My board is solid Divinycell with 2X 6oz carbon. Bomber going on 2 years old with the hardest abuse! Great piece of mind knowing that whatever is happening with my riding it’s not because the board is going soft. A few holes in the deck from some abuse i put into it. Closed cell doesn’t care. I’ll never ride EPS again.
Well worth the 1 lb penalty.
Nothing worse than having a board where the boxes are moving. feels like someone is stealing your energy on the pump and you don’t know why.
Sorry, but Divinycell is not at all “closed cell”. It doesnt absorb much water though.
The most bomb proof construction would be a carbon sandwich hollow board with internal stiffeners. Super stiff and leakproof. I guess it requires to much tooling costs since no one does it?
I have a Gong, cheap and has lasted well through maybe 50+ sessions and lots of dockstart etc. The skin/paint layer does chip quite easily, but the construction seems strong otherwise. No dents whatsoever.
(The supplied deck pad has not lasted that well)
I’ve owned D cell parts that have had foam exposed in marine applications for years with no appreciable losses in performance and no water intrusion beyond the surface cell.
If I had eps exposed like this with the heat cycles I see I would have had full delam in the first month.
Diab has been marketing Dcell as “closed cell” in the technical material for the last….forever…. If that wasn’t the case the I would think there would have been a big class action suit over it. Dcell is everywhere…
Okay, sorry. Just read their tech specs and the exact definetion on closed cell. Correct, it is actually “close cell”. But it is a really bad and broad term. I mean… then even neoprene wetsuits are per definetion close cell. And every one of us unluckey ones that live up north knows how heavy a wet “closed cell” wetsuit is.
Gong construction is not strong, boards fracture around the boxes after some use, seen myself and friends too Remy on Instagram: "2019 - Gong Matata (5'5, 55L) : Great shape, great price, questionable construction. The volume allows to have the same board for prone and wing foiling. Learned to wing on it (paired with a Rise XL foil), my long background history in surfing helped for sinker waterstart. Had some glorious time in a variety of conditions. A bit too big for tight turns and duck dives, a bit too small for winging light wind, and lack of straps a bit annoying. But overall great beginner shape! The board was super soft along the rails, getting repair after repair. Fractures started to form around the foil box.. and one day the board broke just prone surfing it, in a white wash. About 200h of use total. #gongfoil #gongmatata"
Interesting. I think maybe different construction as I have the FSP construction and it does not have the same issue with dings on the rails.
In any case I don’t think Gong qualifies as Bomb proof.
Seen this one fracture at the box too. Gong is cheap and great for light/careful use but a world of difference with appletree construction for example.
The Gong in question is still alive but certainly looking very tired. The foil box hasn’t gone yet, but I’m keeping a close eye on it.
Anyone have any experience with JS? I wonder if the surfboard background holds up with foiling. Looks like the boxes just go straight into the EPS.
From the Appletree interview on Generic foiling pod they discussed the launch of a proprietary foil box which sounds interesting. I don’t think I’ll buy a board without knowing exactly what steps have been taken to build a foil box that will last 2-3 years.
How about a demo board that you ride for a few weeks to find track placement and then you order your board with a tuttle box… That I would find interesting.
It looks like JS puts the box straight on the stringer, which should work just fine unless you run with no tailpad, in which case the deck compression might lead to developing uncomfortable ridges over time…
Love the t-track idea… love it… brilliant ! So many questions!
Hey NorthEastFoiler
Sorry for late reply. Flatspell and busy-season here at my farm. Will try to answer your questions the best I can. I am not trying to sell anything, just sharing what I find works best for me and my boards (by far).
I am using standard t-Tracks from a company call “Inca-systems”. It is used for workbenches and toolingfixtures. There are loads of options on Alibaba but my local tooling-store had them on the shelf and they werent too expensive. Havent found out what grade they are but my best guess is 7005. They seem really stiff and havent failed under my 90kg and a long and fruitful winterseason.
Disassembled my foil from board after 1month in a hot barn and with salt-crystals all over. Not one sign of corrosion.
Im just using the tbolts that came with the sytem:) stainless steel. A4 I think
No carbon overlay. Just gluing them into the wells that are laminated and with peelply texture. Glue is specified for composite/aluminium.
Nope but great idea!!
Anyone every have any issues with their tracks in amundson boards? Whenever I pump they start making squeaking noises and now I’m starting to think/feel they are flexing…which I don’t want any flex anywhere.
