Board Cooking Time

i don't know anything about fibreglass,,but concrete is 28 days

my dog turds take about 5 days in summer and 1-2 weeks in winter.
if that helps.
umm BTW thats white "figure when their white its safe to pick up with fingers "

Arkgee - I almost split my beer !! Wonderful stuff

This topic always seems to come up. Not just here but in lots of other locations. Here is some responses from a few of the more well known sources. I have spoken to several chemists and scientists at work who confirm these thoughts. I normally ride any boards I have made as soon as practical. Not real allowance is given for curing. I am pretty sure that by the time you get your boards from your Manufacturer they would be good to go. I would not be waiting. Too hard




www.surfline.com/sdg/forum/surforum_ham.cfm


Dave,
Can you settle a bet between a friend and me? He just got a new board, but refused to surf it even though the waves were pumping. He said it needed to cure for a couple of weeks. I said no way and bet him $50 that he could ride it right away. We argued all the way back from Rincon. So, what's the word on how long it takes a board to cure?

Stan Fitzsimmons
Santa Monica, Cailfornia
Stan,


You win the bet -- by a mile. But go easy on your friend because the curing myth is probably the most pervasive surfboard-related wives' tale. Legend has it that a new surfboard is still too soft or green to surf and needs to harden more, or cure, for some arbitrary period of time. I guess that if it's ridden before then, it will disintegrate or turn into a pumpkin at midnight or something. I've heard everything from a week to up to two months as the purported cure time. Greg Martz, owner of Waterman's Guild, told me a great story about a customer who brought back a brand-new board after three weeks -- never ridden -- complaining about the quality of the glass job. The whole bottom of the board was pockmarked with bubbles and was delaminated around the fin boxes, and yet the customer claimed the board hadn't been used or left in the sun. After some grilling (knowing Greg, he probably threatened to dunk the guy's head in the acetone bin), the customer sheepishly admitted that he'd put the new board in a heated water bed -- under the covers, mind you -- for three days. He figured this would have elicited a really killer cure, not to mention some pretty wicked dreams from the styrene fumes.So when is a board cured enough to use? Well, first let's take a look at what resin is, chemically speaking.Resins are a combination of various chemicals that are melded together to create a series of long molecules that must be linked together to become the hard plastic we all know and love. Most surfboards are glassed with polyester resins, which are a thermosetting type of resin. This means that they can't become hard unless an added chemical heats them up (no Viagra jokes, please).Picture a ladder on its side. The long resin molecules form the two sides, and styrene monomer molecules -- the chief chemical component of the resin -- are arranged like the rungs of the ladder. When the right amount of catalyst (methyl ethyl ketone peroxide or MEKP) is added, it sets off the thermal reaction that polymerizes or hardens the syrupy resin into a rock-like plastic.Now, as the resin begins to harden, or cure, the styrene evaporates and allows the rungs to inch closer. The vapors now emanating from the board are the dreaded Volatile Organic Emissions (VOCs) that you always hear about in pollution news as being really bad actors on the environmental stage. So, essentially, curing is really just the unnecessary styrene evaporating. This removes the weaker molecules, letting the rungs tighten up and get stronger.This process can be speeded up with heat, aside from the catalyst-initiated thermal reaction, by having the board in a room with a higher ambient temperature. This is a critical factor in the cure time, as we shall see next.So, here's what you've waded through Chemistry 101 to learn: with the basic 1 to 1.5 percent catalyzation ratio, and an ambient temperature of 78 degrees (considered as optimum by resin manufacturers), the board will be 98 percent cured in one and a half hours. To underscore how critical the temperature of the working area is, if the ambient temperature was 68 degrees, the cure time might be anywhere from two to seven days.Your new board has long since cured by the time even the sander gets it. I still have boards in excellent condition that were shaped, glassed, sanded and first ridden over an 18-hour period -- and that was back in 1987.Of course, there are many different brands of resin of varying quality, an assortment of fiberglass cloths and scores of right and wrong blanks for a particular shape -- they all affect the strength and durability of a surfboard much more than any cure time, but that's another story entirely.So, go ahead and take the 50 bucks from your friend if you really want to rub it in, but Stan, for God's sake, keep him away from your water bed.Technical information courtesy of Ted Wilson of Fiberglass Hawaii, Matt Barker of Clark Foam and Greg Martz of Waterman's Guild.



http://www.surfermag.com/blogs/ask-a-local-your-cure-for-curing/

Q: I just got a new 6’2” and I’m dying to ride it. But how long should I wait after it comes back from the glasser? Is letting a board “cure” a myth?
—Ben Tennet, Seaside Heights, NJA: That all depends on your perspective, and what you consider to be a myth. Like any other chemical reaction, when fiberglass resin cures it takes place over a certain period of time. But just how long that takes is the part that’s up for debate—and dependant on a wide array of factors. Certain manufacturers will go so far as to put a “do not ride before” date on their boards to mitigate any negative affects from premature shredding. But if you’re looking for a good rule of thumb, something that’s applicable for any recently glassed board, it seems like a few days should be good enough. “I am not really a chemistry expert,” says …Lost’s Matt Biolos, “but the most educated people I’ve talked to say the majority of polyurethane resins are fully hardened within 72 hours. Epoxies are varied, but in general, if heat cured, they’re ready to go right out of the oven.”

no waiting time for this baby