Yankee - I was with you until this part: "At the rate a pro snaps a board it wouldnt be cost effective to use epoxy." Epoxy resin (top notch Greg Loehr type stuff) bought in quantity is about $50 / gallon vs. $30 / gallon for poly resin. Easy to glass two boards per gallon. So thats $10 / board more using epoxy resin. I realize the pros go through a ton of boards but its still hard for me to believe $10 / board is much of a factor. I would have guessed the sweet feel of a poly blank, quicker to shape and glass using poly resin, and the corky feel of EPS foam would be the reasons pros are so hung up on poly..not cost.
I suppose thats true. Epoxy is about $20 more expensive per gallon so $10 difference a board isnt all that much considering the thousands of dollars pros spend on hotels, airfare, and what not. I'll concede that point. The speed is a big factor though. Poly has a much faster set up time allowing production shapers and glassers to pump out more boards faster. Time is money. Another reason pros might use poly- Most of these guys were raised on poly boards. Epoxy has been around for a while in sailboards, but hasnt really taken off in the surfboard industry until recently. The pros might stick with poly just because they are comfortable with it. The 'sweet' feeling is just what they are used to. Maybe if they had been surfing EPS since they were groms they would consider EPS 'sweet' and poly 'corkey'? Just something to consider. Im no pro, but I would imagine that at such a high level of competition they would want to stick with what they know and are used too.
