Curtis’s New board.

Curtis Cromwell, who does all the glassing here and works in the shop, likes his boards a little different than most people.  He really likes the raised deck idea ( having had several of them), so this one is no different but this one comes with a much flatter and fuller raised deck than his past ones trying to gain a little extra paddling power for the up coming winter in 5/4/3′s. This one was also designed with a much deeper single concave than the past ones so a little more rise in the deck should help the float out also.  We’ve brought the tail in fairly thin so hopefully it’s not to “corky” feeling and hold in on the steeper and more powerful waves of winter. We like the epoxy construction and the blank is a 2 lb density EPS.  The rails are wrapped as you can see with a 6 lb. density  MDI urethane foam.   We have been doing this to all of our EPS blanks, it is stronger against rail dings and if you do get a small ding in the rail you won’t have the problem of it soaking up to much water unlike the straight EPS foam.  Dimensions, 6’4″ x 19 3/8″x 2 1/2″. It has a 12 1/8″ nose and a 14 3/8″ tail.

PU Blanks

PU or Polyurethane blank

PU or Polyurethane blank

The traditional urethane foam has been around since the 50′s when blanks  switched from balsa wood to foam and gained in popularity with the lighter weight surfboards. It is a closed cell foam that is poured liquid into a heated concrete mold. The liquid expands rapidly filling the mold and after time the mold is opened and out comes a raw surfboard blank.

Later the blank is cut in two and re glued together with a stringer added to the center. The stringer adds to the longitudinal strength and also provides a focal point for the shaper to use. The molds come in many different shapes and sizes and when deciding which blank to use when shaping a board you try to pick one as close to the desired finish shape.

There are 2 reasons for this, first it requires less effort to get the desired shape and second the foam on the deeper interior of the blank is slightly less dense and the closer to the skin it is more dense creating a stronger finished product. The way to create a lighter core is to make a blank that is less dense but lighter also equals weaker.

The age old question is how strong/ light do you want your board to be. There are 2 types of urethane foam on the market today the most widely used is TDI which stands for Toluene Diisocyanate. It is one of the essential components used in the making of urethane foam. It is also toxic and is the chemical used which was giving Clark foam issues with the EPA.

Also urethane foams can be formulated using Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanate or MDI, this is more commonly used and you may ask why use TDI when MDI is available.  The TDI foams can be formulated lighter while retaining their strength.  The MDI foam blanks will be slightly heavier and not quite as white in color, but they would also be more “eco friendly”.

Most customers demand a lighter weight board and the costs are the same so TDI is the most used in surfboard construction. Urethane foam is what we are used to, we know the way they ride, we know how to glass them and we know how to take care of them. They are relatively low cost and easy to shape by hand or machine. Most boards in the world are still made the same way they were 50 years ago and you know what to expect when you buy one.

- Scott