For those that might be interested, I did some research and I believe that the new Varial Foam is a customized Rohacel provided by Evonik Corp (http://www.rohacell.com). It’s interesting stuff, but too expensive for the average joe surfboard buyer. I want to see how the golden horde (that’s the mass market to you and me) will react to a surfboard without a stringer and if they will accept it. Much like Surf Tech’s TL2, I have my doubts… still, its fun to geek-out on new technology.
Stringerless surfboards are more and more accepted. No more a problem for me but use again a kind of stringer for performance.
Classific rohacell foam don’t like uv.
I mean it’s my belief that EPS is used so much now becasue it’s ease of use, price, and availability… Rohacell is a much better foam for composites, but I don’t think it’s going to used because of these other factors. It costs WAY too much…
There are other other types of foam that might be applicable to surfboards. I personally would like to test some PET foam, if I could get it in a usable density. It wouldn’t be hotwireable… But PET foam could get use closer to 100% recycable…
Looks like these guys did their homework…good stuff…
It’s hard for small time builders even with industry connections to get anything “custom formulated” for surfboards. There are def foam alternatives out there being used for different applications.
I’ve just done a composite with EPS / airex. The airex cuts well but takes a bit more sanding than soft foam cores. I recall Huie quoted airex in the past but has now gone past it. Airex is a bit dear for pure core $50 for a 4x7 sheet 5mm thick.