Legendary Hobie Shaper, Terry Martin Shapes it up on video!

TSJ | POV - "Terry Martin and the perfect 40-minute board" from The Surfer's Journal on Vimeo.

This is a great viewing of legendary Hobie shaper Terry Martin shaping up a traditional longboard. He starts with a US Blanks 9-3Y as his canvas and works his Skil 100 planer over the blank. Those old planers just eat up the foam like no other.

Having started shaping wood as a lad in '50s San Diego, on through to shaping sleek Phil Edwards Models, to the now - where he finds himself an in-demand builder of boards of all denominations for Hobie- Terry Martin is the consummate craftsman. In this short video, Terry shapes a perfect traditional noserider, talking us through his philosophy and technique as he works.

Enjoy the video, we hope it provides some insight to your shaping experience.

Brad

NEW EZ CALIPER FOR 2009!!!!

We just received our order of the updated version of the EZ Caliper. It has been updated and improved for 2009! It is direct reading, resulting in one handed operation affording the shaper the opportunity to get a measurement instantly. Measure 0 to 7", the scales are computer generated to insure accuracy.

The EZ Caliper 09 is manufactured of high quality Baltic Birch plywood for lightweight, stability, and durability. The great thing is the new calipers didn't go up in price as a matter a fact they're 10% off while supplies last ($74.95).

Come by and check them out or call us with any questions.

Publish Post

Look forward to seeing you soon.

SHAPING BOX RENTAL PRICES

Here's the rates for renting "The BOX":

$30.00/board up to 3 hours *
$6.00 each additional 30 minutes *
$55.00 for entire day 11am-5pm (6 hours) *

*Starter Tool Kit included (David Top Plane, Spokeshave, 10.5" Surform, 5.5" Surform, Fred Tool, Hand Saw, HD Foam Shaping Block, C-Caliper, Tape Measure, Goggles)

Bring Your Own Tools or rent our Tool Kits! Rent the tools before you buy!

Available hours: Monday thru Friday 11am-5pm


Buy or Bring:
Dust Mask
Sand Screen
Sand Paper



Call 714.896.8233 or email Support@FoamEZ.com for for additional information or details.

Look forward to seeing you soon!

THE E-Z SHAPING BOX “Shape in the Box to think out of the box!”

We’re happy to announce that Foam E-Z is now offering a shaping facility to rent.

About two months ago, we purchased a 20ft high cube container with a shaping bay built inside of it. We completely refurbished the shape room with new electrical, paint, and added a Clark Foam Vacuum System that sits outside the bay. The room is equipped with 8ft fluorescent lights, shelves, vacuum system, fan ventilation, and professional style E-Z Shaping Racks (fixed to the floor). The room dimensions are 15'-5" long x 7’ wide x 8’ high. The Foam E-Z Shaping Box is a fully functional and professional shaping bay located directly behind Foam E-Z. It is completely insulated and ventilated helping it remain comfortable during your shaping experience.

We wanted to give the E-Z Shaping Box a good once over, so we invited Tim Stamps of www.SurfboardsbyStamps.com to give it a test drive. His goal was to hand shape RadRob, Foam E-Z star employee, a new 5-8 Quantum Quad Fish. “It’s the classic Twin Keel revved up a bit. I added more nose rocker, pulled the nose in, thinned out the rails, and of course added a Quad fin set up. Slight concave through the center with subtle double concaves running through the fins. This all adds up to a super fast, very positive board.”

Tim brought a few of his “special” tools and used some of ours in his attempt to make the room feel like home. He plugged his Skil 100 into our vacuum system and started mowing into a 6-2A US Blank (new red foam). After 2 hours of shaping and a 20 minute pizza break (thanks to Kiri at Perry’s Pizza) RadRob’s board was finished. Check out the video for the full experience.

Stamps says: “It was the next best thing to home! I give it a 5 out of 5 shakas.”

The shaping box is now available for anyone to rent. So if you’re sick of shaping in your garage, using your trash cans as racks, or if you’ve wanted to start shaping but don’t have a place to do it, we now have the answer for you. The “Box” is for rent by the board or by the day (Monday thru Friday 11-5pm) and comes complete with all the tools necessary to Shape Your Own Board (S.Y.O.B.). ***Additional tools available for rent. This is your chance to test out the tools before you buy them. Call 714.896.8233 or email Support@FoamEZ.com for more information. “Shape in the Box to think out of the box!”

Here's the rates for renting "The BOX":

$30.00/board up to 3 hours *

$6.00 each additional 30 minutes *

$55.00 for entire day 11am-5pm (6 hours) *

*Starter Tool Kit included (David Top Plane, Spokeshave, 10.5" Surform, 5.5" Surform, Fred Tool, Hand Saw, HD Foam Shaping Block, C-Caliper, Tape Measure, Goggles)

Bring Your Own Tools or rent our Tool Kits! Rent the tools before you buy!

Available hours: Monday thru Friday 11am-5pm

Buy or Bring:
Dust Mask
Sand Screen
Sand Paper

Sheldrake's Cardboard Surfboard Cores!

Pretty cool stuff that Mike Sheldrake's up to. He's created a computer program that designs the surfboard cores out of cardboard. The CNC machine cuts the cardboard and it's all numbered and put together like a jigsaw puzzle. The trick now is to glass the board so the cloth doesn't droop between the hexagonal holes. Resin Research Epoxy has been used in the prototyping of these boards. We're stoked Mike purchases his resin and supplies from Foam E-Z. It's cool to be involved in such cutting edge technology. Check out his site for more cool information http://www.sheldrake.net/cardboards/ .

Seal Beach Surfing Championships 09

The 2009 Seal Beach Surfing Championships was held this past weekend. The two day affair was hosted by the Seal Beach Lifeguards, and headline sponsored by Katin Surf Shop and Vintage Cotton. The contest brought together surfers from all walks of life; Seal Beach locals, to contest pro's, and groms surfing in there first contest. There were plenty of cool booths to check out as well. Harbour Surfboards was there showing off their FIFTY Year Anniversary Surfboard, Matt Bettis (Bettis surfboards) and Aloha Glassing had a large selection of boards to check out. Jeremy Labreau, who got started at Foam E-Z a few years ago, also had a variety of boards on display and he surfed in the men's open longboard and open shortboard competition. Of course we (Foam E-Z) were there with a booth filled with blanks and products for people to peruse. Some lucky people also won stuff from our free raffle. It was a great time filled with cool people and great surfing!

Dingy Thingy - Fixing Your Stick the Right Way!

Dingy Thingy – Fixing Your Stick the right way
by Adam Wright www.socalsurf.com

If you are like me then you probably have at least attempted to repair your board at some point during your surfing lifetime. It seems so easy...just mix a little of this, a little of that, a little sanding and viola you are ready to get back in the water. Riiiiiight, things are never that easy...I don't know about you but when I was first starting to fix dings I would generally turn my board into a total cluster-f*@k of a sticky, itchy mess that has very little to do with being watertight and is more about making your board more ugly than it was before, as well as ruining your clothes at the same time.

I am not sure where the breakdown usually occurs in the process...maybe it is the sudden time crunch you feel when you drop the catalyst into the resin and everything starts to heat up...maybe it is just the fact that none of the materials seem to work well together until they bond up in the final product...maybe it is just the pure stickiness of the resin that seems to get on everything. All I know is that if there is a way for something to go wrong it probably will.


magic potion

Anyway enough about my incompetency (actually I am not too bad at ding-repairs now that I have been doing them for 15 or so years)...I figured that there a lot of you out there interested
trying it for yourself or at least learning what is the proper way to make a repair. I probably could have walked you through some sort of retarded fix myself but I figured that it we should probably talk to an expert who has done this for a living. So I went to Brad Nadell over at Foamez.com to see if he could help walk us through a ding-repair.

There are a lot of different places you can accidentally munch your board, some of which are pretty difficult to fix...so in the interest of everyone's sanity (and our outer layer of skin that we can potentially lose) we thought it would be best if we start with a relatively simple repair.

So here is the scenario...you have been out surfing at Lowers, ripping (like you usually do), and after a long session you head to the beach to hang out with your hot swimsuit model girlfriend (or boyfriend...if you swing that way). As you belly across the inside cobbles at low tide you feel that gut-wrenching crunch as your board bottoms out on a particularly sharp rock. After doing the ankle-snap dance to the beach you see a nice big hole in your bottom deck. You being the handi-capable person that you are decide to fix the board yourself.

I actually let Brad smack a hole in the bottom deck of my board so that we could walk through the repair...though I think he got a bit of evil satisfaction taking the hammer to my thruster.


Hmm...that rock was surprisingly shaped like a hammer.


So here are the steps...they break down into three stages that sound easier than they actually are: Prep, Glassing, and Sanding

Stage 1 - Prep

1. Set up your workplace - Having a large enough area to work is important since you may need to walk around the board to get at it from different angles. Ideally your workspace will have some shade and will be well ventilated. Also remember that the resin can make a horrible mess so make sure you are either doing the repair over some sort of floor covering or an area that you don’t mind trashing. (like next to your beat up Camaro that you have on blocks in the dead grass of your front yard).

2. Plan out the repair in your head - It is good to have a battle plan thought out before you actually put the tools on the board or activate the resin. Think about the steps you need for the repair...will you need to fill the hole with q-cell? Will you need to have a couple of sheets of glass?
What sort of finish do you want the board to have when you are done? Do you need pigment for the resin? These are the sorts of questions that you need to address before starting.

3. Lay out your tools and materials - Get out everything that you will need for your repair. Make sure you have enough.

For this repair we actually were doing the repair in a glassing/painting/shaping bay at Tim Stamps factory. Below is a list of the materials that we used...(if you click the links you can actually order these products from the Foamez.com online store...see isn't that handy!)...actually I hope this doesn’t come off like an advertorial, Brad and the gang were super cool to donate their time, expertise, and materials for this story…and since I am a big fan of supporting surfer-labor I thought that linking up their products would be a nice way to thank them. Show 'em some love if you need a board fixed.

a. Q-Cell (hollow microspheres, you mix it with the resin to create filler)
b. Squeegee
c.Laminating Resin
d. Surfacing Agent (turns lam-resin into sanding resin)
e. UV Activated Catalyst
f. Mixing Buckets
h. Tacky Glue (for sticking sanding pads on the sander)
i. Resin Brushes
j. White Pigment
k. Sandpaper (80-100 grit for prep/repair...then 220-300+ for the final sanding)
l. Mixing Sticks
m. Rubber Gloves (please turn your head and cough)
n. Fiberglass cloth (not pictured)
o. Mask/Respirator (not pictured)

p. FlexPad sanding pad (not pictured)

4. Prepping the Ding - Once you have your workstation, tools and materials in place you can finally get to work. First thing is that you want to get the ding in shape so that the repair materials will bond properly with your board. You start by sanding the area with 80-100 grit paper. You need to be a little gentle in this process so you don't end up sanding away healthy parts of your board. Ideally you are going to want to sand a slightly concave bowl around the ding...so the ding is the deepest section of the bowl and it gets progressively more level to the deck of the board as you move further away from the ding. (This will let us layer in fiberglass for the repair...so the patch will hold and we can get the bottom deck to be flush when we are done sanding.) It is best to take this part slowly...you can make the mistake of sanding too much...or not sanding enough...both can be problematic.

Once the sanding is done you pull out any broken fiberglass so that you can get the filler to actually touch the foam core.



5. Cutting Fiberglass Cloth - Next you want to measure out some fiberglass so that you can properly cover the hole and the slight depression that you just sanded into the board. 4oz cloth is usually enough for a repair...particularly if you are going to be layering extra-cloth to create the patch.



We actually used three circles...each one bigger than the next...to create the patch that we would be glassing over the filled hole.





Stage 2 - Glassing (AKA sticking to things)

A few notes on this stage of the ding-repair

For this repair we used a cool product that Brad had brought along...I don't know the specific name... but basically it is a UV activated catalyst...sort of like what you would see in other solar-ding-repair kits but you can drop this catalyst into standard laminating resin and as long as you stay out of the sunlight it won't trigger the chemical reaction that causes resin to set. This is particularly sweet because it gives you time to work with the resin...getting the ding or glass job properly set before setting off the catalyst. Naturally this might not be the best set up if you don't have a shady place to fix your board...if that is the case you will want to stick with the standard resin/catalyst that activates shortly after the two chemicals are mixed.
*** There are a few catches with the UV Catalyst; when using it with Q-Cell filler, pigmented resin, or under lams you must add a bit of regular MEKP Catalyst since the UV rays cannot adequately reach the resin to activate it entirely.

Also...Brad pointed out that you want to know the difference between Laminating Resin and
Sanding Resin. So here is a quick little definition of the two resin types.

Laminating Resin - Lam resin is the "pure" stuff you want to use when you are trying to get the resin to stick to either the surfboard foam core, ding-filler, or to other patches of rough sanded, already set, fiberglass. This stuff will eventually dry out and harden but it doesn't really lose the tacky, slightly rubbery feel. It also doesn't sand very well...you will always see the "cross hatching" of the fiberglass cloth as you rough-sand it.

Sanding Resin - Sanding Resin is actually almost like the Lam Resin but it has a few other chemicals, including paraffin wax & Styrene Monomer, that hardens into a smoother and
more ridged surface that is much more suited to the fine sanding that you need to do in order to do the final smooth-out of the ding-repair.

Ok with that out of the way...on to the repair.

1. Filling the hole - A big deep gouge, like the one that we put in my board, required us to use a little filler to create a plug that will stick to the foam of the surfboard and at the same time provide a stable sticky platform for the fiberglass cloth that we will use to patch the hole later.

You might be able to get away with just dribbling laminate resin in a smaller ding or crack but when the ding is big enough that the patching glass can bend or dip it is a good idea to paste in some filler before starting the glass work.

To fill this ding we used Q-cell which you mix into the laminating resin.



2. Mixing the Q-Cell - Creating the resin/q-cell mix is sort of an art...there is no hard and fast mixing ratio. You start by mixing the resin and catalyst together and then adding q-cell until it gets to the thickness/tackiness that you need for it to stay in the ding (similar thickness to preschool paste). You may also want to add some pigment so that the filler plug doesn't look bright green/see-through. We added a touch of white to this repair.




The filler should be malleable enough to spread around but it shouldn't drip a ton. For a ding like the one in the flat part of the bottom deck the filler can be a little thin...but a repair on the rail or
the nose you might need the filler to be almost like super soft play-dough. Or that gummy bear that has been in my pocket all afternoon and it nice and squishy.

3. Filling the hole (didn't I have a section titled that already?)

This part is pretty easy. Take filler. Fill hole.



Smooth filler to the top of the foam.



4. Placing the Patch

Ok now that you have the filler in place you take the lovely fiberglass circles that we cut out earlier and place them on top of the filler...ideally before the filler has set.



Start with the smallest circle of cloth (the size of the hole)...then follow with the next biggest size until all of them are placed.



5. Apply the Lam Resin (without the q-cell filler)

Now you apply the lam resin...we already had ours mixed with the UV filler...but if you are working without the UV component you will mix a separate cup of Lam Resin and drop in the catalyst to set it off.

Once mixed pour a fairly liberal amount onto the cloth patches.



And then take your squeegee and smooth the resin over the cloth...making sure that it saturates all of the cloth, and that you smooth out any air bubbles that might have formed.



6. Let the resin set (drink a beer, take a nap, or something)

For our repair we actually took the board out into the sun and let the UV light set off the catalyst. This UV technique actually really sped up the hardening process and the board was ready to be rough sanded in just a few minutes.



The hardened laminating resin will look something like this.




Stage 3 - Sanding (and some more glassing, then more sanding...damn are we done yet?)

1. Sanding the Lam Resin - Ok we are in the home stretch now. We start the sanding process by rough sanding the laminate resin and our patch.



Ideally you should use something like 100-150 grit paper to do this part. Don't get trigger happy though...just sand enough to take some of the rough parts off the lam resin. If you sand too much you might end up having to do some another patch job (I am speaking from my own
dumb-ass experience here).

2. Applying Sanding Resin - once you have the lam resin sanded then you mix up a batch of sanding resin to paint on over the repair. For our repair we used the same laminating resin that we had been using (the stuff with UV catalyst). We added a touch more catalyst and some surfacing agent which is basically the chemical cocktail that is mixed into Lam Resin to turn
it into Sanding Resin.



Using a brush, put on a thin coat that covers all of the repair area and laminating resin. Then let it harden (or in our case take it back out into the sun to cure).

3. Final Sanding - Once the sanding resin has set...bust out the sander again but this time use
increasing finer grit until you achieve the smoothness that your board originally had.



You should probably move up into the 220-320 grit paper fairly fast...andif you are looking for a super smooth finish...try and hit up some wet-sanding paper (generally above 800-grit) and hand sand it for the final polish.


Final Stage - Go Surf

Once the board is sanded, and water-tight, it is ready...though it is always good to give the patch a couple of extra days out of the water so that it can cure properly. Have fun shredding on your newly healed stick.
Adam Wright http://www.socalsurf.com/

The 5-10RP Fish Blank by US Blanks

We've been waiting for this one since Clark Foam went out of business in December 2005! The 5'10"RP by US Blanks just arrived in our shop and we're stoked to have it. This polyurethane fish plug was shaped by San Diego legend Rich Pavel. He is one of the experts and innovators in the revolution of the Fish board. Rich has been deeply involved in the "Fish Fry" events around the world which are his inspiration for this blank. The blank is versatile enough to be able to shape short high performance fish as well as traditional fish boards up to 5'10". This blank is thick enough to yield 2-3/4" if you're trying to recreate an old school design.

Come in the shop and check them out.

See you soon-

Brad

FCS FUSION PLUGS!

We just got the Fusion Plugs in and they seem to be a nice alternative to the usual FCS Plugs. The Fusion Install Kit makes it extra easy to install teh plugs the correct way. Here is a link to the FCS Fusion Install Manual http://www.foamez.com/pdfs/Fusion_Manual_Final_Rev3.pdf

FCS created the Fusion because of a need for a high quality, easy to install system, that can be installed under the fiberglass (as preferred by boards using new technologies such as EPS). This also provides the consumer a higher performing fin system that fits the worlds largest range of premium fins.

The insert provides a base of high density foam. This helps disperse any forces on the plug. It provides a solid base so the plug does not rotate or sink into the foam. This is especially evident in EPS blanks of low densities.

The slots in the Fusion plugs are slightly elongated which allows slight fore and aft movement of the fins, this is great for fine tuning the performance of the board.

The FCS Fusion offers 3 different cant angles (0º, 5º, 9º): This makes the system easy to install and minimizes the chance of error in fin angles.

We appreciate any feedback you can give us on new products.

Seal Beach and Long Beach Surfing Pioneers

What an awesome night in the history of Seal beach! Thursday September 25th at 7:30pm some of Seal Beach and Long Beach's earliest surf pioneers got together for a Q & A session. Some of the panel members included Harold Walker, Bob "Ole" Olson, Harry Schurch.

Harold Walker of Walker Foam was one of the pioneers in making polyurethane foam cores back in the early sixties. He competed with Clark Foam for forty plus years until finally going out of business in 2007. He is now working with Ice Nine to try to perfect their foam formulas.


Ole is famous as an early master craftsman of surfboards in the beginning foam era. He still makes surfboards in Maui under the Ole name. Ole flew out to Seal Beach to join his old buddies to talk about Seal Beach surfing days.

Another of the legendary crew is Harry Schurch. He was involved in that first attempt at surfing Waimea Nov of 1957 with Greg Noll, Micky Munoz, and Mike Stange. They all paddled out in 15 to 18 foot Waimea Bay on 40 pound planks in an attempt to survive the massive drop.

Shaping and Seal beach legend Rich Harbour attended the discussion that included many hilarious stories from the boys. Of course everyone had something to say about the notorious and ever present Sphinx. It stood on top of Blackie Augusts (Robert Augusts' Dad) house for some forty plus years. They told about how they would show up at the beach to go surfing and there wouldn't be anyone else in the water so they would have to wait until a buddy arrived to adventure out. There were endless classic stories from this eventful Seal Beach night. Unfortunately two guys from the main crew ,Jack Haley Sr. and Lloyd Murray, were not present (having passed away in recent years) but they were memorialized in the many stories.

SEAWORTHY

Shelter Surf Shop ended there summer film series this past Saturday with there premier of the Australian surf film Seaworthy. The film was a good representation of Australian surfers getting back to the roots of surfing.The film had footage of everything from Tom Wegener surfing a 16 foot Alaia, to Beau Young surfing on a Simmons fish he shaped with his father. The night was capped off by live music from the Tijuana Panthers, and the Shakas and Single fins photo show. Thanks to the crew at Shelter for putting on a great party, can't wait until next summer!
Reported by RadRob

Cool Custom Colored Blanks!

Check these polyurethane blanks from US Blanks. This is just a small idea of the possibilities for your next custom surfboard blank. Most custom blanks take only one week to arrive! Let us know if you'd like to customize your next blank.

ProBox is in full force here at Foam E-Z!

If you're looking for ProBox fins, boxes, install kits etc... we now have it all in stock and can be found on our website under Fins & Fin Systems. If you can't find the fins you're looking for call or email us and we can have them here for you usually within two days.

ProBox addresses many of the shortcomings of existing systems in the surfboard marketplace. Adjustments can be made to the fin position forward and backward and the cant [fin angle]. These adjustments allow the performance of a surfboard to be tuned to the conditions, type of surfboard or rider. The fin cant is adjusted through a revolutionary patented insert mechanism that provides controlled angles, initially 4 different inserts are provided 0°, 4°, 6°, and 8°.

This fin system is very easy to install with a minimum of tooling. A single reusable jig is used to handle the alignment, routing, and anchoring of the box during the installation process. No fin is required to install the box as the jig correctly locates the box on the board while suspending it over the routed hole. These jigs are extremely inexpensive and reusable!

All Graphics Supplies 15% off!!!

This week, from Sunday May 26th thru Saturday May 31st, the sale category is GRAPHIC SUPPLIES. Customers save 15% and can either come into the shop to make the purchase or can purchase online with the redemption code 15YRGRAPH4. Stay tuned, it's gonna be a great month!

Don't forget our 15 Year Anniversary Party Event THIS SATURDAY (May 31st) from 11-3pm. It will take place behind our shop and will include: Giveaways, Raffles, Food/Drinks, Board Building Demos, Live Music, and a Storewide 15% off Sale.



The Guys at www.FoamEZ.com

Glassing Supplies 15% Off Sale at Foam E-Z!!!

In celebration of our 15 years in business we are having a month long sale! Each week a different product category will be highlighted and all customers will be able to save fifteen percent (15%) on that category. This week, from Sunday May 18th thru Saturday May 24th, the sale category is GLASSING SUPPLIES. Customers can either come into the shop to make the purchase or you can purchase online with the redemption code 15YRGLASS3. Look for a new category and redemption code next Sunday May 18th. Stay tuned, it’s gonna be a great month!

Don't forget our 15 Year Anniversary Party Event from 11-3pm on Saturday May 31st. It will take place behind our shop and will include: Giveaways, Raffles, Food/Drinks, Board Building Demos, and a Storewide 15% off Sale.

The Guys at www.FoamEZ.com
THE ORIGINAL ONE-STOP SURFBOARD SUPPLY SHOP!
www.FoamEZ.com
Foam E-Z, Inc.
ph.714.896.8233
fax.714.896.0001
Support@FoamEZ.com

Since 1993

Shaping Supplies 15% Off Sale

In celebration of our 15 years in business we are having a month long sale! Each week a different product category will be highlighted and all customers will be able to save fifteen percent (15%) on that category. This week, from Sunday May 11th thru Saturday May 17th, the sale category is SHAPING SUPPLIES. Customers can either come into the shop to make the purchase or you can purchase online with the redemption code 15YRSHAPE2. Look for a new category and redemption code next Sunday May 18th. Stay tuned, it’s gonna be a great month!



The Guys at www.FoamEZ.com

Foam E-Z's Q&A with Surfer Mag's Scott Bass

Posted on Surfermag.com May 7, 2008

The good folks at FOAM E-Z have been servicing the Southern California marketplace with board building equipment for 15 years. Brad Nadell is the man behind the machine that is FOAM E-Z and what better time to catch up with the hard-goods retailer than during his month long 15-year Anniversary celebration.

Q: So, 15 years in the surfboard products biz; how did you get started?

Brad Nadell: I started working at Harbour Surfboards doing everything, and eventually ended up spraying boards mostly. Then a friend came to me, he had owned the big glass shop in Westminster; he came to me with the idea of providing professional shapers with foam blanks. In '93 there was a large amount of shapers in the region and we figured instead of driving to San Clemente for blanks we could provide the HB area with product.

Q: And the store evolved from there.

Brad Nadell: Yeah, I bought out my friend and ran with it from there. I slowly added more and more tools and resources for shapers. As time went on I realized there was a market for the home hobbyist builder, and that led me to bring in more stuff like fin systems, books, and resin and all the necessary requirements for the home builder.

Q: How many blanks have you pushed out the door in the last 15 years?

Brad Nadell: Gosh, I don't know upwards of over 100K blanks. It fluctuates each year or cycle.
Q: What other stuff is available at FOAM E-Z?
Brad Nadell: Logo paper; safety equipment, respiratory systems, how-to videos. If you want to build a board we have it all, and we'll help you understand the process. It's all pretty simple but it can also be intimidating. It doesn't need to be. We try to put the fun into the equation.

Q: Do you get a newbie customers?

Brad Nadell: We get hobbyists all the time. I try to pound into our sales staff all the time that it's crucial to welcome the new hobbyist. It can intimidating to walk in and be new to the concepts of board building. Some times our industry doesn't understand customer service. I make sure our people are helpful and service oriented. It sounds simple but customer service is what makes or breaks businesses.

Q: What types of customers do you get?

Brad Nadell: We get all different levels from your professional shapers to your garage builders, to the hobbyist guy who just loves to build stuff. You know, the father and son types stop by or guys doing senior projects for school. It's really sort of cool. Everyone loves the idea of surfboards and building your own magic board. The neat thing is, it is totally do-able.

Q: You've got a big celebration all month long?

Brad Nadell: We are having a month long sale through the end of May, each week we are spotlighting a different section of the store. On May 31st we're having a big party and event at the store with tents and product and demos. So everyone should come by.

For more info on FOAM E-Z check out their website - www.foamez.com.

MONTH LONG 15% Off Aniversary Sale at Foam E-Z!!!

In celebration of our 15 years in business we are having a month long sale! Each week a different product category will be highlighted and all customers will be able to save fifteen percent (15%) on that category. This week, from Sunday May 4th thru Saturday May 10^th, the sale category is Blanks. Customers can either come into the shop to make the purchase or you can purchase online with the redemption code 15YRBLANK1. Look for a new category and redemption code next Sunday May 11^th. Stay tuned, it’s gonna be a great month!

Foam E-Z 15 YR Anniversary Party!!!

Come join us at our 15 Year Anniversary Party Event from 11-3pm on Saturday May 31st. It will take place behind our shop and will include: Giveaways, Raffles, Food/Drinks, Board Building Demos, and a Storewide 15% off Sale. All of our vendors will be present to answer questions and chat about anything you have in mind. Future Fins will be installing boxes into a shaped blank which then will be glassed with Composite Resource UV Polyester Resin and the board will ready to sand with in an hour and a half. Ocean & Earth will be raffling off pads, leashes, and more. US Blanks will have a van full of Seconds (blanks) for sale at a reduced price. Sol Sunguard will be giving away lots of killer sunscreen and lip balm. Many “pro” shapers will be present including Tim Stamps (Stamps Surfboards). ProBox Larry has graciously donated a variety of fin and box setups for the raffle. The raffle will also include Epoxy donated from Resin Research. This list will be growing as the month goes on so stay tuned.

You won’t want to miss this. It will be a great opportunity to talk shop, get some free shwag, and eat some free grub.

See you there!

The Guys at Foam E-Z

The Newest HULL Creation From The Guys @ Foam E-Z

Inspired by all the Hull craze these days, we at Foam E-Z decided to try our hand at building one. We decided to make a 6 foot stubby, based on the Greenough Velo and the Fineline Geebee. The bottom of the board is hulled out with a slight V in the tail. The board is glassed with double 4oz BGF cloth on top and single 4oz BGF cloth on bottom. It has a 10.5" Fin Box 10" up from the tip of the tail. The final dimensions of the board are 6' 20" nose x 23" wide x 18". We're currently testing it and will report back.
RadRob

SOS SURFIN U$A Art Show - Gato Heroi

This past Saturday April 5th marked the opening of the "SOS" SURFIN' U$A art show, presented by Gato Heroi Surrfboards. Robin Kegal did a wonderful job of telling a story of the rise and fall of surfers through his original surf art. Robin (a regular customer at Foam E-Z), is known for his unique style of turning surfboards and surfboard material into great artwork. The evening also had live music performed by Mattson 2, and lead singer Alex Knost's band capped off the night. The art will continue to be displayed for the month of April at Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana.
Reported by RadRob

Foam EZ for all Your do it yourself surfboard shaping needs

Foam EZ for all Your do it yourself surfboard shaping needs!

ANATOMY OF A SURFBOARD; IDEAS FOR BUILDING ALL TYPES OF SURFBOARDS

A Surfboard Anatomy by Dave Parmenter Flash Version This article is great for getting ideas on design for building your surfboard. It is the best document about surfboards you will find. Descriptive, non-commercial, and well seasoned with reflections of the surfboard's role in surfing history.