Ever wonder what the fuss is about on old school Polyurethane (i.e. PU) blanks vs. new school Extruded Polystyrene (i.e. EPS) blanks? Thanks to Grubby Clark moving to Mars a few years ago, alternate materials to PU were finally noticed. You've probably heard about the East Coast guys raving about EPS boards in small surf (I think that's all Slater rides now on tour- or it sure seems that way). But what's the difference? Surfers Village did a little snooping around with my friends over at SUPERbrand and reported below on their findings…
'Having recently found a magic board—i.e., one that works in
a majority of conditions and responds to my average surfing abilities—I
immediately became depressed. It’s a board that works without having to think
about where to put my feet, a board that’s fast, loose and paddles great.
However, after you find THE ONE, it’s all downhill. Isn’t it?
Sure, you can surf it and be stoked, but what I’ve found is
that with each session a little piece of my magic board is lost. And by that I
mean to say: in six months this magic polyurethane board creased in two places,
had a fin box busted out, and two inches of the nose broken off. Why? Because
I’m having a great, reckless, fast, dangerous time surfing it—the way surfing a
magic board should be.
So for this test we decided to replicate the magic board in
a different, stronger construction to see how it compared. Full disclosure:
This is not a truly scientific study. To
do that we’d need a wave pool. Or at
least a consistent wave. So we came as close as we could, in a variety of
California conditions.
We tried the exact same computer-shaped model in an eps core
with directional-glass-over-eps construction. The board, a SUPERbrand 5’10”
Unit, is offered in what they call Superflex. There are a few versions of
directional-glass-over-eps construction out there with Futureflex by
Haydenshapes being the most popular.
Here is a breakdown of the differences in construction:
The Blanks
Magic Board #1.)
Polyurethane: The very same material construction surfboard makers have been
using for around 60 years—polyurethane foam with a wood stringer running down
the center.
“All of the structural support is in the 0 and 90 degree
directions (parallel and perpendicular to the stringer)” says Superbrand's
Jason Koons. “The results are somewhat predictable, but with fluctuations in
foam density and stringer grain the results for two boards shaped exactly the
same can vary to a frustrating degree at the highest level of surfing.”
Board #2.) EPS: Koons claims the stringer-less eps core
blanks are super predictable in flex and yield nearly the exact same results
every time between two blanks. “Because the core has a consistent density from
board to board and the multilayered glassing schedule is multidirectional we
get a light predictable controlled product,” he added.
Glassing
1.) Polyurethane: The
magic PU board is glassed with one layer of fiberglass S-cloth on the bottom
and two layers on the top and set with polyester resin.
2.) Superflex: Glassed with a layer of glass that has additional
strands following the nose-to-tail direction called Warp glass. Think of it as
going with the grain in wood instead of against it. Then they add Vectornet
(the net-looking stuff on the bottom) which adds strength and controls flex
further.
“The Vectornet used on the bottom is an engineering trick to
add a bit of spring to the board,” says Koons. “The material used to make the
Vectornet has very little structural value. The Vectornet frays a bit during
application so to keep it looking clean we spray the rails of the blank black,”
he adds.
The deck then gets glassed with regular glass and Warp
glass.
What We Discovered:
The directional-glass-over-eps construction is
much more durable. We dropped it on the sidewalk, paddled over a rock in the
lineup and pulled into some thumping closeouts. The board received not a
scratch.
Setting the two boards side-by-side then weighing them on a
digital scale, we found their weights to be almost identical - 6 pounds 13
ounces for the PU and 6 pounds 10 ounces for the Superflex.
How did it surf?
I really liked the Superflex board. It surfed lively and
well. Conversely, it did feel a tad stiffer flex-wise and didn’t quite knife
through the water as well as it’s PU counterpart. It was more prone to skip out when turning
hard off the tail, more so than the PU version (we tested both boards with the
exact same Futures JC1 Blackstix fins).
For fifty percent of the sessions on the Superflex board it
went fine. The other sessions it didn’t have that magic ‘zing’ —especially in
bumpy surf.
Of the two constructions, the Superflex paddled better and
felt as though it had more float than the PU board (remember, exact same
dimensions) which helped during sessions in more gutless surf.
We liked the PU board better for performance, liveliness and
responsiveness. Though, had I jumped on the Superflex construction first, I
might be totally satisfied with that construction, after all we are comparing
it to a ‘magic board’. One thing's for certain, I did not like how fragile the
PU construction feels compared to the Superflex.
For this reviewer’s performance needs, the Superflex board
is a good board; the PU counterpart is a great board.
Durability:
Superflex wins
Float:
Superflex wins
Performance:
Polyurethane wins
Familiarity:
Polyurethane wins
Flex:
Polyurethane wins'So that's Surfers Village take. What's my two cents? I never thought you'd ask. I've ridden both PU and EPS boards for over 30 years and the simple answer for me is PU boards have less float, so I like them in real waves as they handle the power better. If it's small, EPS is the winner as they have more buoyancy and I can ride a smaller board which is important when you're trying to do a quick turn in 2' slop. Bottom line is to round out your quiver and make sure you have an EPS board for the majority of small surf around here.
