It could be fair to say that my first crack at an EPS board has been pretty much a disaster. The intention was to create a ridiculously light summer board based on the Lost Bottom Feeder.
The blank was cut from a huge block of Wickes EPS foam using a hot wire cutter that was far too small. The end result was a slightly wonky surfboard that I couldn't straighten out for fear of removing too much foam. Coated the finished shape with some polyfiller to try and seal it but wary of adding too much weight I probably didn't add enough resulting in the epoxy glass coat sucking in a lot of resin leaving a lot of pin holes. Did I mention that I nearly set the resin on fire as it started overheating in the tub?
Think I added to much colour to the resin as the final surfboard felt as durable as a sponge. I have absolutely no idea how but I somehow managed to fit the fin plugs with the front two fins pointing towards the nose and the back two pointing away from the nose, I nearly cried.
Nonetheless I took her out in the water minus the back fins. First couple of waves were fun, she took off easily enough, quite manoeuvrable thanks to the immense cant on the fins, albeit very loose due to the lack of back fins. Of more concern however was the increasing weight it seemed to develop, this was explained when I got out of the sea and saw water pouring out of about a dozen tiny holes on the base of the board.
I suppose on the plus side it was a miracle she even got into the water and if nothing else I now have a new winter project lined up, Il Joneso Superleggera XT, the EPS/balsa edition, she's going to rock hard.
