Alright who is using XPS foam out there in Swayland? Peobus please speak up… To me XPS seems like a much better a choice than ESP. With XPS you don’t have to mix up a witches brew of spackle lackle kookle just glass it. Plus XPS will not take in water even if you vent the heck out of the glass job. I plan on making my next couple of board out of XPS. Gunna pass on the Styro Spackle trip for now.
I will take gasing over spackling any day…
It’s not only the spackle and watersoaking of EPS…
XPS gassing is not always the major problem. I find it very stiff, but very dead feeling.
EPS is stiff, but doesn’t feel dead.
Make a few of each, and you’ll feel the difference.
You don’t have to spackle your EPS if you wood lam or Div/Core cel lam your EPS in a bag… with the wood layer you could even UV resin glass and finish off the board like a normal Clark blank only with an EPS foam core. That’s the beauty of the sandwich layer few people realize, but CMP taught me. With UV you can finsih of the board in less than half the time you need for epoxy… Don’t know about the final product but it’s no diff than the usual once you get the skin on.
I guess you could spackle seal if you didn’t want good adhesion to the lam for “spring” but it seems to be stronger or maybe stiffer wood lamming with glass to “bare” EPS versus "sealed EPS…
Jim Richardson uses blue foam XPS exclusively as the core of his Surflights. You might want to ring him up… But he heat pressures seals his blue XPS in a special resin/glass concoction before gluing on chunks of polypropelene foam just to build out a blank for his shaper to shape into a board… All in all a pretty complicated process but he claims to never get any delams with his XPS… But his boards are Blue XPS covered by Polypropelene foam and then covered by flexible urethane as the final layer over the glassed polypropelene/XPS board…
Per weight EPS doesn’t take on any more water than urethane. Will 1# EPS leak … Yes. Will 1# urethane leak … You bet. It has to do with density not the material. 2.0# EPS doesn’t leak any worse than ultralight which is 2.35. 2.5# density EPS doesn’t leak at all. You don’t have to seal 2.5 EPS either. 2.5 is the same weight as superlight Clark.
Mr. Shipman…
Theres a backyard guy in the Gulf that says he and his buddies have been using XPS with no problems. He told me the key is to not sand them down too smooth before the lam. Leave it rough, says he. And use white or very light colors.
I did a few with XPS cuz I had the material for free. I didn’t get good results(but, I’m just a concrete guy). XPS foam is apparently made using polyethylene and bad gas. Nothin’ sticks to the polyethylene and the gas is pretty expansive.
I’ve only made about 8 or 9 boards with the EPS and spackle. If I was a pro, like yourself, I would definitely be looking into the 2lb or 2.5 lb eps for making boards. You wouldn’t miss a beat due to the temporary foam shortage. You might even become the next “Shaper of the Year”(your boards do look awesome)
Bottom line is, I don’t have much confidence in the XPS, even if I left it rough and used light colors. I just don’t want anyone seeing me using pink foam(or baby blue).
I’ve heard all the bad problems about XPS, but I love shaping it, and haven’t had any of those problems. But based on what others have said, I wouldn’t sell any of them — just use it to make boards for myself.
And there are new ways that people are dealing with the problems. I was told in confidence, so unfortunately I can’t share the info. I have an idea of my own on how to deal with the out-gassing, but I still need to test it.
I say use XPS. If your board only lasts 3 months, build another.
I just finished and surfed my first board, made from three sheets of blue XPS. I got some advice on laminating from Steve Pirsch. He sugguested sanding (roughing-up) the finished shape to 20 grit. I did so, but only to 36 grit. I glassed 1 x 6oz. bottom and 2 x 6oz. deck using Resin Research epoxy with Additive F. My 11 year old could (and will) make boards with the stuff. Great product.
My board surfed well, was unbelievably light and felt plently lively. However, it’s a 6’4" fish, so it should be fast. It has a PVC stringer, which should contribute to the board’s flex characteristics. However, I surf in New England, and most boards feel rigid (frigid) this time of year.
As for delam, in response to the numerous posts here regarding gas bleeding from the foam, I left my shape out in the sun on two +100 degree days. I also but it in my van which measured an interior temp of 123 degrees. Did this help some of the blowing gas bleed off? I’ll only know when it’s warm enought for my 3/2 suit.
Cheers!