Epoxy or fiberglass?

I own both, my LB is poly, my SB’s are epoxy. I have one older fish that is poly too. Both are good products but I prefer working with epoxy on repairs.

 

For years I was all about epoxy but for the past 2/3 years I have only bought poly. If you have never owned epoxy I say go with it for your egg. You'll never know until you try. If your LB is poly you will be pleasantly surprised how well an epoxy 8' will float. Epoxy is stronger on paper, but actual durability is going to come down to your shaper.

As far as repairs, on a hand shaped board its about the same. MY only gripe with epoxy is the longer flip time. The big differences come with "sandwhich" construction pop outs.

 

I think what most people mean by epoxy boards is the epoxy resin eps/xps foam combo,when you and i came up it was a polyester resin and polyurethane foam combination which was industry standard but clark foam folded in 2005 surfboard builders really started using eps foam along with new modern epoxies,,now we have some more folks makin foam like us blanks,arctic foam ,marko,millenium and some others.us blanks has the largest catalog of blanks . As for weight usually pu is 2 lbs/ft3 is standard eps can go 1lb /ft3 but 1.5 or 2 is stronger less likely to twist .epoxy is stronger glass so yu dont use near as much on a board to get same strength as polyester resin .

 

Im still likin epoxy , it does not have the stench of the mek ,silmar is still cheapest way to go . But ive reglassed old pu boards with epoxy and blam they are nice and lite. EPS and XPS are super lite but even epoxy doesnt stick that well to it and they can delam if its a hack job on the glass

 

Im ripping off glass on an old clark foam board today, the blank will work fine after its cleaned up and ill glass it with RR

 

that epoxy will def make u float, especially an 8'. i got a shorter skinny one, 6'9", for the choppy days. it proves to be fast and lets me get off on the rugged,weird angled wave easier with the float. only weird thing with an 8' epoxy is the egg shape, which defeats the expoy's purpose of being fast which i think is one of the key reasons to get an epoxy in the first place

 

I've been all epoxy for a good 10 years now. The newest epoxy boards out now are at least as flexible as any PU board I've ever had and lighter. Plus epoxy boards take years of heavy use to wear out. Usually I just tire of it, and buy a new shape, even if my old board is still good as new.

 

also, the epoxy helped when i go a lil cray on the choppy low tide. it did get smashed on the rocks, but my buddy was riding n paid up for the fix. otherwise, i'm not worried about future repairs with epoxies

 

Yu could ask roy stuart hell say balsa is the way to go but glassed with epoxy resin

 

fiberglass all day long. we experience choppy conditions if side chop or a lot of wind epoxy boards are so light they hit the chop and fly off the face. i have one epoxy and I only use it when tis glassy and offshre wind or no wind. so your limiting yourself unless you want to own a ton of boards. epoxy boards are great in ideal conditions they fly too but if you encounter any chop they suck

 

I would disagree with that as a blanket statement on epoxy boarts. Not all are the same. The shaper has a lot to do with it.

 

Well lighter boards tend to get blown around more on windy days ,hard offshores blow up the face lift the nose and if its too light or a big profile yeah its harder to take off

 

Shapers can only do so much for yu then its pretty much up to yu and your knowledge factor i mean yu might be a wave ridin freak who can use one board for all conditions and be happy but lot of folks need and like the advantage the light eps foam has ..... and if yu want a super white board the arctic blanks are the whitest of white

 

The difference in weight between PU and epoxy for any board is measured in ounces.
I can lose that weight by taking a pee before going out.
Next concern is....??

 

Well Barry PU is foam epoxy is resin

 

I do not find this to be true at all. It was true years ago, but not anymore.

 

Really its more a combination of features, the eps very lite at 1.0 lb per cubic ft .and up but superlite clarks was like 1.5 lb. But think of the difference in board design too new multi fin set ups are a lot lighter than those lexan FUs that were standard issue , i ve noticed you can use a lot less epoxy resin on a lamination so with lighter foam, epoxy resin and lighter fins it adds up to quite a difference plus if you want to get air its way better

 

You know what I mean......and btw, no shit.

 

Barry i been missin yu ,yeah i know what yu mean ,i just like epoxy ,as for the foam im was a clark foam user all my life except for balsa now and then but a pu foam blank with epoxy resin is to me just as good as eps and epoxy seems to be easier to glass cuz i dont have to seal it (PU) with a sealer and then sand it down like ive have to do with eps .a question about the weight of eps/xps versus pu always comes up some love it some dont some use both and still lead meaningful lives