warwickl said...

I was intending to buy a 12 6 Carbon Race board tomorrow however I am hearing more and more issues with carbon construction.

Can anyone add to this or provide advice re carbon versus other type construction

hi, from what i can make out and in my experience- carbon has higher strenght and usually makes for a lighter board because you can use lighter grade carbon membranes, but it doesn't have good impact strenght -ie can ding easy. bump the board on something and it dings up. probably because the carbon and glassing is so thin. however if you had a normal epoxy board as fine as the carbon layup it may well ding up ever 'better'.

i guess it depend on how one treats their board

JonathanC said...

Totally depends on the construction, the Starboard brushed carbon race boards are the most ding resistant board I've even owned, and I've had a couple of pretty serious whoopsies that haven't even left a mark.

They are composite sandwich which means a thin layer of high density foam between two layers of carbon. Same as high end windsurf boards.

would that also be similar to say oc1 s?

thats a pretty fair dinkum construction
cheers

Not race boards but ... my Fiber Flex boards (carbon rails) are incredibly strong. With the amount of massive whacks I've given the rails with my paddle, I would have expected to be needing some new ones by now (six months) - but instead, except from some cosmetic shatters in the clear top coat, they are just like the day I got them.


If glassed correctly, carbon is super strong - in regards to both snapping and impacts.

Casso and Gords are right (as usual),

it's all about quality of construction. Carbon glassed correctly shouldn't bubble or de-laminate. But carbon boards (like all boards I suppose) should be looked after - leaving them in the sun, having them on the bottom of the pile and not putting them back in their cover after use can rapidly shorten the life of a carbon board. And carbon is not as easy to repair properly!

Check out Hobie, DC and Starboard carbon models as the benchmark.

Carbon Fibre is weight for weight much stronger than regular fiberglass. What we see in race boards and other high level sporting equipment though is it used to make things ultralite.

A simple example is the old clubby surf ski. These are made with fiberglass and are not light at all, they are made for bashing out through waves and handling a beating on the way in. They are about 17kgs by memory.

In contrast modern high level Ocean Skis or OC1's are made from carbon foam core sandwich type construction they weight about 11kgs. They are made light to catch every bump in the ocean, take them in the surf and they will break. Hit them with your paddle and they ding, hit the sand they dint. They are not made to be durable, they are made to be light.

Just like carbon race boards, they are made light for a purpose, less weight means faster speeds for the same energy. If you want to use it in the surf however you don't need or want an ultra light carbon race board.

Bnaccas said...

MrMyagi said...
Check out Hobie, DC and Starboard carbon models as the benchmark.

DC?

good job for a hand lay up. you can have vac, prepreg, fusion all those things, but your gonna have to pay $3500 like some brands charge and probably more for a one off custom.

problem is when you pay the money like that all that stuff is gonna mean jack s### when you go to sell it second hand.
people will only want to pay what the other second hand boards cost. carbon etc means nothing to them.

second hand board prices could be a worry for the industry imo.
makes people thing twice - who wants to fork out over $2000 for a board only for it to be worth a bit over half as soon as its out the door.

to get $250 back on a $600 shortboard or so is one thing, but we,re talking a grand and more on the bigger boards here
cheers