This is the industry standard construction technique for manufacturing most boards sold worldwide.

It is based on a polyurethane foam core manufactured and sold to shapers as a blank. This blank has the rough shape of a surfboard, with many different blank shapes available to accommodate the different styles of surfboards that are shaped.

The shaper is responsible for shaping the rough blank into the desired board based on the design criteria chosen for the board.

Once the board has been shaped, it goes through the lamination process, and for this construction technique, the lamination process utilizes polyester resin and fiberglass cloth. The cloth is applied to the shaped blank on both sides with laps at the rails to provide additional strength.

Once the board has been covered with cloth and resin, it is hot-coated, and fin boxes are installed and then sanded. If the board has a sanded finish, then the process is complete.

However, if the board has a gloss/polish, another gloss coat of resin is applied over the sanded board. Once this has cured, the board is sanded with ever finer grits of sandpaper and then finally polished with rubbing compound to achieve a high gloss finish.

This hybrid construction technique uses most of the steps utilized in the polyurethane/polyester technique but with the introduction of the V-Lam methodology.

V-Lam adds a layer of bamboo veneer into the construction mix, most commonly in the form of a deck patch that covers the back two-thirds of the board. The bamboo is applied with epoxy resin using a vacuum bag technique that conforms the bamboo to the shape of the deck. This serves to strengthen the deck, and it also alters the flex characteristics of the board positively.

Many photos of boards use this technique throughout this site; check it out!

In some cases, the bamboo is applied on both the deck and the bottom; in these boards, the bamboo is used for the entire board length.

This construction technique creates durable solid boards but at a higher price point due to the additional cost of the bamboo and the additional steps involved.

This is our preferred construction technique!

This more modern technique has been gaining more and more interest in the industry as it produces a light but strong board.

All techniques involved are identical to those employed in the standard construction methods. Still, the significant differences are that a different type of foam is utilized in the form of EPS, an expanded polystyrene foam made of fused foam bubbles.

The laminating process is identical to the standard procedure, except that epoxy resin is used, as polyester is incompatible with EPS.

If the boards have a gloss finish, that is still done with a polyester gloss coat, as it polishes out better than epoxy typically does.

For the boards we build with this technique, we apply the V-Lam to both sides of the board, as it allows us to reduce the amount of glass while still improving the overall strength. It makes for a very light but strong board with good durability.

We primarily use this technique for shortboards or standup paddle boards.

We utilize this hollow balsa construction technique primarily for big guns, although we have done several longboards.

Unlike chambered balsa boards, this technique starts with a rough balsa blank constructed out of ribs, deck and bottom plates, and parabolic rail bands. The interior of the blank consists of many tiny air chambers. The blank is typically created close to the rocker and overall outline of the board being built.

Once the blank is completed, it is shaped like a regular foam board. The primary goal is to reduce the deck and bottom plates' thickness to reduce weight. Typically, these plates can end up being as little as 1/8" thick at the thinnest point. Great care has to be taken not to shape through the plates, especially at the transitions from the deck to the rails.

After shaping the board, it is finished in epoxy resin and relatively thin layers of glass to keep the weight down. Before laminating, the balsa is given a thin coat of epoxy to seal the wood before the laminating stage.

The finishing process is the same as with the more standard construction techniques.

Most boards have gloss finishes with a polyester glossing resin over the epoxy. This provides a better finish but is a little trickier to pull off.