As I bought foam core material for my next project I was shown another option . It was a 6 mm honeycomb laminate . It was hex shape the size of bee honeycomb ( 5-6 mm hex ) and had a thin sheet either side . The sample I looked at had one 4 oz glass added either side and was super stiff . Very impressive . 1.2 m x 2.4 sheet $ 66. Flexible enough for bottom of board .
Super light , same kinda weight as corecell .
Compression strength is way better , I can squish between my fingers a little , corecell or cork But this stuff is rocket science stiff , it's cheap , only problem I can see is that it can't be feathered and end grain is very open . A fluffed Qcell could work ???
Has anyone used this ?

I haven't myself, but I've heard about it being used in high tech slalom boards. If you'r sure it will follow the bottom shape, i think it's worth a try. But don't rush in on my say so, somebody else may have a horror story.

Is it Nomex? if so that price is very good.

Thoughts though - any shape on the bottom has to be spot on, you won't be able to correct any errors. Look at how much Rossy sands his bottom layer on the OES videos here.
So its more of an inside of a mould thing, not an outside laminated requiring some touchup sort of thing

Then in similar vein - bagging it on the bottom is fine but then you still have to round the rails for the top laminate to some and meet. That gives the seam verrrry limited contact, so requires some filler. You might add 100-200g with fill so that needs to be accounted for.

as and aside- yeah its good. I did a rally car sump guard with titanium, kevlar, carbon and honeycomb in the mid 1990s.
It hit a tree stump at 140kph, car projected upwards about 1.5m and nil damage (to sump guard hahaha)

Hi, Bjorn from Sweden here,
Have read this forum a few years mostly for the building threads, realy enjoy them.
I have built 2 aramid honeycomb waveboards, so maybe I can contribute with some knowledge.
The way I built them are not exactly the same thing but there are similarities.
Some things I've seen
-If you ding it, the honeycomb collapses and you'll loose all strength in that area, a normal sandwich normaly have at least some strength left.
-If you get a leak, get out of the water quick, can suck lots of water in short time.
-fairly easy to repair if dinged, cut out the damaged laminate and honeycomb, glue in new one and laminat over.
Also easy to dry out if the water hasn't entered the eps, just cut out the outer laminate and it dries in no time
You'll need to fill the edges on the bottom sandwich to be able to get the decksandwich to bond.
Also if you use a honeycomb on the deck you'll need to fill the edges on that one.
The blank need to be spot on, all defects show on the outside
It's a dream to laminate, follows all curves, no need to preform or cut to get it to fit 100%
Aramid honeycomb is quite expensive
Difficult to sand
There are other things but this is what I could come up with now.

For your stuff with laminate allready on I guess you could use a low foaming polyurethane foam to glue it to the EPS.

I made a short video off the first board I built some years ago, built another at 4.8 kg later on (picture). Both still going but needs regular repairs.
Video shows most of the steps in building process as well as some sailing here in Sweden. Not exactly the waves you guys get down under but still waves:)


Thanks
Bj?rn

Select to expand quote

BjornD said..
Hi, Bjorn from Sweden here,
Have read this forum a few years mostly for the building threads, realy enjoy them.
I have built 2 aramid honeycomb waveboards, so maybe I can contribute with some knowledge.
The way I built them are not exactly the same thing but there are similarities.
Some things I've seen
-If you ding it, the honeycomb collapses and you'll loose all strength in that area, a normal sandwich normaly have at least some strength left.
-If you get a leak, get out of the water quick, can suck lots of water in short time.
-fairly easy to repair if dinged, cut out the damaged laminate and honeycomb, glue in new one and laminat over.
Also easy to dry out if the water hasn't entered the eps, just cut out the outer laminate and it dries in no time
You'll need to fill the edges on the bottom sandwich to be able to get the decksandwich to bond.
Also if you use a honeycomb on the deck you'll need to fill the edges on that one.
The blank need to be spot on, all defects show on the outside
It's a dream to laminate, follows all curves, no need to preform or cut to get it to fit 100%
Aramid honeycomb is quite expensive
Difficult to sand
There are other things but this is what I could come up with now.

For your stuff with laminate allready on I guess you could use a low foaming polyurethane foam to glue it to the EPS.

I made a short video off the first board I built some years ago, built another at 4.8 kg later on (picture). Both still going but needs regular repairs.
Video shows most of the steps in building process as well as some sailing here in Sweden. Not exactly the waves you guys get down under but still waves:)

Thanks
Bj?rn

Wow very nice builds! I experimented with some honeycomb(hollow) boards in the past as well & found the same thing. Though we were not able to get them as light as you have, so there was really no advantage.

As for Lmax's prelaminated panels, I don't think it work very well as you would start with the skins in tension & compression?

Yeah the stuff I'm looking at is quite stiff . It bends a little and would work for the bottom but no way on the deck .
That unlaminated flexy stuff is interesting .

Windtech made honeycomb race boards way back.

Awesome boards, strong and light.

Honeycomb core has been used for helicopter rotor blades for some time, laminated between some aluminium alloy. Also, I have seen honeycomb core used for the underside of helicopter cabins. Lightness, strength and stiffness are the main advantages. The outside laminates, metal or composite, need to be fixed perfectly with no airspaces at all. The aluminium honeycomb can be shaped with a small high speed air driven sanding wheel, but you will need to be very careful doing this because the strength is in maintaining the hexagonal shape.