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What board is this? too fragile?

PostPosted: Sun Oct 01, 2023 11:44 am
by andipandiandi
20231001_113225.jpg
Hi everyone, can you help me fuguring whats the deal with this board?

the manufacturer is Zetech - from what I could figure, they were australian and no longer in production - says Armacore Epoxy Constructions,, but doesn't feel like a normal epoxy board.
It's a 7.2, and given the other measures, about 75 L volume.

First of all, the weight, it's about 6Kg - insn't it too heavy?
The top is soft but not foam, but it seems like it has foam underneath the top layer. The board dings very, very easily, last week I noticed a small crack on the bottom near the rail - I have no idea were it came from, and now is soaking water... This is not like other epoxy boards I had in the past (I had a NSP and that thing must have hit everything from the shelf to the car, from the car to the beach, major scratches in it, never got soaked. Hard as a rock)

I posted some pictures.

I payed 250euros for this when I was a begginer, and I admit not knowing what I was doing. I was adviced by a nice guy that owns a second hand shop but I suspect he was just trying to sell it.

What can you say about this board?

Thanks!
Andi

Re: What board is this? too fragile?

PostPosted: Sun Oct 01, 2023 12:27 pm
by jaffa1949
They might have been sold in Australia but they were made in Taiwan.
Here is the company page
IMG_2263.png
This is from 2009 and is likely out of date but all the logos match.
They have a FB page, if it is some sort of soft top and damaged like you show, and holds water it is probably an older EPS blank , theextr weight is probably water, I reckon sadly it is not worth it, and repair after removing water difficult!

Re: What board is this? too fragile?

PostPosted: Sun Oct 01, 2023 1:26 pm
by andipandiandi
jaffa1949 wrote:They might have been sold in Australia but they were made in Taiwan.
Here is the company page
IMG_2263.png
This is from 2009 and is likely out of date but all the logos match.
They have a FB page, if it is some sort of soft top and damaged like you show, and holds water it is probably an older EPS blank , theextr weight is probably water, I reckon sadly it is not worth it, and repair after removing water difficult!


Thanks for your input Jaffa1949. The thing that confuses me is that all around people say epoxy boards are harder and more resistant, and this thing seems to break with the lightest touch....

BTW, the volume is about 45L (not 75L as in the original post) and Ijust weighted it again on a better scale, and it's 5.2 Kg without fins, which makes it a little bit heavier (about 800g) than a Torq with the same size. I don't know when that crack was made, and I have been surfing with it all week, so there's probably some water inside....I'll let it rest on a tilt and let gravity do its job for a few days.

Re: What board is this? too fragile?

PostPosted: Sun Oct 01, 2023 4:42 pm
by jaffa1949
epoxy and epoxy so much depends , the EPS depends on whether the structure is closed cell or open between the beads.If the blank is soft then the outer glassing or vacuum packing collapses and skin injuries occur on slight impacts, the stated country of origin is not where it might not be made.
Australia and many coastal countries import local brands but made elsewhere.
Next how do you repair the soft deck.

Re: What board is this? too fragile?

PostPosted: Mon Oct 02, 2023 7:50 pm
by oldmansurfer
My guess is your board is water logged and in need of draining the water out and patching the dings

Re: What board is this? too fragile?

PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2023 6:38 am
by HaoleKook
Epoxy is a resin, and just one component of a composite surfboard. People do say "epoxy boards are strong" and they are generally referring to EPS foam core boards with fiberglass and epoxy composite. But then there’s marketing, where some manufacturers glue a couple layers of crap foam together with epoxy (no fiberglass) and put Epoxy on the label. Then they’re everything in between, including foam core boards with fiberglass and epoxy, then additional soft foam tops.

Re: What board is this? too fragile?

PostPosted: Fri Oct 13, 2023 10:51 am
by Geezer
Sandwich construction eps boards like tuflite or similar builds are strong AF. My longboards are both of this ilk and have saved me the hassle of repairs many time in and out of the water including one time when I tripped over a parking lot block and sent the board skidding across the asphalt. Firewire boards vary depending on the build (fst and timbertek stronger than lft, not sure about the heliums), fst and timbertek boards i’ve had and have are pretty durable.