By Francisco Perez del Castillo, shaper of Master Surfboards

The most common construction is made of foam, fiberglass in its "roving" fabric version, resin and different anchoring components (flakes, boxes, etc.). It often depends on what type of board you are using to determine what type of components are most common when it comes to its construction.

High performance table
The most common build for a high performance board includes:

-a PU foam (Expanded Polyurethane)

-wood core (usually cedar or linden)

-4 oz Roving fabric (two 4 oz fabrics for the deck and one fabric for the bottom)

-polyester resin.

PU foam: PU foam is resistant and highly flexible, achieving a characteristic floatation that is highly sought after by advanced surfers. It has a long "spring" that helps generate more projection when releasing pressure on the board.

The soul: The wood is usually 1/8 inch (a hair more than 3 millimeters), and can be solid or we often see it combined with three pieces of wood glued together. Many shapers consider that triple cores are more prone to breakage and others consider that they allow better control of the flexibility of the board. It is not common to see high performance PU and polyester resin boards without a core.

Roving Fabric: It is fiberglass but in its spun version and in the form of a fabric. In general, high performance boards contain two 4-ounce fabrics on the deck (where the feet go) and a single 4-ounce fabric on the bottom (the lower part, where the fins go).

Fabric ounces are the weight of the fabric in one square yard, but generally 4 oz fabrics require 4 oz of polyester resin in the same amount of space, which is why many people confuse the number of ounces with the amount of resin the fabric is able to absorb.

This combination of fabric and resin will directly influence the weight of the board, which is why, depending on the surfer, there are times when only a 4 oz. fabric is used on the deck, or a fabric and patches are added in the areas of greatest impact (generally under the feet). There are different types of fabric such as E-glass (electrical glass) or S-glass (structural glass), or even different types or forms of yarn such as Warp Glass that can vary the constructive result of the board.

Polyester Resin: Polyester resin is the resin of choice when it comes to manufacturing high performance boards for several reasons. In general, they are more moldable and flexible than epoxy resins and they "accompany" the movement of the foam better. One of the factors that matters most when talking about resin in general is its ability to maintain the original colors of the board for longer, this is thanks to UV filters, among other things. In general rules, polyester resin is more flexible but less resistant than epoxy.