Thursday, January 5, 2017

Designers Looking for More Environmentally Friendly Materials for Surfboards

While hundreds of thousands of surfboards are produced each year worldwide, what happens to the ones that are no longer used? Well at surfboards.com, we do our part to give used surfboards new homes by providing a place for people to sell them on our website. But if the board is damaged or the owner isn't able to sell it, oftentimes used surfboards end up in landfills with their toxic and non-biodegradable components. 

According to an article from Surfer Today, surfer-scientist Cliff Kapono and surfboard shaper Matty Raynor have teamed up to produce surfboards from more environmentally friendly materials. Kapono and Raynor created three surfboards that were identical in shape but made of different materials to see how non-traditional materials stacked up against the traditional polyurethane core.

They created the first board from polyurethane foam, polyester resin, and silica fiberglass. For the next board they used algae foam, biolink epoxy, and silica fiberglass. And for the final board they used recycled styrofoam, entropy bio epoxy, and silica fiberglass.

So how did the final products compare? In the end, Kapono and Raynor didn't feel like there was much difference when riding the surfboards. They felt like the differences were marginal and seemed insignificant after a few hours of surfing. To see a video that goes in-depth on the process of making and using these boards, click here. If surfers want to do their part in lowering the environmental footprint of the surfing community, they will continue to ask for changes in materials and support those who are using them.

For more information on getting a used surfboard from surfboards.comcontact us today.

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