Hi-density foam vs wood core twin-tips....

west · Since 09 Oct 2008 136 Posts Lake Michigan Stoked

Checking on kiter's perspective on this....can you tell the difference in the ride? Does it make a noticable difference?

Matt V · Mon May 09, 16 7:11 am

Never again will I buy another board with wood or bamboo veneer. The only thing that does for you is show you that you are getting water inside (if not painted). This sounds good, but then the chase begins.

Where is it coming from? Will the other side crack and get water in it too if I repair this side? Did it do this because I tightened the screws too much? How do I get the water out that is already inside? Should I re-glass this area? should I add another deck patch?

Bellecera boards are a good example of high quality - high functioning works of art that no doubt have a great "feel" to them being all wood. And I do not discount their following. I even admire them and want to touch them on the beach much more so than a chunk of paint covered epoxy and foam.

But fix one wood/bamboo board and you will be wishing it had an impervious foam core like those chunks of man made trash that most (including me) kiters ride.

That said, twin-tip construction allows you to bury the wood so deep that it has a very low likelihood of ever seeing water infiltration. And the dampening effect of wood is proven in the lawsuits that hammer manufactures received from the all metal hammer handles. Wood just seemed to be better for your arm in the long term with respect to tennis elbow and other ailments. So there is evidence of at least some dampening effect with wood construction.

But my body gets beat up more grinding, filling, sanding, and then repeating when the repair did not take.

I would love to get a hold of some of the Liquid Force foam they use in the Kitefish. Glass and that LF foam is all that ever should be in anything you beat the s out of with a kite on the water. Then you never really have to beat the s out of your self fixing it.

bwd · Since 04 Aug 2007 385 Posts Obsessed

On the other hand, the right wood can be a huge benefit in twintips.
Blanks from strips of light, durable wood species like cedar, paulownia etc. are easy to machine, cut channels, hand shape, whatever you like, and then can be bent to hold rocker, if the rocker is not cut in. Bending in the rocker is an art but it avoids excess wood use and machine time, consumables etc. Plus the natural flex of the wood fairs the shape for you.
Paulownia is more or less the industry standard I think.

A durable wood exposed for a few hours at a time and left to dry is ok, will not rot easily at all. The wrong wood rots, and wet foam "rots" too by the way.
I have a twin tip I built 5 years ago and it's going strong.
It could be a little lighter but it's 2 layers of red cedar with glass over it and it has banged around, taken flat landings, drops, collisions etc.
If I peeled the 12 oz of glass off the bottom I could probably still ride it without breaking it, the glass is almost superfluous except it helps lock in the shape and resist scratches.

Wood veneer (or bamboo) over light foam with only minimal glass over top of it, that will give you issues. Water migration behind the veneer, ugly repairs, trapped water, rot even might happen. Slingshot (and customers) learned this in their first generations of veneered surfboards.

Foam can be great though, but wood is still good imho.