What is Flux Core? It's Intelligent Flex!

At Imagine Eco Surfboards, we believe that there is more to making a great board than just an awesome shape. Don't get us wrong; the shape of a surfboard is the basis on which everything else is built, and this has to be perfectly tuned to the exact performance characteristics desired. In our workshop, generation after generation of shape is fine-tuned and tested until it's just right.

But we believe that this is just the beginning of a great board.

For 40 years, surfboards have been made the same way. A polyurethane foam core, which is coated with a thin fiberglass skin laminated with polyester resin. This is what surfers have relied on to create a good ride. The problem with this is that the board quickly feels “used” and “lifeless”. Apart from the fragile nature of this the construction method, the harder you ride your board, the faster it looses it's “new feel” spring and energy.

At Imagine, we have created a board that not only keeps this the new feel performance longer, but in fact taps into the potential return energy that's generated by the board flexing as you power through the turn, and then snapping back at you afterwards. This stored energy is your springboard to accelerate faster out of the turn, get more air off the lip, and generally make your board feel more lively and responsive.

We use a stringerless 100% recycled extruded polystyrene foam core that has almost 30% better flex properties than standard polystyrene cores. This increased flex makes your board less likely to snap in half in big surf, and also has better memory than standard polystyrene. It wants to return to it's original shape after you've powered through a turn.  We then sandwich this core by vacuum bagging a bamboo veneer top and bottom along the boards’ entire length. While each bamboo veneer is flexy on its own, the I-beam effect created by the two laminates separated by the foam core in the center makes them work against each other as the board is flexed, resulting in an energetic return once the load is removed.

The outer bamboo fiber laminate shell is then also vacuum bagged using the best epoxy resins. This allows us to use more fabric, and less resin for the same overall weight, resulting in a board that is more resistant to dings, heel dents or snapping. As an added bonus, the totally waterproof core stops water seeping into your board if you do manage to ding it.

Finally, we use a revolutionary fin system from 4WFS that allows you to fine-tune the performance of your board according to the conditions of the day. You can increase or decrease the distance between the front and rear fins, making the board more stable or looser, toe the fins in or out to make the board turn faster or go faster, or increase the splay from 5 to 9 degrees to make the board quicker from rail to rail.

This is what makes a great board. When you take one of our boards out into the surf, make the drop and drive into that turn, and something in you screams “OH yeah”!