart from the afore mentioned hour and a half drive it’s a great place. I’ll be back down south as soon as I finish uni though, I’m getting sea sick like other people get home sick. Let us know how the homeblown blank works out. I’m getting one in a few weeks when I’m home, reckon on a 5’9" thruster egg kinda thing, for some summer fun.
Living 2 mins from a good surf break and a couple of miles from the Homeblown factory, makes me feel really lucky when I read posts from you poor buggers in the back of surfing beyond. The Homeblown guys are good friends of mine and I can tell you their foam is great, at the moment, of course, they can’t make enough of it. On top of that their foam is the least environmentally damaging PU foam, mind you it’s still pretty bad, sort of the Marlborough lites of the PU world.
Xtrablanks , Safari Foam , King Mac Foam are all the same foam . Its not the best quality - experienced shrinks in nose and tail , has a big cell and pressures really easy because its soft . Its basically a cheap foam thats ok if your making stock boards(glassed heavier) or testing new designs . But I wouldn’t use it in any of my own boards .