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> ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
How XTR May Cure Epoxy Technology's Progressive Woes.
- Surfing Magazine, January 2004
 "COME - SEE HOW I TEST MY BOARDS." Javier Huarcaya - Pro, the bubbly owner of Epoxy
Pro blanks and glassing in Oceanside, CA, walks us outside to his car. Inside, two of his own handshapes lay, baking
under the caustic UV's of a sunshiny noon. As he opens the trunk, the heat seeps past us -- it must be 100 degrees
inside. Taking the board that's deck-up, he smears a thumb through the wax as if it were Crisco. "Look,"
he points at the board's center. About 10 tiny wax bubbles litter the deck like toadstools. He grins. This is his
invention at work.
Not that exopy is anything new. Javier will be the first to admit that, but what is relatively new is the kind
of epoxy board he's making and the methods he's using to minimize its downfalls. Strolling inside the factory again,
we pass a row of top-name finished products: Merricks and Rustys and Mayhems stamped with the XTR logo and waiting
their day to rip. "XTR," or extruded polystyrene, is closed-cell foam commonly used in airplane wing
insulation. Most epoxy boards are made from expanded polystryene foam (open cell, water absorbing), the type used
in coolers and coffee cups.
"We've been working with epoxy for over 13 years now," says Javier, "and our biggest problem has
been the boards delaminating. Epoxy is very heat sensitive."
Plus, when epoxy boards are continually pushed on, like after a few months' worth of big cutbacks, gasses in the
foam will release and begin to push up the glass. "When we started expiramenting with the extruded foam, I
knew that it didn't absorb water," he adds. "I decided to try and use that as an advantage."
By 2000, the advantage was a patent-pending design that he called the "Thermovent." Or, more precisely:
tiny, gas-releasing pinholes on the deck of your board.
For anyone who's familiar with the pluses and minuses of epoxy, this may be a huge innovation. So huge, in fact,
that Javier's willing to stake his reputation on a 6'1" x 16 1/2" rocket meant for 50-foot waves. "Dick
Brewer did this one for Garrett McNamera," he raves, shaking his head. "For those big and glassy days."
We both laugh, but this is no laughing matter: Javier's technology will now have to prove itself in life-or-death
conditions.
But judging from the feedback he's getting from the rest of his clients, there's no reason why XTR can't apply
to the unproven realm. "These boards aren't indestructible, but you can make them lighter and a little stronger
than a polyester board," says master designer, Al Merrick. "The flex pattern's a little different than
a polyester board, but they're close. They tend to have that consistency we're used to having, the way they work
with you through a turn, and have that particular bend to a wave's face."
Another big proponent of extruded polystyrene, Patagonia's Point Blanks in Ventura, is also pleased with the results.
"We're approaching this a bit different than Javier, who's doing an excellent job making an ultimate, lightweight
board," says Point Blanks shaper Fletcher Chouinard. "We're putting a little more emphasis on durability
while still maintaining a relatively light weight. It's more work with these boards -- we have to make the blanks
from scratch -- but with the minimal weight we can apply more glass to them. You can pull into a lot more closeouts
on these."
On top of all that, this stuff is said to be recyclable and easy to shape. Of course, they're still a relative
nightmare to glass since extreme heat is needed for the epoxy resin to adhere. But Javier and the rest of the Epoxy
pros are willing to overlook this minor inconvenience when they hear comments like this from Mr. McNamera: "These
boards are letting me do things I never thought I'd even want to do. The confidence is scary."
- Hagan Kelley
(XTR is a registered trade mark
of Epoxy Pro )
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