I’m *gasp* done with poly/pu

[Z mann R2]

So I know this has been talked about to the moon but dammit I’m gonna do it again.

I’m 36 and have a family with 2 kids and I just can’t keep buying new boards every damn year. One season of surfing and my poly/pu boards are heel dented all to hell and the resale is gone and it just frustrates me to no end having to fork out another $500+ for a new board.

Picked me up a Rusty Dwart Too simply because I wanted to try their new epoxy construction they call “torsion spring”. They use a different type of foam than EPS and it’s freaking bulletproof. A few sessions on it already and not one dang pressure ding anywhere. It also won’t take on water in the foam itself if dinged.

And it’s not ping pong ball feeling like those sandwich construction boards. Still feels hand shaped.

Longboards is harder to leave poly. But I did it too. I got me one of them ping pong boards lol, a tuflite pro carbon 9’6 Bear and haven’t tried it yet but hoping it’s not a huge mistake lol. Seems like it will be fun to bust some turns in tho.

Anyways I wanted to know if anyone else is just sick of the poly boards and how fast they get used up?

If I had the $$ I’d get a new shaped poly board every month if I could. I just refuse to keep throwing money away.

[Tudeo]

I don't have a problem with the PU-board dents, sure they are dented but I don't notice it surfing.

I've got an old 9'2 PU completely dented from the stringer down, and the board feels very flexible paddling in choppy conditions but it surfs like a dream. I think the flexibility helps to smooth out chop, which is good since I don't like to surf early mornings anymore, but maybe at a cost of some speed.

So I know this has been talked about to the moon

Talking about moons... Do you still got that Submoon? How's that Timbertek holding up?

Mine is still in great condition, but I've got some small dark spots after dings. It still surfs like a new board and very stiff compared to my other boards, PU and epoxy.

[waikikikichan]

That's the double edge sword for retailers of molded-epoxy boards. "They're hard to ding and they last a longtime" is great selling point. "They're hard to ding and they last a longtime" is also a negative for them as they won't be getting as much repeat sales of boards ( like yearly from the PU/Poly customer ) and ding repairs. My Southpoint Bonga Perkins 9'1" is like 10 years old and not one ding on it and it still rides the same as day one.

I've been basically 100% on Molded-Epoxy, XTR or Sponge for the past 15 years. Some people tell me there's no "Soul" in non-traditional shaped/made boards and that they take away from the local shapers. Ha !! When is the last time you played with a wooden tennis racquet ? Is your 3 wood golf club actually made of Hickory wood ? Even your road racing or off road mountain bike, is it made of carbon fiber or hydro-formed aluminum ?

At 0:26 is a Molded-Epoxy board fresh out of the box, waxed up and taken out at Pipeline and scoring 10 points.

[Big H]

The epoxy longboards/mini mal I have, three are bulletproof type sandwich construction (Jimmy Lewis) and are great in crowds......can get dropped in on and my board will break a fin of someone trying to slice my board in half (one time anyway) and show little in terms of damage. Can hit all the doorjambs between the rack and the car, including the roof of the carport and the car itself. Dropped one of them in the parking lot and it skidded a few yards......really didn't see much wrong after. Sat towards the tail to turn and buried the tail hard into the reef on low tide and had a couple paint scratches only. Not all are created equal....I've tried some that didn't fit me as well, but can't fault the construction. Currently have one pu longboard, an eps in six epoxy construction and one wooden longboard as well. Yes the PU has nice feel to it, but it's fragile and I've had to do three patches so far after only 4 surfs, plus narrowly avoided having the board sliced in half on a drop in (took the nose full on the ankle which in retrospect probably saved three skeg slices to my left rail).

[Z mann R2]

Talking about moons... Do you still got that Submoon? How's that Timbertek holding up?

.

Sure do! I actually love it! It’s got the weight I wanna feel in a board but not the flex. But the thing is, I think maybe flex is a bit overrated. It just seems like a trigger word we all use but in the end is maybe 5% of what you really need on a board

I’ll say one thing, this Tuflite pro carbon is INSANELY flexible. The timbertek is not

[oldmansurfer]

I used to have all my boards (all polyester resin) made with a third layer of glass on the back two thirds of the board to make it more durable. Now I only use epoxy boards but still with and extra layer of glass. Hard to compare them but banging my board around getting it in and out of the car results in no dings that need repair whereas the Polyester resin boards would get some damage doing the same thing. I don't surf nearly as much as I used to so comparing a board that lasts 8 years with one that lasted only 2 years is not accurate because in 8 years I put in less than a tenth as many hours surfing as I did in 2 years long ago.

[Tudeo]

It’s got the weight I wanna feel in a board but not the flex. But the thing is, I think maybe flex is a bit overrated. It just seems like a trigger word we all use but in the end is maybe 5% of what you really need on a board

I’ll say one thing, this Tuflite pro carbon is INSANELY flexible. The timbertek is not

I'm with you on that, for me Flex is mainly a marketing trick, just like Fins in most cases. It's not so much about good and bad, it's more about personal preference. If you can feel the difference of that one variable in all that dynamics of riding a surfboard in a wave.

But for me (intermediate level) with most setups I just tune in and try to make it work. But I did have a positive effect changing fins from Large to (very) Small on my Addvance 6'6 in bigger waves.

Still for me it's a lot of fun to play around with different boards and setups and try to actually understand what is happening. Not saying I always do..

[Z mann R2]

Still for me it's a lot of fun to play around with different boards and setups and try to actually understand what is happening. Not saying I always do..

Me too man. Ifs super addicting trying all these boards I ride and I love getting the feel of a new and different type of board