Please tell me how hand lamination gives you a heavier lamination. Vacuum bagging is easier to get the correct amount of resin to cloth ratio due to the peel sucking up excess. You absolutely can pour a bucket of resin over and get the same results. Most can’t but those who build boards for decades are capable.
I think there’s a high level of skill and experience in getting a good vacuum lam with carbon over EPS. I did half a dozen of my own And I never really Got it. You can definitely go both ways - too much and too little resin. For me the biggest problem was not being able to pull a tight enough vacuum on the EPS. After switching to a real closed cell core I can pull all the vacuum in the world And it helps a lot.
Just adding my two cents worth, vacuum bagging is esential for a sandwich board (EPS with Divinycell) for both light weight and for correct resin saturation, else you are asking for a delam, but for a simply carbon over eps or xps a good glasser can pull a tight weave and then the sand coat can be taken down close to the cloth. But those Amos boards are really freaking light and strong given how thin the resin coat is. And that’s what a good vacuum process gives.
Glad I could help, yep have done quite a bit of comparing between the Armi and Appletrees and agree with that AT is a better feeling under the feet but substantially heavier and yes I’ve also seen the pressure dents on them as well!
For what it’s worth I’ll be proning the 48L again on really small days as it was just soooo easy to get in on a wave (funny enough I’d demo’d the flightlab amp jet 32L a couple of days before and much preferred the 48L)
Thanks. I do have the opportunity to demo the Armstrongs. The trick is to line up the demo with a decent day. We have lots of huge tide swings over here that make the prone window kinda small. You’ll paddle out at a 2.5 ft tide and within an hour and a half it’s 5ft and dead. So you have to act quick. Haha.
Also, I wing a lot and I drop my wing often to pump around. I’m very comfortable pumping larger boards. But even going from the 65ML to the 55ML in the surf, I noticed immediately how much easier it was to pump the smaller board. Looking forward to seeing that difference again when going down to something between 36L and 45L.
because it pools in places that you can’t scrape it out. In deck recesses, around the foil boxes (in a quantity you just don’t need) and just generally in the weave of the bottom layer when doing multiples. You can’t get all that out by hand… we’re talking about a liquid (on a delicate foam) under 2 layers of carbon armed with nothing but a plastic squeegee? It will add a bit of weight. Not massive, but I think it’s still better to not put it in there to start with (wet out table) or use vacuum and peelply/bleeder to remove.
Both my TM19 and Enigma 5’6 were glassed by proper (andy) - when did that change? I picked them up from Andy.
I just got a new midlength from 270 (Grant) and am loving it! I basically wanted a Kruzer but a bit more volume than the 36L at 5’4.
We landed on a 5’4 x 18.5 x 43L. Gets into waves super easy and rides great. I am 68kg and felt that my 5’6 55L Portal Enigma was just a bit too floaty for me so I sold it. This feels so much better at around 3 inches thick.
I recommend reaching out to 270 and getting something custom. You’ll end up paying less than importing a Kruzer and it will be built custom for exactly you and your needs. It’s about $1500 total (including tax) with custom color and grip.
1 Like
Nice board!
1 Like
So I received an Armstrong Surf 36L yesterday. It looks really good. Looking forward to trying it out. I wasn’t too stoked on the weight however. Came out to 8lbs-7oz / 3.83kg on my trusty postal scale.
For reference, I have an Appletree Pro Foil V2 37L which would be similar in dims to the Armie, and that one weighs 7lbs-2oz. That’s about a pound and a 1/3 lighter. That’s quite surprising considering most Appletrees are a bit heavier in comparable sizes.
This is still an upgrade to the 55ML I’ve been riding which is 9lbs-6.4oz / 4.265kg… so I’m still losing a pound overall. But I feel it should have been 2 pounds saved.
I know weights vary from board to board… luck of the draw and all. But yeah, this one turned out a bit heavier than expected.
