equipment gary young - swaylocks · 2017-09-05 · equipment 106 gary young instead of fiberglass:...

104EquipmentGary Young

Instead of Fiberglass:Epoxy, Veneers and Bamboo

Equipment

Gary Young's craftsmanship has been representedin the quivers of several friends in recent years, but itwasn't until I saw him do a presentation at a meeting ofSurfrider's Santa Barbara chapter that I fully understoodthe importance of his work.

Quite simply, he makes the strongest, lightestprotective shells for surfboard blanks that I've ever seen.The "lamboo" system that he has invented allows forstringerless blanks, since the lamination is so strong thatGary can bend permanent rocker into the blank duringthe lamination process.

He has spent the past twenty-five years single-handedly developing state-of-the art methods to makesurfboards that are personal, yet professional, examplesof equipment whose strength is matched only by theiraesthetic appearance and attention to detail. Andthroughout his career, he has maintained an independentapproach to his work that stands out in today's world ofpop-outs manufactured in the Far East and sold underbrand-name stickers in department store surf shops inHuntington Beach.

Gary YoungInstead of Fiberglass:

Epoxy, Veneers and Bamboo

Aloha from Gary ......................... 106The Evolution to Bamboo ........... 108EPS Foam - On Shaping ............. 109Stringers ..................................... 110Shape Duplicators ....................... 110Hi-tech Fibers ............................. 111The Hawai'i Chapter ................... 111Enter Bamboo ............................. 111On Logos and Stickers ................ 112Flex and Bamboo ........................ 113Other BambooLaminate Possibilities ................. 114An Extraordinary Prototypefor Robbie Naish ........................ 116Professional Paper: AdvanceFiber Composites and Bamboo ... 118

Not only are his boards beautiful, but they make aworld class statement about lasting quality. The lineupabove is testimony to that: the list of owners includesNat Young, Sunny Garcia, Chris Mauro, and yours truly(mine is third from the left, as well as the photos below),all veteran surfers who could have any board in the world,but have added one of Gary's products to our collectionswith pride. Gary and I were not able to do an interview,but I think it is to the reader's advantage for me to get outof the way and let Gary teach us a few things. G.H.

Equipment

105 Equipment

7'7"x19"x3" shaped by Robbie Dick usingRick Vogel's Surf-Sword Design SystemStringerless EPS blank by Point Blanks

Lamboo Protective Shell by Gary Young



My name is Gary Young. I live in the tropicalrainforests of Hawaii while I have been developing com-posites using natural fibers and epoxy. My backgroundincludes:

Over thirty years experience with Epoxy composites -Man-made (glass, carbon, Kevlar and Spectra, etc)and Natural Fiber (Wood, shredded palm fronds,sugar cane bagasse, Bamboo, etc.) - as applied notonly to Surf and Sailboards, but also boats, canoes,briefcases, telephone poles, musical instruments andElectric Vehicle prototypes.

More than 800 Surf and Sailboards have been built us-ing techniques I’ve developed in California, Hol-land, Australia and Hawaii.

US patent #4,255,221 in 1981 for method and apparatusfor vacuum laminating surfboards and similar structures.

Designed and fabricated numerous mechanical and elec-tromechanical devices and tooling fixtures includ-ing eight manual pantograph shaping systems

Duplicating machines and Solar heated vacuum-baglaminating frames for both surf and sailboards.

Contracted as consultant in epoxy composites and tool-ing for Rainbow Fins -Watsonville, Windsurf Hawaii -Santa Barbara, Topsails Sports, B.V. - Holland, ProCircuitBoards - Australia and Concept Development - Hilo.

Contracted as consultant to develop a bamboo and re-cycled plastic telephone pole process forPowertrusion 2000, Scottsdale, Arizona.

Constructed Natural Fiber Composite boards for PhilEdwards, Randy Rarick, Jericho Poppler Bartlow,Shaun Tomson, Robby Naish, Laird Hamilton, RustyKeaulana, Nat Young, Tom Curren and Sunny Garciato name a few.

Aloha from GaryThe Evolution to Bamboo

107 Equipment

THE EVOLUTION TO BAMBOO SURFBOARDS

To many modern surfers, boards are just plastic toys. Yetthe amount of thought, energy, and craftsmanship that go intothese wave riding vehicles is immense for those of us that treatSurfing as a spiritual dance, a reward of being here on earth. Itis possible, with a board made of natural (or mostly natural)materials: koa, redwood, balsa, and now bamboo, to enhance orprolong our peak surf experience by using the “natural board”and sensing the interaction of those natural materials with theenergy of the wave. The board itself becomes an inspiration,even a trusted friend of sorts over the years, a durable tool thatitself makes possible many classic days. Obviously, one canhave a similar feeling toward a fiberglass board, but there isdefinitely a difference with a “natural” board that has to beexperienced to be appreciated.

I grew up during the golden age of post WWII So. Cal.,watching (helping? I was 7 years old!) my father built a 16 footglassed plywood ski boat in the mid 1950’s. He taught me manythings as I got older - that for which I am most thankful was thatI learned the skills and attitude to build just about anything. Insuburban LA, forty-five minutes to the beach, it wasn’t long untilI was begging rides with my surf mat and fins to the waves ofOrange County. I remember one day at Doheny, walking up fromthe old Capo pier, the smell of the piles of kelp, paraffin wax andstrips with sauce - wondering if I could ever own and ride asurfboard.

A couple of years later, the Beach Boys were inventingthemselves, I had built my first board, could drive the family’s1956 Chevy wagon and life was good. College and Vietnamwere looming, and surfing took a backseat to “real life”, an oft-repeated story for guys in the mid-to-late sixties. While I, likemany, had built a few of my own fiberglass boards, I never workedin a shop - something about the fumes and itch.

In the mid 1970’s, toward the end of my dazed and confused(non-drug) spiritual questing, I was waiting in a gas line inNorthern California, pondering the situation, and believing thepropaganda about the alleged “oil shortage”. I thought that

Upper Left: Early daze -The first "Wooden Board", Bolinas, 1976

Upper Right:6'4" Rosewood and Brown Oak 1980

Right: Shaun Tomson and friend,Sunset Beach, 1978

Below:1978 Wooden Board #006



mankind had better get it together on an industrial level andproduce its transportation, products and services in a moresustainable, less polluting way while reducing our dependenceon oil or our life-styles would be seriously diminished, or atleast more expensive. (In the 1960s, gas cost 22 cents a gallon.By the mid 1970s the price was a buck or more.)

In the 1970’s I was earning a living as a traditional woodenboat builder and building a 36-foot Cold-molded wooden sailboathull for myself. Cold molding involved using a newly availableadhesive - epoxy - to laminate thin wood layers into compoundcurves like boat hulls. Unlike plywood or fiberglass, which haveonly two grain or fiber directions, Cold molding usually hadthree or more. When this strong, curved laminate was formed, aremarkably stiff and light structure resulted. After completingthe hull of Port Orford cedar, epoxy and over 60,000 bronzestaples - I resolved to find out if this process could be scaleddown to surfboard skins. This passion has led to me devotingmy life to exploring the possibilities and applications of what isnow called Natural Fiber Composites.

In thinking of surfboards, one design consideration was tofigure a way to duplicate a “magic board”. Another aspect wasthe problem of ones’ favorite surfboards falling apart as a resultof normal use. There had to be a better way - one that hopefullyhad natural fibers (less oil based materials), was less hazardousto the workers (minimum of fumes and itching) yet was lightdurable and good looking. Since I hadn’t been indoctrinated bythe belief systems of industrial surfboard building, I had a fewnew approaches I wanted to try.

After trying and rejecting frame and rib (airplane wing)construction, my first experiment in 1976 was to vacuum bagepoxy laminate several wood veneers over the deck of an alreadyglassed board, separating it when cured. The resultant shell was

Above and right: Early woven bamboo mat experiments.

Upper Right: Gary with Tom Morey at a trade show in 1998.

The Evolution to BambooEPS Foam

109 Equipment

great looking, light and demonstrated good strength. The nextchapter involved gluing these veneers to a Clark Foam blank (inthe early days with a stringer), which resulted in a solid woodlooking board with an acceptable weight at the time. Outside,Surfing and Surfer Magazines all featured write ups, with Surfingdoing a follow-up that included a full page color shot of RenoAbellira surfing a koa Wooden Boardtm. (I recently received ane-mail from the current owner in Australia - he’s still riding theboard! See page 118.)

With the help of my brother Gregg, Steve Boehne of Infinity,Randy Rarick, Kirby Ferris, Max McDonald, & John Grissim toname a few - Wooden Boards enjoyed small success, asproduction was limited and the price was higher than glass boards.With the help of several investors, I built a shop in an old milkingbarn in Marshall, on Tomales Bay, an hour north of San Francisco.A lot of research and development ensued -over a 7 year periodabout 250 Wooden Boardstm were built. I was granted a US patent#4,255,221 in 1981 for an apparatus and method of fabricatingwood veneer/epoxy laminate structures. Solar curing vacuumframes were used, as well as other innovations.

One of the things learned during this period was theimportance of a lightweight foam core, as this allowed morefiber in the skin laminate, where it does double duty - durabilityand rigidity. To minimize weight, I built a chambering machine- I called it a “gang drill”, to drill vertical holes thru the urethaneblank but it lessened the bonding surface while only cutting 1/2to 3/4 pound off the weight. This lead to the foam crunchingunderfoot, and delaminating from the skin.

The search for lighter foam was on, and since I was alreadyusing epoxy - Expanded Poly Styrene (EPS) foam was a naturalas it melts with Polyester resin. In 1979 I built a few red cedarskinned wood veneer/epoxy laminated surfboards with EPS foamcores, but cedar absorbed so much resin it weighed as much as ahardwood veneer like Koa or Teak.

As the name implies, Thermo-set plastics (or resins) generateheat to cure - in surf and sailboard building Polyester, Epoxyresins and Urethane (Clark) foam are in this group. On the

downside - from a recycling standpoint Thermo-sets can only beused one time.

In contrast, Thermo-melts can be reused. EXPANDEDPolystyrene foam, like used in coolers, packing material andcoffee cups, can be recycled in several ways, however it canabsorb water in the lowest densities. (Think of a box full of ping-pong balls. When heated with steam, the balls will melt, EXPANDand stick together when cooled. The cells are closed, BUT THESPACE BETWEEN THEM CAN ABSORB WATER.)

EXTRUDED Polystyrene is more like properly blownUrethane foam - each bubble shares it’s skin with an adjacentbubble, and there is no water absorption. The Achilles Heel ofThermo-melts is that they are heat sensitive. EVEN A CARINTERIOR WILL GET HOT ENOUGH FROM THE SUN TOREMELT AND EXPAND POYSTYRENE FOAMS! Likewise,a normal polyester/fiberglass/urethane foam board shows illeffects from heat. Would you risk your CD collection in a hotcar? Make sure you don’t thermally trash your surfboard either!

As the ‘70’s faded into the Reagan era, Windsurfing becamethe rage. I began making Woodwinds Sailboardstm, utilizing EPSfoams and wood veneers. I remember pulling up to Crissy Fieldto check the wind and getting the cold shoulder from the stockwindsurfer crowd. It wasn’t until they realized their wives couldcarry the 28 lb Woodwindstm boards (compared to Windsurfersat twice the weight) that wood laminates became acceptable.

With the help of Randall Hillner, I moved my shop toSausalito, sailed my boat around from Tomales Bay and livedaboard for several months, developing a sailboard business asSan Francisco Bay, along with Kailua, Oahu, became Researchand Development centers for hi-wind sailboarding. (Ho’okipaand the Gorge hadn’t been discovered yet). I worked withBerkeley sailors like Steve Sylvester, JD and Kevin Mitchell,Bill Hansen of Windwing Designs, Tom Lloyd, Glen Dewitt ofRainbow fins and Bard Chrisman. About 1980 I showed up atthe PanAm Worldcup sailboard races in Kailua, Oahu with aboard that had a Fins Unlimited fin box for the mast step. Thecomment “No way brah! The waves will just twist that box right

out!” was soon forgotten as the fin box became the standard formast attachment and adjustment in all custom sailboards,including those made with Clark foam and fiberglass. Thedemands of high performance sailboarding pushed the envelopeof strength and the race was on.

EPS FOAM

The lightweight demands of the sailboard world also dictatedthe use of different foam. EPS (nicknamed “Styro” in thesailboard world) was white, light and cheap - but its fatal flawwas it could absorb 2 or 3 times its original weight in water.Some of the first epoxy/glass/EPS boards would weigh 5 or 6pounds more after sailing. One time I came ashore with a heavy,waterlogged board, removed the footstrap screws and held anair hose in one of the insert holes. Every insert was pissing whenI pulled the trigger!

Even though there were many problems with EPS, today itis still used by many surf and sailboard builders with mixedresults. Because styrene is light and recyclable, it is the best choicefor an environmental board. In my opinion EXTRUDED styrenefoam is superior, and although not as light as EPS, once againEXTRUDED does not absorb water.

ON SHAPING

Modern surfboards shapers have many challenges, but theevolution of the close tolerance blank and computer shapingmachines have made a lot of their job easier. Several shapers Ihave attempted to work with have been reluctant to try shapingstringerless, rockerless foam - the type I use in Bamboosurfboards. This is understandable: change is seldom easy.However from environmental and functional viewpoints, thestringered urethane foam blank leaves a lot to be desired. Asidefrom the non-recyclability, compared to other recyclable foams,the modern surfboard blank is heavy. It was designed to workwith a (some even claim purposely) fragile fiberglass covering.But to really make an improvement in the way surfboards aremade, we may need to rethink the older ways, and urethane foamwith a stringer is one area that can definitely be advanced.



STRINGERS

Stringers create their own problems, even though they arethe standard of board construction. By defining the rocker andcenterline they are very handy for the shaper. Conventionalwisdom says a bigger stringer will make a stronger board - buthow big of a stringer do you need to not break a board? So bigthat the board becomes too heavy. If you have a curved stringer(viewed from the tail), guess what? You have a curved outline!(another possible explanation for the “magic board” that isdifficult to duplicate by hand shaping.)

Another problem of stringers is they make a hard ridge thatcracks the laminate when foot pressure crunches the foam nextto the stringer. As soon as water gets into your board, regardlessof the type of foam - - - well you get the idea. Also, stringersinhibit flex, currently desired by high performance shortboardsurfers. (see “FLEX” section following)

SHAPE DUPLICATORS

I believe that with a strong enough skin, stringers are notnecessary. EPS can be cut into the desired rocker and thickness.In order to use stringerless Expanded PolyStyrene foam, Ideveloped a hand operated shape duplicator to do the roughshaping. Over the years I’ve built several of these machines forpeople like Windsurf Hawaii (later bought by Rick Naish whowanted a way to duplicate Robby's “magic” boards instead ofhaving to shape three or four blanks by hand to even get close tothe desired result), Roland Chocarro, Bob McTavish andPatagonia.

These Pantograph shape duplicators have gotten mixedreviews (what else is new in the surf world?); I still use onetoday to shape blanks of the stringerless, rockerless ExtrudedStyrene Foam. One good thing about the hand operated shape

Left: Koa and Ash. 1996.

Bottom: Pantograph shapeduplicator, 1997

Right Gary and "Packy"Jones, owner of koa and ashwith 11'6" foam blankshaped by Billy Hamilton.

Stringers - Shape DuplicatorsHi-tech Fibers - Hawaii - Bamboo

111 Equipment

duplicators is that you can change the thickness, outline androcker without a computer whiz to program it.

By 1986, after futile attempts at production of Woodlaminated sailboards, the rest of the boardbuilders had caughtup in a technological sense. Vacuum bagging with hi-densityfoam sandwiched glass and epoxy, was on the map. It wasn’tuntil ten years later that wood veneer entered the mainstreamsurfboard market, yet most were molded in third worldsweatshops and used fiberglass under the wood. These are “wood”boards only in appearance.

HI TECH FIBERS

From 1976 to 1990, several hundred boards were built bymyself or under my direction, Most were wood/epoxy laminates,but often I would experiment with the supposedly “hi-tech” fiberslike Kevlar, carbon (graphite) Nylon, Spectra, etc. under the outer“decorative” wood layers. I kept returning to multiple layers ofwood because the hi-tech fibers did not perform well enough tojustify their cost. Carbon (at 5+ times the cost of glass) was greatuntil catastrophic failure - witness the Americas Cup yachts thathave broken in half. One sank outside San Diego in the mid1990’s, another broke but did not sink in early 2000 in NewZealand. Pure carbon is too brittle to deal with surfboard (orsailboat) abuse at the light end of the scale.

Kevlartm had similar results, even though it was used forbulletproof vests. Kevlar (and Spectratm, a similar antiballistic)actually spread damage caused by a ding due to their fiberstrengths and difficulties in adhering to the resin. Think this onethru: bamboo is a source of cellulose (as is cotton, wood, straw,etc). Cellulose is processed chemically to make rayon. Rayon isprocessed to make carbon fiber. After all that processing andenergy input, compared to laminated bamboo, what have wegained? Of course, carbon has a very high tensile strength, andit is very good for many applications where the cost is not afactor. But for many applications, carbon either is not appropriateor too expensive. Someday I would like to get the funding tolook at this carefully. I believe that bamboo kicks butt comparedto other natural or synthetic fibers when all things are considered.

THE HAWAII CHAPTER

In 1989 I bought some land and moved to the Big Island ofHawaii, where for the first time, I could have a shop in my ownbackyard. I wanted to explore natural fiber laminates, andeconomically this allowed me to do it. Not only was I able towork in open air (in California, I had to hot coat and gloss inheated rooms, not healthy breathing!), but also the normal Hawai’itemperature cured the epoxy without ovens. I built severalWooden Classics Hawaii, working with shapers like DeanEdwards, Bill Hamilton, Bob “Ole” Olson, Harold Iggy, andDave Parmenter (Dave, get real! Progress is good, althoughthreatening to some. We’d still be riding balsa or worse if not forprogress. It is time to let go of the forty year old tradition offiberglass: there is something better.).

ENTER BAMBOO

In the midst of the Woodwinds sailboards era, (the mid1980’s) a friend and sailboard dealer then from NorthernCalifornia, Gib Cooper and I had several discussions about thepotential of using bamboo instead of wood in the NFC laminates.At the time the most common uses of bamboo in the Westernworld, were rakes, stakes, bongs and flutes. Not much was knownof bamboo/epoxy composites. It was thru Gib that I obtained thefirst samples of bamboo I thought suitable for testing, but thesource was overseas and I was reluctant to use something that Icould not get a constant supply of. Finally, after years of trial anderror in materials and suppliers, bamboo sources are in place.Gib now runs a nursery at bamboodirect.com.

In 1996, after getting anxious to try the bamboo I had, Imade the first bamboo laminate board. The inner, or structurallayers were bamboo - the outer layer was Koa veneer - over aHarold Iggy shape. This board became “Hoku” a big wavesailboard for Robby Naish. (See page 116). The board waspictured in the August 1997 issue of Windsurf magazine andNovember 1998 National Geographic article on Jaws, thespectacular huge wave on Maui. Robby was stoked and sent mea poster of him flying over the back of a 35 footer. He wrote “ToGary - With many thanks for the beautiful board. It set new

standards!” The board utilized many years of my experiencebuilding sailboards. Robby logged a lot of airtime, and Hokufinally broke under his rear foot. The board now hangs over hismantel in his Maui home.

I continued my research into bamboo laminate ideas. In anattempt to imitate fiberglass, I tried several weave designs ofsplit bamboo, thinking that the weave would be easier to laminateand light and strong enough - turned out it was. About thirty -five boards were built and tested, long and short. Althoughbeautiful, the resulting boards did not have the really light feelrequired to turn on top surfers. In the summer of 1998, I workedwith Clyde Beatty Jr and Max McDonald in Santa Barbara. Ibuilt a couple of woven bamboo longboards in Rennie Yater’sold shaping room. (Clyde & I had worked together in the mid1980’s when I built a shape duplicator for Windsurf Hawaii. Atthe time Clyde was building their epoxy vacuum baggedsailboards in Carpinteria. Max had shaped some for WoodenBoards in 1978). Because it is too cold for epoxy to cure overnightin the California winter, we did not have the necessary capitaland I did not want to work in heated rooms, I returned to Hawaiifor the winter of 1998-99.

After attending an International Bamboo Conference in CostaRica, I developed other forms of bamboo and tried out severalnew laminating techniques. In the spring I returned to SantaBarbara, talked to Tom Curren, was hoping to work with AlMerrick. (I had talked to Kelly at a Long Beach trade show in1998, and he said he would like to try the bamboo on one of hisshapes). I also talked to Point Blanks, the surfboard arm ofPatagonia.

Another factor was the friendship of Darryl Genis, a LosAngeles based surfer who paid for his obsession by being alawyer. Darryl travels a lot for surf, lives in Santa Barbara andwas really impressed by the bamboo boards I had made him.(Darryl was the organizer of the Sunny Garcia boards, set up theSURFER mag connection and is currently helping with marketingat [email protected]).



In the summer of 1999 I set up shop in Bill Anderson'sBoatyard. It was cramped in the small 24' by 24' space, yet itwas here that I made the real break-throughs in bamboo boardconstruction. I had a small write-up in the NY Times, and bamboosurfboards were beginning to be discovered. During the summer/fall I built the boards for Tom Curren, Sunny, Nat Young, GlennHening and Chris Mauro among others.

Chris, an editor for SURFER, has ridden his bamboo boardextensively in Indo where it was raked over the reef and knockedout two finboxes (Rumor has it that a ding on deck was from thefist of Kelly. Good thing I don’t use stringers, Kelly, or you’d ofhad a broken hand!). After I repaired it, Chris was surprised athow good it looked, that it was still light and that it hadn’t lost itsfeel. Thru the winter he has been riding it all over California andtold me that more than one person who saw him surfing it at ElCapitan this spring commented that they had never seen anyonego so fast.

Nat told me his 7-6 bamboo board was “Fantastic!”, that hemade sections at Angourie that he had never been able to make,and he really liked it. Glenn was totally stoked on his, a swordfishdesign. Since Glenn wanted stickers of Groundswell Society,Rick Vogel, Robbie Dick and Surfrider on his bamboo board,and Swordfish are also known as “billfish”, I named Glenn’s a“Bill board”. (See page 105)

ON LOGOS AND STICKERS

I have tried to take surfboards a step away from beingadvertising substrates, and I generally abhor stickers. I havechosen a more earthy, wordless symbol for bamboo surfboards -Polynesian or “primitive culture” tapa designs. I think that fitsbetter with the natural look of bamboo. But if you like stickers,well you can put them on yourself. Fair enough?

Right:Woven bamboo mat canoe deck1997. She is named "Malolo" -

Hawaiian for "flying fish". She wasorginally rigged with a Hobie 16 sail.

We are now trying kite sailing.

Below:Malolo Sailing to Maui, 1998. Note the

bamboo laminated dagger board in thelower left hand corner.

On Logos and StickersFlex and Bamboo

113 Equipment

FLEX and BAMBOO

After riding two bamboo surfboards I made for him, Sunnysaid, “They work friggin’ insane!” [See SURFER magazineApril 2000, Vol 41 #4 Design Forum) He is really intrigued bythe flex. He found it hard to describe. My way of explaining itis to compare the deck laminate to a trampoline stretched overslightly flexible foam.

Let’s remember that the favorite rod of a fly fisherman isbamboo - because of the action of the flex. So it is not surprisingto me that when the deck of a laminated bamboo surfboard ispushed by your foot, it bends slightly then springs back - andfeels good doing it. Since the deck is connected to the bottom, itmakes sense that they both flex in unison - but here is an importantpoint: not only is the board flexing lengthwise, but also fromrail to rail. This flex is different than what most surfers are usedto feeling, and it is a good, lively, springy flex. I am learninghow to determine that flex by blank thickness, deck dome,number of layers and direction of fiber orientation within thebamboo/epoxy laminate.

In normal foam/fiberglass boards, most of the stiffness comesfrom the stringer. Imagine bouncing on a trampoline, then (inyour imagination, DO NOT try this at home!) put a stringerbetween your feet - like a 2 x 10 joist. Get the idea? The stringerresists bending or flex

.In a stringerless bamboo board the deck is acting like a semi-

rigid membrane (or spring) that flexes and then recoils. So whenyou jam a turn (load the membrane) the deck bends - then returnsto it’s original when you “unload” or stop pushing. This reboundaffects how the board feels and performs as it is flexed and snapsback traveling up and down across the wave. The stiffness orsoftness of the flex affects how it feels as well. Torque or twistingof the bamboo boards is also noteworthy - I think it alsocontributes to the flex feel. If one person holds the nose andanother twists the tail, you can see the bamboo board twist. Again,the stringer in a normal board inhibits this type of flex. (By theway, this same load-flex-unload-springback is happening in yourfins.)

Left Top: A chambering "gang drill".Left Middle: Patented vacuum systemLeft Bottom: Patented Rocker frameworkBelow: Diane Firestone, an early "bamboo" supporter



Chris Mauro has another good Design Forum write-up in the August 2000 SURFER,where Brit Merrick sez: “Flex is sort of the last frontier of surfboard design.” Thearticle concludes, “When an existing polyurethane blank is flexing, it crushes itself. Itturns to powder just like it does under the surface of a pressure ding,” says YvonChouinard. “That’s why pros go through their boards so quickly. They work great for acouple months, and then they die. Flex theories will be refined, but there’s no doubtwe’ll have to find new materials to make any huge leaps. And I don’t know if the surfindustry has it in them to do that.” Well, gentlemen of the surf industry (and especiallythose of you at the “cutting edge”), may I suggest bamboo?

OTHER BAMBOO LAMINATE POSSIBILITIES

Since bamboo is the fastest growing plant on Earth, and it is strongest amongnatural fibers (including hemp, which does not work well in surfboards), it is a greatresource for Natural Fiber Composites. Many products including fins, canoes, kayaks,guitar cases, boat hulls, even construction materials and car bodies could be made. Ihave been testing for three years my 30-foot outrigger sailing canoe with bamboo decks(works great!), have just finished bamboo-decking a twin hulled Hawaiian sailing canoeand am planning to build a foam core/bamboo sandwich canoe later this year. Thepossible applications are endless, as bamboo has been elevated to a more durable levelwhen in a composite.

UNFORESEEN PROBLEMS

There are some unscrupulous people in the US and Australia who claim credit forthe work I’ve done and are trying to steal my ideas after misleading me into thinkingwe would be “partners”. They are defrauding the public as well. In both cases westarted under a letter of intent - they claimed to want to include me in the profitability,but after disagreements and power struggles, it became obvious that they had otheragendas and I was forced to leave.

In Australia they are now implying that they developed the bamboo process,representing to the public in television and print media that they built the boards forSunny and Nat. The final straw was an imposter using my name in a newspaper photo;by the time you read this my lawyers will be enforcing my legal rights.

Other BambooLaminate Possibilities

Left - Billy HamiltonRight - Yvon Chouinard

115 Equipment

Above - Gary on abamboo at Frigate

Pass, Fiji.

Meanwhile, I have returned home to Hawaii, buildingbamboo surfboards. Production development continues, withmore advancements being made almost daily. I am convincedthat there is a viable technology with laminated bamboo and Iwill be ready to franchise this technology for surfboards andother products to interested manufacturers in the fall of 2000. Ican be reached at [email protected].

November 2000:Kite boarders

loves light, strongboards. Bambooprototypes were

tested by AlexAguera on Maui

recently, with ravereviews. Newshapes will beavailable this

month.

Right - Billy and GaryBelow - Bill Stewart and Phil Edwards with Koa Wooden Classics,

1996. "The last surfboard I'll ride" said Phil.Bottom - Ole, checking out his Koa Wooden Classic, said, "I

wonder where my wife is going to sleep tonight."



Gary Young: "The building of the Hoku - Robby Naish's koa covered, bamboo laminated sailboard, the first of its kind to my knowledge.Photos (L to R)"It all started with an X-tune extruded styrene stringered blank shaped by Harold Iggy. (What a classic shaper! Harold, will you shape one for me someday?)"I carved parallel grooves (like corrugated roofing) in the deck's 'high abuse' area and made a mirror image hi-density foam PVC foam piece for a sandwich."The first lam was multiple bamboo layers sandwiched between the corrugated foams. Second lam included linear bamboo layer s covering the remainderof the blank. Robby with the completed board, finished in the third lam of Koa/epoxy. The board received its most severe test at Jaws in 1997. See page111 for more information."

An Extraordinary Prototypefor Robby Naish

117 Equipment



(Paper presented at PNW ’97, a forestry/bambooconference in Port Townsend, Washington)

Availability of epoxy, a very strong, waterproof adhesive andcoating which needs neither pressure nor heat to set, opens the evolutionof composite laminated materials to many possibilities. Laminates bindfibers into forms that gain qualities as well as beauty from the fibersselected and from the ways in which they are arranged within thecomposite.

I make surfboards, sailboards and boats from composite laminates.The inner dynamics of surfboards, their structural components, stringers,and form-creating substances such as foam, are very important but notvisible, unless one is using fiberglass. It is important for board buildersto combine the fibers, resins, stringer and foam combinations correctlyfor the stresses of the water and surf and the safety of the surfers. Weightand strength are critical. What can be seen are the surface and the overallshape. The former provides aesthetic pleasure and the latter determinesperformance. Good surfers want both.

I have made structures that have earned the trust of surfers as wellas contribute strongly to great performance. I want to go further anduse materials that are as earth-friendly as possible.

Rather than the bland, often garish, surfacing of many commercialsurfboards, I make surfaces that show the beauty of wood grains andother materials that I use, especially bamboo. Laminates made fromveneers, thin shavings from wood capture the grain patterns, markingsand feel of wood.

Bamboo offers it own pleasures, and until lately have been largelyunexplored as the fiber in epoxy composites or surfboards.

For over twenty years I have built boats, surf and sailboards. Ihave worked on development, fabrication and real world testing of bothSynthetic Fiber Composites (SFC) and Natural Fiber Composites (NFC).I hold US Patent 4,255,221 (1981) for an apparatus and method offabricating wood veneer/epoxy laminate structures.

The hundreds of boards I've built are predominately wood-veneerand epoxy laminates, with some 80 of bamboo veneer, with clear finishes.Clear finishing is very labor intensive. Painting the composite can savelabor and time. Either way, a beautiful finish is possible.

The Gougeon Brothers of Bay City, Michigan did the pioneeringwork on cold molded wood epoxy composites used in boat building. Inthe early 1970’s, I concurrently developed similar techniques for coldmolding, have followed their work over the years and adapted some oftheir methods as well as improved upon them.

They also did research and developed components for other coldmolded epoxy-based laminates used, for example, by NationalAeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) in research programson wind generator blades. Like surfboards, the critical variable in theseblades is fatigue resistance.

Each material has its advantages and disadvantages. 100% carbonfiber/epoxy/foam core boards when made at acceptable weights tend tofail from compression and impact stresses. Kevlar and Spectra fiberstend to spread impact damage rather than minimize it. They presentfinishing problems, as they also tend to fuzz when abraided. Hybrids ofthese synthetics incorporating fiberglass tend to make a better balanceof cost and performance characteristics. Also, a sandwich constructionwith a PVC foam core of 1/8" to 1/4" thick adds a degree of stability.

Ultra high performance racing sailboats now routinely use wood/epoxy laminates which handle exceptional loads at critical points suchas higher stress areas of masts, stay and rudder attachment points. Stresstransition points where directional forces tear at each other are sometimesreinforced with Synthetic Fiber Composites (SFC) or appropriate metals.

The fiber of preference in US and European veneer laminatestends to be wood. Little experimentation with bamboo in laminatesoccurs in the United States. One reason, of course, is relativeunfamiliarity with bamboo on almost any level. A second has to dowith availability of bamboo to work with.

Some work, however, has been done in Asia. Bamboo plyboardsand chipboard have been or are made in China, India, Vietnam, Indonesiaand the Philippines with varying degrees of success and achievementof market position. These products have, for the most part, been madewith urea-formaldehyde and phenolic adhesives that require heat andpressure. These substances are known carcinogens and thereforeallegedly dangerous to workers and end users.

After many years experience and experimentation from biggerboats to smaller boards, I now favor Natural Fiber Composites (NFC).I suspect we have been over sold on hi tech fibers. There are, of course,many hi tech SFC applications especially in military and space situationswhere cost and technology are not considered the critical variables.

Advanced Fiber Compositesand Bamboo

Their NASA research proved that cold molded wood/epoxycomposites are not only very strong but also competitive when cost is afactor.

Natural fibers such as wood and bamboo behave differently thanmanmade fibers such as fiberglass. Wood and bamboo have degrees ofstructural integrity before resin impregnation whereas fiberglass doesnot. The Gougeon Brothers proved that wood fibers used as reinforcingmaterial in advanced structures will show high stiffness, very highstrength-to-weight ratios and excellent fatigue resistance.

They report, “Wood (epoxy composites) may begin with lessultimate strength than either carbon fiber (epoxy composites) orfiberglass (polyester) composites, but it (wood) maintains a higherpercentage of its original strength through a million (fatigue) cyclesthan either of the other materials . . .. At 3.5 million average fatiguecycles, the polyester (fiberglass) laminate retains less than 19% of itsoriginal strength.” (Parentheses mine).

Surf and sailboard structures have to take hard knocks. They sufferfrom looking tough while being rather fragile. They bang up againstrocks and reefs and shore. Their thin laminated surfaces are stepped on,stomped on, jumped on and landed on. Water twists, tears, impacts andsmashes at them, often all at the same time. Fins get twisted out, smashedoff and crunched away. Sailboard masts pound up and down. Boardsare fried by the sun sometimes over 150F. on the exposed surfaces andthen chilled by cool water maybe 50F. Banged up on to car racks, tornat by wind, bounced by road hazards, stuffed into bags, cinched downby ropes; their life is not easy.

Cost-to-benefit factors operate in the surf and sailboard market.Standard urethane foam and fiberglass boards are relatively inexpensiveyet tend to be heavier and more brittle. The materials are dangerous toworkers who use them. Improved structural elements such as syntheticfiber and epoxy composite materials can be improvements but at a cost.

A recent photo of a board built by Reno Abellira and Gary in 1978 - still being ridden in Australia as this publication went to press.

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For most civilian and commercial applications, I firmly believethat NFC materials can and will meet performance and aesthetic criteriaat the highest levels. They are available at lower material costs, requireless energy to use and result in less pollution risk and environmentalhazard for both workers and end users.

NFC materials, in particular bamboo fiber/epoxy composites andlaminates have strength and stiffness-to-weight ratios approachingcarbon laminates while being far tougher in terms of the hazards commonto surf and sailboard environments. A light, strong board can be builtfrom bamboo/epoxy laminates at far lower material expense in aproduction situation.

In the midst of swirling controversies about materials andtechnologies, pollution and global warming (or cooling?); I want to usemore appropriate technologies and materials. Given choices in terms ofcost and availability as well as suitability, I believe many more customersand workers will choose less destructive materials. One major worldresource, bamboo, is under utilized in the West where it hardly existsand scorned as a “poor man’s timber” in those areas where it is abundant.

If appropriate bamboos can be grown locally in sufficient quantitiesto meet quality and production criteria, bamboo can be a moresustainable resource than most woods. Research efforts have developedplant resources capable of being used to make epoxies. These includesugar, agrigum (a wild desert plant), perhaps soybeans, peanuts andhemp seed oil.

When these are commercially available at some future time, manyof the objections to petroleum-based epoxies made by today’s methodswill be eliminated. Foam acceptable for use in surf and sail boards canbe made from recycled plastics.

Below: Two woodies on the Big Island. Bottom: N.F.C. prototype shell, electric car, 1994. Right: A matched pair ready to ride.

Recent research has shown the sugar or sucrose based epoxies tobe far safer for workers than petro-epoxies, less harmful to theenvironment to produce, potentially cheaper and stronger. I amcontinuing on the green path to composites and see that in 50-100 yearsmany products like surfboards, automobile bodies, building materialsand furniture will come from this sustainable, earth friendly developingtechnology - Natural Resin and Natural Fiber Composites of sucrose orsoy based epoxies and Bamboo.

equipment gary young - swaylocks · 2017-09-05 · equipment 106 gary young instead of fiberglass:...

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