Hey All,

I work with composites quite a lot and was planning on shaping my own board at some point...I have got myself a bit of a design together using BoardCad and plan to make something. I have a vac pump (a proper one not a vacuum cleaner) and a shaping shack. I know it being my first board it will be rubbish...I think its well documented that everyone first board is rubbish.

I am having issues trying to select a blank though. There are a few older posts, but well, I would rather be safer than sorry as carbon is pricey...

There seems to be very little info out there really about it. I have done some reading and stumbled across this guide from SP systems. Which I now cannot find a link to now. Anyhow they talk about using Styrofoam IB which is a form of insulation.

If you look on the patrik website for their freestyle board they mention that they use styrofoam for a blank (Core MaterialEPS (Styrofoam):

patrik-windsurf.com/f-style/

I know that homeblown blanks tend to have wooden stringers built into them. But I guess they are more designed for surf boards rather than a windsurf board.

It seems quite simple (and far too easy), but I managed to work out that Jewsons sell something similar to styrofoam:

www.jewson.co.uk/building-materials/thermal-insulation/extruded-polystyrene-insulation/products/ICX2I025/yelofoam-x2i-extruded-polystyrene-2500-x-600-x-25mm/

Its compression strength is actually better than styrofoams I think:

www.dupont.com/building.html

Am I going mad, or is it that simple, could I use the jewsons yelfoam as a blank?!

Thanks in advance for any advice, oh by the way, I am UK based, but there seems to be very little in the way of forums in the UK to ask about this sort of thing...

Sparky Mark.