All new stand up paddle board buyers beware! Some standup paddle boards will delaminate. Some American boards use a gortex air valve to release built up air in the board.

I personally bought a board that delaminated and now I have to repair it and put an air plug in it to try and save it.

I would like to buy a new board at some stage and hope somebody has had a good experience with a stand up paddle board.

- Ripped off

wont say the name of the company that sold the board ,dont want to be sued but any one buying a board should look up infinity surfboads and delamination and check for themselves.Some board importers here in perth just dont care and sell light styrene boards with no air vents and the styrene in the sun inside the board releases the air from the bubbles and as is cools the board goes back to normal but damage is done .the styrene is used for lightness but my next board will be some other construction method

speaking of vent screws, when are they suposed to be released? I have never touched the vent screw on my sailboard ever.

cranky said...

speaking of vent screws, when are they suposed to be released? I have never touched the vent screw on my sailboard ever.

unscrew it, if the boards going to be left in a van when its hot....

I don't think an airvalve will solve the problem if it is a polystyrene blank - these blanks have gasses that sometime release when exposed to temperature changes.

The airvents are for EPS sandwich boards (windsurf construction ala Starboard and Naish) and should be used if taken on a plane etc.

The polystyrene foam is closed cell and will not suck water and only works with epoxi - some guys tried making needle pinholes to allow gas to be released...also doesn't work.

Problem is in the blank and the only thing that seems to work is having a very controlled temperature when you laminate. But some of the polystyrene suppliers seem to have less of a problem.....

It's a shame because blanks have pretty good flex and weight to strength characteristics - and is a alot easier to shape and manufacture than EPS.

If anyone wants a gore tex valve to be retrofitted or for their new boards they can get them from Dale Chapman on the Gold Coast.

Personally I have had very little trouble with beaded polystyrene blanks over the last twenty or so years. Now if you want to talk about extruded poly styrene blanks then we can probably start world war 3. I won't and don't use them, to save me a couple of hours typing you can do a search of Swaylocks for extruded poly styrene foam.

The short answer is all extruded polystyrene foam delaminates eventually, the blowing agent is retained in the foam and does not like heat which causes it to expand.

Rod

So what's a freakin Goiter I ask myself (and google)...

And I am so sorry I asked...

2 of the same board...same weather, same storage and similar use.
One delamed and the other is still fine. And us Vicco crew have had some hot
weather lately!

I think it is totally heat related but also maybe a problem with the "pop-out"
manufacturing being used by most of the imported brands these days.
Less quality control DURING the production process could be an issue.
All speculation however!

We are usually dealing with a lot more volume with SUP compared to sailboards and I think this could be a reason we are seeing more problems with SUP.

My SUP is almost close to double the volume of my sailboard meaning a lot more air to expand and yet my sailboard has a breather and my SUP doesn't. I thnk this is stupid. All SUP should come with a breather standard to at least help prevent delam.

Guys my boards live on the roof of my car for days on end when there is surf. They overnight in my garage and after a surf they go to the factory with me and are in full sun till I go home.

There was some shade where I park till the bastard that owns the factories to the north drilled and poisoned the trees, no shade now.

The really light EPS (10kg foam ) has a lower melt temp than 13 kg or the 16kg/m3 that I use. Maybe the problem boards have only 10kg foam as the core.

Good Aussie made EPS foam is now part of the building industry and now has a manufacturing code to adhere to. Which means that there is less air because the beads are compressed tighter together. The only air in EPS foam is in the passageways between the beads and Aussie foam has virtually nil passage ways.

I always use the sun to post cure my boards. It is actually something anyone can do, but only the bottoms if you have black deck grip. If you have a black logo on the bottom of your board cover it with something white.

When you post cure your boards epoxy skin it will soften as Stuey has said in another post, but what he forgot to add was that once the post cure has happened (usually about 6 hours at 65c) and the board has cooled down the skin will not go soft again until it reaches a higher skin temperature. That is the epoxy glass skin will post cure not the foam skin in sandwich boards, ( sandwich boards are made from different layers starting with an EPS core then a layer of fiberglass then a hard PVC foam skin usually at 80kg density then the final fiberglass layer ).
There is a hard foam which is called Airex that doe soften at a lower temp than most PVC foams, enough!

Mind you this is ONLY for EPS foam and not extruded poly styrene foam.


Rod

Your a wealth of information Rod! I thought EPS stood for Extruded PolyStyrene? Have you had much experience with the new XPS?

Thanks for that explanation Rod.

Brooko,mate,it did have deck grip on it,but the timber veneer was delaminating right around the carrying rebate.The dude who owned it told me that he had been pumping it with araldite to try stop it happening,hope he succeeds,awesome board,shame to see that happen to it.GOITERS are a really hidious growth usually on peoples necks,fully ewwwwww,and you dont want one one ya SUP believe me!!!!!!!!

Pauloz,see,told ya,who wants that sucker on there board,mifght give you a bit of traction,but seriously...........

Oh yeah, 9'0 or under are easier to get on and off car roofs as they are lighter.

Rod

[b]oliver

my heart is pumping piss for you 62mac.

lol,wot the hell are you talking about Oliver

mac