I posted an ad wanting a shaper in SwayBay, but I don’t think it will get the views of a post in here.
I am looking for someone who shapes EPS/epoxy with perimeter stringers in California. The feedback on the forum is great from anyone who’s ridden one, but I can’t find anyone who is shaping them and don’t want to use my $$ to be a guinea pig for a shaper who’s never done one.
Also what size should I go for? I’m looking for an all around performance thruster, from 2-6’. My current boards are: 6’2 x 19 1/4 x 2 3/8 XTR thruster - my #1 board for all around performance, works great. 6’2 x 19.5 x 2.5 small wave thruster - lots of foam for weaker waves. 5’9 x 21 x 2.65 quad fish, and a 6’10 x 19.25 x 2.5 step up board.
I’m 6’0 and 195 lbs or 2.8m x 88kg for you aussies.
All my boards are single to double concave, and Blakestah has already recommended for me to ask for a flat bottom to get the most out of the blank’s flex.
Should I go wider and keep it short? or 6’3-6’4 and a little skinnier? I’m looking for input from the pros and backyarders on here who put more thought/testing into materials than 90% of the industry.
Love seeing what you guys are doing, and just want to get my hands on some of the newer tech stuff.
send a pm to Plusone. they’re on the new tech, all of the shapes I’ve seen from them are sweet and they’re a full custom operation. I’d still be expecting to pay more than what you’d pay for a regular mowed blank/poly glass…prolly quite a bit more, but I’ll assure you that if you’re willing to wait and communicate what you’d like out of your board with George, that you’ll be SUPER happy with the finished product…
I have been… but mostly long boards. If you want a 1#EPS, epoxy, balsa composite I can do it but you’d have to show me a profile, rocker, etc. for it to work the way you want.
My longboards, have been GREAT! Nice flex, easy turning, you name it! I love 'em!
Get in touch if you’d like to look at my construction, boards, etc.
I find the guy who is on top of this concept to be Greg Loehr. He was nice enough to hand-build an blank for me to try and the board goes very well. The springiness is “energized” and the deflection is centered right where your feet are, rather than at the rail.
The feel is an acquired one, I think because we are so accustomed to boards feeling one way. In a nutshell, someone out there will tap into the potential of this concept and take the act of surfing to the next level.
The rails are quite stiffened from bending and where you stand is more bendy, thus when making a demand from a turn the rails hold their rocker and the center deflects. By deflecting the rocker and the bottom contour change along the centerline of the board. We anticipated the bending (which is like a trampouline) and shaped the board to work best during this flex mode. This feature is important otherwise the board must be glassed to counter the flex by using patches located at the front and rear foot areas (we build shortboards).
I have a used perimeter board for sale at my shop (http://www.plusonesurf.com/images/parabolicoutline2.jpg) (too small for you) and I might be able to accomodate a custom board but not on this thread. The blank must be hand-built and would have to be arranged by a couple of different parties, so production time will take longer. Feel free to PM me, I’ll try to get back to you as soon as I can.
aquafiend65 - I would love to get into shaping, have wanted to since I started reading sways, but my place is so small I wash/dry my wetsuit in the shower and the boards are in racks in the living room, so I don’t have anywhere to work at home.
Plusone - I’ll get in touch with you and see if we can get something worked out. I’m in no rush to get it done and don’t mind waiting for good, custom boards.
whats up G. – how many eps compared to poly have you guys been doin – I 've been havin a lot of fun with 2# lately
with R.R. resin super easy to build , my laminator was able to switch over with hardly a hitch. been doin my own perimeter stringers on all kinds of different boards, keep in mind I HAVE seen a pendoflex naked. I wonder what old flex luthor is up to lately, might have to touch base and see if he is messin with eps.
you guys gotta come up to oside for a surf this summer when the souths start rollin in , Ill buy the sushi — s.a.
been doing a grip of different foams lately. Some are start-up P/U and others are pretty tech stuff. RR is going soo good once we started weighing it with a digi scale (best $40 we’ve spent in a while). Aluzine is kick ass tambien and fast like poly. We have an oven so it is moot. Looks like cost and speed will be decisive for production.
Our laminator does all of the above too. We are about 8 to 1 (poly to eps). We keep getting P/U blanks somehow so we’re busy! Stoked with all the tech/biz efforts coming our way.
You know, you’re right! Pendo and Pleskunas were on it back then. They were jamming graphite fishing pole blanks into their rails and that was around '76 to '78. good insight! We see some of Steve’s work from time-to-time and it is really refined. Been talking to Stanley a bit about a gnarly project he is working on (normal for him) and should influence the industry in the future.
Oh yeah, there’s a new extruded p/s that is showing promise, way ahead on the curve. I also saw another core that just blew my mind but it’s high $ for now. 2 years, tops.
We’d love to come up and check your shop; Joe and I really like the concept of surfer/shaper involvement you opened up! talk to you soon.
