so....can i build a surfboard outta this??

[little waves]

i have these old insulation foam boards in the basement (see my next post for images, having some trouble getting them up) they are white on the edges and kind of yellow-ish on the inside. not sure what kind of foam it is really...anyone know if it would be possible to build a surfboard out of it? i know that fiberglass will dissolve styrofoam, someone told me use epoxy on it. anyone tryed this?

[little waves]

well, there they are. dont know if it worked, but here goes.

[namino tsume]

try it.... whats the worst tha can happen? your house wont explode... i hope.

[deathfrog]

is it bubbly foam? or buncha spots foam. I would go for it, today I made a bunch of little tiny boards out of an old styrafoam boogie board that I found lying around. Eh? Let us all know how it works out, and do you know where you got it?

im tryin to find some cheaper foam...

its way too much to ship blanks...

[little waves]

not sure what bubbly foam is, but this is a few inches thick, kinda yellowish in color with a white paper covering over it. any tips on how to go about turning it into a board?? i've never done anything like this, but thought it might be a fun project.

[jethro-bodine]

Ok you do know what a surfboard looks like right? Just go for that shape. It looks like you have a couple pieces there so if your first one fails try the second and so on. I'm shure that's what the pro shapers did when they first started out. Just go for it and picture it in your head.

[namino tsume]

Draw it out on a cardboard first, Cut it the cardboard in half so that you can flip it over and have the exact shape on the other side. Cut out that shape of the cardboard. Then cut the foam down to 3" about by sanding it down (in width) Make a bit of a rocker... dont worry about concave... and then glass.
You will need to put in fins so i would go to swaylocks.com and ask them about glassing fins, or get a dvd.

[little waves]

hum, i can give the whole cutting/shaping thing a try. i don't know about the three inches thing, the foam itself may be only about 2" and some change. on the thin side. would it be oossible to somehow glue two pieces together to make it thicker? ( i will keep you updated)

[little waves]

this looks like the kind of foam i have
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[deathfrog]

probally is

[sinistapenguin]

You may have a problem glassing it though!

A lot of foams will melt away when you put fibre glass on them - that's why real boards use clark foam!

An option is to paint it first to seal it, but that does make it heavy.

I would get hold of some fibre glass and try putting some on a small chunk first - this will at least tell you what will happen when you try to glass a board - the last thing you want is to spend ages getting the perfect shape only to watch it fizz and melt away when you glass it!!

That's what happened to me when I made a body board for my sister out of polystyrene and fibre glass!!.

The other thing is making it strong enough.

You will notice that proper boards have a piece of wood down the middle - the 'stringer' - this is the best way to make it strong enough. Get a piece of 5mm plywood that's big enough to draw the cross section of your board on. Cut it to that shape.

Next you need to cut the shape out of the foam, then cut the shape in half down the middle (length ways) then stick these halves either side of your stringer.

This is the tried and tested method of board building - if you don't have a stringer, chances are you will stand on it for the first time and it will just snap in two!!

Good luck - let us know how it turns out!!

Sinista