A) From Cobra in Thailand. The best fused EPS I've ever seen. Waterproof. Amazing quality.
B) From China. Close to sample A. Quality fusion of beads. Also looks waterproof
C) USA foam from Carpenter. Construction grade EPS. Not waterproof.
Evening Session - 12/20/2024
18 hours ago
3 comments:
EPS will never be water proof but fused bead hard tack will be more water resistant or impermiable than other construction EPS foams. Many EPS manufacturers in the USA are now blowing fused bead hard tack and some are adding cotton fiber to the surfboard and structural foams. I get a ingot at a time 24'x4'x39" from a foam company here in Florida and it machines and finishes out like urethane foam and is 3x stronger and about 30% more water resisitant than standard 2lb eps and needs very minimal spackling. I use a 2.2lb eps fused xbead hard tack. You can free stand a 200lb man on my standup blanks with no stringer. I say to hell with China Tawian, Thailand we can build better stuff here and at least we actually care for our enviroment. Alot of the popout painted boards coming from those areas have paint on them that has been outlawed here in the US for 20 years because of the dangers to people and the enviroment.
Mix a little dye in some water and stick those samples in there for a hour and see all of them soak up the dye and gain weight some more than others.
Peace,
Capt Ron
Absolute Trip Standup paddle surf boards
I stand corrected. Surftech/Naish/Starboard (Cobra Factory) calls it virtually waterproof.
It sounds like you've got some awesome foam. Unfortunately the whole US industry is not using great foam. I installed a gore-tex vent in a board with White Hot foam. It didn't look much different than construction grade EPS. Marko didn't look much different also, according to my friend who just shaped up one using it.
I do not have a name for you but there is a list floating around of the EPS foam block manufacturers that bought the machinery to produce hard tack fuse bead surfboard EPS foam after clark foam went down. I know there is one in South Carolina but do not remember the name. I know you have to be really specific when you order it ask for 2 lb hard tack fused eps for surfboards. And buy half a ingot if you have room for it it will save you money as having a block cut down to your size is almost 7$ a running foot cut fee at some places.
I do sell standup surf blanks but am not sure what shipping would be to NC from florida.
Peace,
Ron
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