MyPaipoBoards Forums

Close to my work there is a place that specializes in plastic sheeting and board for industrial and domestic use. They sell about 20 different types of Perspex polycarbonate nylon polyvinyl and in all sorts of collars strengths reflexivity. I have browsed there on and of for bits and bobs over the past few years and allot of the different types of plastic the bloke there demonstrated to me appear more buoyant than ply wood and apart from fire indestructible and are easily manipulated into shapes and bends using a common garden variate heat gun.
Taking the creative malleability into account and the deliberate engineered property's of some plastic it could be a fantastic medium to experiment with, I'm contemplating making a clear plastic spoon hull type board . Imagine flying across a wave on a truly clear board.
just check out some of the vacuum forming technology on you tube and you will get a clearer picture of what these plastics are used for.
Has anyone ever used this medium to make paipo boards?

I would be concerned with the breaking properties of an unknown plastic because I would not want a nice long shard in my gut. Vacuous or vacuum did you mean?

When I was in high school ( a long time ago), I made a lot of handboards (aka handplanes today) in industrial arts class out of plexi-glass or polycarbonate type plastics. I used the school shop oven or my home oven to bend concaves or rail fins into them. I also knew a guy around that time that made & sold similar boards as a side business. The plastic I was using was easy to work with, but sank like stone in water. The buoyant plastic Hydro is talking about is interesting. Clear boards seemed cool at the time to me too; that is until you lost it in the surf. The plastic I used wasn't any more dangerous than a piece of plywood if it happened to break on you. We did think about making paipos out of the plastic at the time, but cost of materials and the fact that the plastic we had access to seemed heavier than plywood, and wasn't buoyant kept us from doing it.

Vacuous or vacuum did you mean?[/quote]

one thousand apology's kind man! [ vacuum ]

loosing it in the surf could be a pain.

the closest I had to a plastic board was a tray out of the school lunch room. And I lost it in the surf it went to the bottom. then I went back to wood

Rasta would love them.
He could use plastic from recycled water bottles like the Chinese made Billabong shorts he promotes and the logos would stand out like dog's balls.
Seriously though...my mind is clicking over with the possiblities after watching that short video.
You could thermoform a hollow board if you wanted floatation and put in a valve.
Why on earth is no one on it yet?

Some plastic sheeting floats better than others depending on the density of its make up for example if the weight of the plastic is less than the weight of the same volume of water then it will float.

Here a good table that gives the properties (including density) of various plastic materials http://www.machinist-materials.com/comp ... astics.htm
The "KingStarboard" stuff seems like it would be fun to experiment with. I'm going to ask some friends in the boat biz if I can get some off cuts or samples.

Lot's of SUP boards are manufactured with the vacuum forming process these days. Epoxy cores with PVC lamination over it. The boards are incredibly light for the size, but don't have the flex like traditional foam/glass boards. Wasn't there an Australian guy ("Surf Foil"?)on the old board who was experimenting with vacuum bagging paipos?

OG-AZN wrote:Here a good table that gives the properties (including density) of various plastic materials http://www.machinist-materials.com/comp ... astics.htm
The "KingStarboard" stuff seems like it would be fun to experiment with. I'm going to ask some friends in the boat biz if I can get some off cuts or samples.

Lot's of SUP boards are manufactured with the vacuum forming process these days. Epoxy cores with PVC lamination over it. The boards are incredibly light for the size, but don't have the flex like traditional foam/glass boards. Wasn't there an Australian guy ("Surf Foil"?)on the old board who was experimenting with vacuum bagging paipos?

Starboard is heavy and expensive but it may have applications.

RE: surfoils
http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/new-su ... ies-take-2

It doesn't get shown until several pages in.

Yeah, around $200 for a half sheet; but considering how much people pay for bodyboards or custom foam/glass paipos these days, that's not too bad. If I'm reading the tech data on the Starboard correctly, it appears that it's not as rigid, nor does it have the same flex strength as plywood, but it's comparable to ply in weight? If so, you'd have to go thicker than a traditional ply paipo. At that point, and considering the extra buoyancy of HDPE over plywood, would the end result be considered a species of bodyboard or a paipo? I think the material would def make a good handboard though.

Starboard is heavier then ply and doesn't have the same strength but your post got me searching and I found they make another product that might be worth looking into:
http://www.kingplastic.com/products/all ... tarlite-xl

King Starlite XL
StarLite XL is closed cell (cellular) material of recycled Starboard. It's up to 35% lighter. It is ideal for boat parts, as an upholstery substrate and in behind-the-scenes applications where edges aren't visible. Available in 3/8 and 1/2 thickness, Starlite XL is a suitable replacement for lightweight wood like plywood or MDF. It holds staples and screws, and flexes without breaking unlike plywood or PVC foam materials.

I have to go see a mechanical engineer bloak on Monday that makes wind screens for air craft. He said he has the right clear plastic.