It’s seems that Armstrong was able to achieve an anomaly, strong and light in their new board.
They are pretty open about the construction process. Steel mold, PVC wrapping, Carbon layer.
How does this process compare to others on the market? Anyone else doing something similar?
There’s pretty significant weight savings vs the V1s, but I’m most interested in stiffness and durability scores.
I like the shape,the midlenghts are truly fun to ride.
But 4.8kg for an 85lt is light but not that special.
My DIY 5.9X21.5X 85ltr is 4.2kg with pad and metric strap inserts.And it has waterproof XPS foam inside.
I think the air inside hollows were running at 3.8kg for 85ltrA full kg less or 20% lighter.
It’s the weight + durability combo that seems exciting.
I take manufacturer’s review and marketing with zero grain of salt…the reviews and statements on here provide more input
yeah I had a lighter board from SPG that took way more abuse and is still going strong, and an appletree that is somewhat stronger.
My Armstrong DWP was pretty trashed when I sold it, after way less use. Definitely nothing special, but this X construction looks completely different, so I’d say could be good. HD foam on the deck and rails is a big win, nothing particularly novel just more manufacturing complexity. Windsurf boards all have this
Yeah like you said, its nothing new, just a pvc wrap board.
The thing that is different from other’s board, is that its not a full sandwich construction. It lack some fibers on the inner side of the pvc wrap, from what they show on their website. Its way less stiff and durable but you loose some weight. One can arge that its durable enough as the pvc foam is water tight as long as the dings dont goes trought the pvc and that its stiff enough because of the hd foam stringer. The pvc on the rail is thick tho, that’s nice !
Compare to a full sandwich board, you loose weight but you also loose stiffness and durability.
Always a trade off but it look good. Way better than EPS wrapped in carbon!
In this video they mention
Watch the recent vid with Armie and Matt Nuzo from Real… informative to see what is under the hood a bit better…the other vid talks more about the molding process and how they are able to reduce the amount of epoxy for lighter and more consistent weights
Nice but…what is the big news?.
As some have already written windsurfing boards have used single and double PVC full wrap since forever.And many wingfoil manufacturers use it,at least single.
Double is strong but heavy,and the smaller the board the more percentage of heavy foam skin.
Propietary carbon boxes are nice but why copy a US fin box design?.
How are they connecting to deck?.Why not prolong them into bottom stringers or cantilever connections to front foot?.
The hot “new” board tech is hollow boards, but female molds are expensive.I do not understand why they are making the molds and then going old PVC wrap tech.
They do say something about curing at high pressure and temp but with an EPS core there are pretty low limits to these or the foam will crush ,melt or both.Cannot do an autoclave cure like aerospace or F1.
Unless i am missing something,of course.
hmmm…did we all watch the same videos?
Perhaps its nothing special, but the one I rode felt a bit special to me
I have a 75 markii. Owned the previous version in 75 and 55l sizes. The new version is a solid upgrade. Per volume they feel much smaller on foil and get on foil quicker. I would love to try the 38l for small prone days.
Wow, that board must be thick to be 85 liters with those dimensions
I think the mold eps blank is so you can make the board faster and more accurate without shaping with a cnc machine or person. I just watch a kt video on cobra factory where their boards are made, similar to what is described here.
Most of these “new” tech is old tech with new names.
The innovation appears to be PVC bonding directly to the foam core without an intermediate glass layer so saves weight.
