The Fiberglass Surfboard

The fiberglass surfboard that you know and love uses polyurethane foam. It is either shaped by hand or with the use of a CNC machine with the usage of a foam core of polyurethane. Over the foam core, a weighted fiberglass is laid down and then there is a polyester resin laminate that is used. After all of that, the board is sanded to a perfect smoothness and then it is cured. These boards have been around and in use since the 1960's. With their wonderful performance and extreme flexibility, these boards are sure to stick around for a while.

There is of course another type of foam that some companies will use when making their surfboard. This type is an expanded polystyrene foam that is able to keep its shape by having an open cell that will take in the water that it is exposed to. Of course, there are some limitations with this material such as the fact that it is considered poor in terms of strength, it has a low resistance to compression and it is extremely hard to shape because of all of the round particles that are very small. The lamination for this type of material used in Epoxy resin.

For those who want a fiberglass surfboard that is better at repelling water and great with compression, the core foam of extruded polystyrene is what you want. The board has a lot better response when it is under a lot of compression because of the great flex patterns it has. This type of core foam is what is now being used to make a lot of the high end surf boards. For the lamination, an Epoxy resin is used.

When looking into fiberglass surfboard options, you will find that the fiberglass matt comes in many different grades and the weight used is in ounces. The heavier the cloth weight, the stronger the board will be. Of course, this means that the total weight of the board will be heavier. This is not so much because of the heavier cloth, but it is because there is more resin that is needed in order to bond the board and the fiberglass matt. Typically, this type of fiberglass surfboard has two layers for the first deck and then there is one layer on the bottom. More cloth is always used on the deck in order to properly protect the board from knees, feet and elbows of the surfer.

Many builders of the fiberglass surfboard have tried using Styrofoam cores instead of the more traditional polyurethane. Instead of the polyester, an epoxy resin is used. When this is done, the end result will be a board that has better impact resistance, lighter in weight and is of an overall stronger construction. There will not be many toxic fumes as well with the epoxy resin. Of course, these boards take a lot longer to make and therefore, they end up costing more than the traditional surf boards. Also, there are times when a graphite cloth is used instead of the traditional fiberglass.

There are new techniques that are being used in order to sand and shape a board in as littler as 25 minutes. This is much faster than the many hours usually required when a fiberglass surfboard is hand shaped. Of course, there are drawbacks to this. The machinery is expensive and each time a new design is used, the machine must be reprogrammed. Some have tried used a surfboard that is premade for the pattern and then they go and make the shell and then fill it with the foam. This takes about four and a half hours to complete the entire thing. New designs can only be made when there is a fiberglass surfboard to use a pattern so this can be very costly in the end.

Be sure to take a look at our range of used surfboards for some great deals.