Get a well made pu/pe.
My Pyzel Ghost is 3 years old, been thrashed to within an inch of it's life and is still going strong.
My Pyzel Ghost is 3 years old, been thrashed to within an inch of it's life and is still going strong.
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Breaking down various EPS/alt constructions
- Thread starter hotCheetos
- Start date
I've owned libtech, corevac (stringerless eps vac-bagged), aviso, black dart, C3
libtech far and away most durable of the five I've surfed. Not even close. Also, I've had 3, the main issue with 2 of them was me not clicking with the design, but only my first one feels/felt like a lightweight, flexy EPS board. The other two felt more like poly - my old one has no black stringer thing, the other two did have it.
IMHO this construction begs for something like the Mini Driver or Driver 2.0 roundtail - something steppy/semi-ish. It's by far the best suited to real waves of the EPS builds I've tried.
corevac I really like. Very light, a bit flexy. For sure resists denting more than the average rack poly, no doubt. Light-colored, but faded a bit - DON'T CARE and not a true yellow at all.
aviso I also really like, but I'm terrified of dinging it. It is very light and very responsive, more flex than poly. A buddy of mine buckled his, fixed, and still loves. They don't like heat, and they don't like pressure changes with the leash plug in, so I'd consider them a bit temperamental.
black dart, another really like. Light, flexy, feels very resistant to denting compared to average rack poly. However mine has dark grey/weave deck, and cops heat, badly.
C3 I liked this construction in terms of how the cork deck feels, it's light, flex pattern feels EPS-like etc. However I clicked with this design the least of all the constructions I tried, so less complete review-ability.
So I'd say Lib Tech is the most durable, by miles, and the least lightweight of the ones I've tried. Aviso they don't make anymore, corevac I think might be a regional Florida thing. I might roll the dice on a C4 (or maybe Cabron Warp?) over Black Dart having never owned a C4, just on basis of color reflecting heat, and I'd for sure order a "white"/light dart custom again due to heat/sunlight.
libtech far and away most durable of the five I've surfed. Not even close. Also, I've had 3, the main issue with 2 of them was me not clicking with the design, but only my first one feels/felt like a lightweight, flexy EPS board. The other two felt more like poly - my old one has no black stringer thing, the other two did have it.
IMHO this construction begs for something like the Mini Driver or Driver 2.0 roundtail - something steppy/semi-ish. It's by far the best suited to real waves of the EPS builds I've tried.
corevac I really like. Very light, a bit flexy. For sure resists denting more than the average rack poly, no doubt. Light-colored, but faded a bit - DON'T CARE and not a true yellow at all.
aviso I also really like, but I'm terrified of dinging it. It is very light and very responsive, more flex than poly. A buddy of mine buckled his, fixed, and still loves. They don't like heat, and they don't like pressure changes with the leash plug in, so I'd consider them a bit temperamental.
black dart, another really like. Light, flexy, feels very resistant to denting compared to average rack poly. However mine has dark grey/weave deck, and cops heat, badly.
C3 I liked this construction in terms of how the cork deck feels, it's light, flex pattern feels EPS-like etc. However I clicked with this design the least of all the constructions I tried, so less complete review-ability.
So I'd say Lib Tech is the most durable, by miles, and the least lightweight of the ones I've tried. Aviso they don't make anymore, corevac I think might be a regional Florida thing. I might roll the dice on a C4 (or maybe Cabron Warp?) over Black Dart having never owned a C4, just on basis of color reflecting heat, and I'd for sure order a "white"/light dart custom again due to heat/sunlight.
Haven't seen many people post about Varial. I'm interested to see if it is worth it.
I know people say they dent a lot. But, I know guys who burn through boards that now use varial and say it is worth the cost. Anyone try it?
I know people say they dent a lot. But, I know guys who burn through boards that now use varial and say it is worth the cost. Anyone try it?
Could you tell me more about corevac?
What exactly is it? There is a nice corevac board up here that I keep seeing on craigslist.
It’s EPS?
I tried it. Dent city. Didn't like the board so sold it before it was trashed. Maybe with heavier glass it wouldn't be an issue. I think mine was double 4oz. deck, 4 bottom.
It's EPS. I don't think I could really offer much and there isn't too much out there on the web.
It's stringler-less, vacbag-glassed EPS with what sounds like a fair few different cloths and orientations of cloths as part of the glassing. Really sounds like the no stringer, more layers + less overall resin approach.
Laughably, maybe the best writeup in my brief googling was Men's Journal, and the info you could probably assume with a glance at a board. Maybe some interesting tidbits about resin curing with respect to atmospheric conditions.
There's a facebook page (I don't have facebook so not sure if it's got good details) but the Corevac composites website and Cannibal surfboards don't seem that in-depth at a glance.
A.J. Finan In A Vacuum | Men's Journal
CoreVac Surfboards: Vacuum Bagging To A New Level
www.mensjournal.com
i have been. getting heavier glass jobs has helped im just kinda over the yellowing, the instant depreciation, always keeping them in a board bag, dinging them on the rocks paddling in or truck door and having to deal with it. its only a little bit more custom to go xtr or some of the alt builds vs big name p/u for me. coils even the same price. to me its worth it.
tech looks cool on the website. Couldn't find much else but saw this...
At the end he goes over varial. He didn't like the epoxy resin but thinks the flex would be better with p/u
I have one, not sure if it's glassed with polyester or epoxy. Denting doesn't bother me at all, would rather denting than caving in and glass cracking around the stringer. There's a nice dampness and flex to it, cant really explain further beyond that.
most of these EPS/XTR builds are going to handle little dinks a bit better than PU but don't expect them to be unscathed after going full Mason Ho on them.
I've owned seven Futureflex boards. Five were custom Haydenshapes, two were Bings and all were through Pureglass and didn't yellow. I liked the feel of them, maybe a tad on the stiff side. They were pretty ding resistant and dented enough on the deck to get the worn-in feel I like. I banged the rails numerous times on bumpy Panga rides around Nicaragua where most other constructions definitely would have a fingernail-catching crack. With FF I never had anything more than some white spider web looking stuff that stayed watertight.
I've owned a JS Air17X Hyfi. Construction felt pretty good, but really disliked the board and my local shop luckily let me exchange it for another new board, a CI Fever.
I still have the CI Fever in Spine-Tek I got in place of the JS. I like the feel probably the most out of the alt constructions I've tried, but it's not the most durable. Mine is a Mystery Glass one, which is not known to be the best CI glassing option.
I have a Varial (CI NB2) that I got directly through them about a year ago. It dents like crazy and I don't notice any performance attributes or detriments with the tech. The one nice thing is you can heat-gun out dents, but not sure that is worth the price of admission.
I've owned a JS Air17X Hyfi. Construction felt pretty good, but really disliked the board and my local shop luckily let me exchange it for another new board, a CI Fever.
I still have the CI Fever in Spine-Tek I got in place of the JS. I like the feel probably the most out of the alt constructions I've tried, but it's not the most durable. Mine is a Mystery Glass one, which is not known to be the best CI glassing option.
I have a Varial (CI NB2) that I got directly through them about a year ago. It dents like crazy and I don't notice any performance attributes or detriments with the tech. The one nice thing is you can heat-gun out dents, but not sure that is worth the price of admission.
Is Corevac the company from the guy that used to work at Coil and then left to start his own company?It's EPS. I don't think I could really offer much and there isn't too much out there on the web.
It's stringler-less, vacbag-glassed EPS with what sounds like a fair few different cloths and orientations of cloths as part of the glassing. Really sounds like the no stringer, more layers + less overall resin approach.
Laughably, maybe the best writeup in my brief googling was Men's Journal, and the info you could probably assume with a glance at a board. Maybe some interesting tidbits about resin curing with respect to atmospheric conditions.
There's a facebook page (I don't have facebook so not sure if it's got good details) but the Corevac composites website and Cannibal surfboards don't seem that in-depth at a glance.
A.J. Finan In A Vacuum | Men's Journal
CoreVac Surfboards: Vacuum Bagging To A New Level
I was not aware of that, but could be? I am about 99.9% sure AJ Finan was shaping poly Cannibals in Brevard County before there was an erBB.
I thought basically Corevac was a build type the Cannibal shaper came up with, kind of like C3/C4/Black Dart is a build type the Inspired shaper Dean came up with.
one shop owner took a cor vac about waist high and dropped on the rail. basically a carpeted cement floor. i was more like holy sh!t.. but board was completely fine... tough as nails. i havent ridden a corevac but had a cannibal back in the day that ripped
yellowing?
sure you're not getting pu/pe and eps/epoxy mixed up?
Rock dings are far more of a problem for eps cores than pu cores.
I surf rocky points 90% of the time and like a lot of other local crew who do, that's the main reason EPS boards have largely been tested and rejected by most local surfers around here.
too much of a pain in the ass to repair compared to pu/pe.
I knock a fin out here or put a rock gouge in the bottom and I'm back in the water that day, with an easy fix.
No. Unless i keep my new p/u boards in a board bag inside the ac cab of my truck going to/from a surf they gonna turn yellow fast if i just threw it in my truckbed. friend has an old coil he just throws in the back of his truck and its still looks white almost like new. Says the things you needto worry about with p/u boards are minor with the eps durability. If i hit a coral head or am climbing out of the water on the rocks and my board washes into them there's an instant rail crack or possible puncture on a p/u. i agree p/u is easier to repair i'm just hoping that destruction will be lessened if i went one of these closed cell/alt constructions.
I can for sure see not bothering with open cell EPS in boards for chest high+.
A new rack Puddle Jumper HP is $20 more in Lib Tech than poly. I'm taking the Lib Tech, all day, although OP said Firewire doesn't do custom and so is out, and therefore Lib Tech would be as well even though it was listed. For how much time people in Florida and SoCal spend surfing waves chest and less, I'll deal with open cell EPS, especially if exiting a rocky shore is a common ding scenario. I also have two friends who haven't surfed rock spots in over a decade. They destroy poly in months but EPS lasts a couple years, and Florida's not heavy. Some people just thrash poly for some reason.
I wouldn't let most of those EPS builds in the OP rattle around a truck bed with no bag, not having had most and erring on the side of caution, and if it's sunny and over 80 often I'd count myself lucky if yellowing was the worst of it.
A new rack Puddle Jumper HP is $20 more in Lib Tech than poly. I'm taking the Lib Tech, all day, although OP said Firewire doesn't do custom and so is out, and therefore Lib Tech would be as well even though it was listed. For how much time people in Florida and SoCal spend surfing waves chest and less, I'll deal with open cell EPS, especially if exiting a rocky shore is a common ding scenario. I also have two friends who haven't surfed rock spots in over a decade. They destroy poly in months but EPS lasts a couple years, and Florida's not heavy. Some people just thrash poly for some reason.
I wouldn't let most of those EPS builds in the OP rattle around a truck bed with no bag, not having had most and erring on the side of caution, and if it's sunny and over 80 often I'd count myself lucky if yellowing was the worst of it.