Hydroflex enters carbon board production

Industry Updates

Hydroflex working with carbon fiber material called TeXtreme

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 9 January, 2013 : - - Through continued research and development, Hydroflex is proud to announce that we will do full carbon surfboards starting in Feb 2013. They are 100% customizable, and can be built in any model from Lost, Roberts, Surf Prescriptions, Bradley or Bufo.

The carbon surfboards will be the first board of our Tech-Series line of surfboard constructions. Our TechSeries boards will come directly from our R+D lab with feed back from top surfing pros. The constructions will only use high-end materials, like carbon, Kevlar and other specialty fabrics.

These carbon surfboards will not be mass-produced and will be limited, and will only be available through custom orders through shops and our online custom order form. We are always tweaking our construction, experimenting with new materials, and trying to think outside the box to advance surf technology.

A few months ago we were presented with a carbon fiber material called TeXtreme® and started experimenting with its potential mixed with our 3D lamination. Our first carbon prototypes were shaped by Rusty founder, Rusty Preisendorfer, their “Jokerr” model.

Since, the carbon surfboards have been under testing by the man that model was named after, Josh Kerr himself.

All carbon surfboards coming with a polyurethane stringered blank integrated with the Hydroflex Patented 3D lamination technology that multiplies the bonding surface and strength between resin, cloth and core. The blending of this material on our process is the basis out of Carbon 3D construction. After some very positive feed back from Josh, we went ahead with our process to create new prototypes with a slightly different glassing schedule to compare.

Two of the prototypes will be showcased at the Florida Surf Expo in January 2013. One of the prototypes is a Black Punt by Robert Weiner, of Roberts Surfboards, and is the same type of hand shaped stringered PU foam core, wrapped in Textreme carbon fiber. This carbon surfboard features a slightly different fabric weight and fiber direction resulting in more flex than the first prototypes. After the show Roberts team rider Torrey Meister will test the carbon surfboard and give us the last feedback on our all carbon project.

The Textreme fabric has some distinct advantages over traditional fabric weaves. It reduces the weight of your composites and the increased fiber content gives you a composite that outperforms conventional reinforcement fabrics at any given weight.

It increases the mechanical properties. The flat structure of TeXtreme® minimizes the negative crimp effect you will find in conventional woven fabrics. It will enhance the surface smoothness. Better surface smoothness is achieved by fewer interlacing points, increased fiber floats and less crimp in TeXtreme®.

www.hydroflex-surfboards.com

Source: Hydroflex

Author: Ian Cameron

Tags: Surfboards, Hydroflex, Carbon Fiber

Industry: Surfersvillage