History of the Proctor custom epoxy surfboard
Below you can read information about the progression of Todd Proctor’s custom epoxy surfboard construction. The current version of the Flexible Epoxy is now called, the “Proxy”, for Proctor Epoxy. The history starts with the current construction being offered at the top and as you scroll down you will find the earlier descriptions of the evolution of the Proctor epoxy. Todd has continued to make improvements and to hone his development of increased performance and superior durability over the last ten years in the area of alternative surfboard constructions - in order to continue offering you the highest quality of precision custom surfboard design and elite surfboard strength and performance.
Harnessing the New Order of Flex – “Proxy” Custom Flexible Epoxy, version 2
featuring Titanium Series Performance Upgrade Series
Proctor Surfboards Worldwide Custom
• Fusion Core –
Premium grade eps foam fused under higher pressure yields greater compression strength. This core is slightly more buoyant than polyurethane foam, so the boards can be ridden smaller and fit in the pocket of the wave better.
• High impact rails
drive through turns and hold up to a beating.
• Instead of just using standard fiberglass cloth in the glassing process, a combination of S-glass, inter-woven
composite fabrics and Kevlar
(a product that’s five times stronger than steel on an equal weight basis) are employed.
• Kevlar compression patch –
this is a sheet of Kevlar, not a green airbrush. The beauty of this material is that it increases a board’s compression strength (the deck from crushin in), while maintaining the positive flex characteristics.
• Reinforced carbon-hinged flextail –
A thinner tail makes for better flex and a more lively feeling board by reducing rigidity and increasing torque. Interwoven carbon-kevlar composite has a rapid recoil flex memory that acts as a hinge to slingshot the board out of turns, as well as protecting the toe and heel areas of the rails from crushing in over time.
• Single-to-inset-double concaves –
I feel this is one of the most versatile bottom contours you can run in the modern performance shortboard. It has a wide-open sweet spot, is really drivey and predictable in waves small to large; and it allows you to break the tail free when you want to.
• Flatter deck –
I typically go ½” to one inch shorter, 1/8” narrower, and 1/16” thinner than your poly board. By using more buoyant materials, you don’t need to hide foam in the center of the board. The less-domey deck that’s achieved increases the flex characteristics of the board.
• Uniquely formulated epoxy resins
that have more elongation, or elasticity allow flex lengthwise as well as laterally throughout the board. This increases the performance of the board as well as its flex life/ longevity.
• All fin systems are available including glass-ons
(shown here) which are rare on epoxy boards.
• Environmentally friendly –
when a traditional p/u board’s life is over, there’s only one place it can go….to a landfill where it sits for 100 years before it starts to decompose. “Proxy” technology is recyclable.
• Made custom in the free world from concept to construction.
It’s your board….talk to the shaper.
Todd Proctor
Shaper’s notes:
I‘ve been working on alternative surfboard materials for 10 years with the commitment to improve technology while enhancing performance. I believe surfboard building is a unique hands-on process that will always be done best by the innovators who love the sport. The unique construction detailed here is done in our factory in Ventura, California. I custom design every board using cutting edge computer assisted design software. This allows me to detail every board keeping the quality, consistency and custom aspects of my shaping always at the forefront.
Surfer’s Feedback:
I think overall the board is insane! Best epoxy I’ve every ridden. - Greg Strugach, Oceanside, CA
My new Blackbird is like butter on a wave, so loose yet smooth! You were right: it’s making me want to sell all my other boards and get a quiver of PROXY Blackbirds!
Hey Todd,
I hope you’re well! I recently returned from the Mentawais, and I rode my custom flexible epoxy Tail Caves every day. The surf was small for most of the trip, but the board brought my backside surfing to a new level nevertheless.I had been riding surftechs for the last 2 years, and I found this board way more lively, responsive, yet forgiving in the pocket and off the lip.We caught overhead Rifles on the last day of the trip, and I caught the longest, fastest barrels of my life. Check out the pics! - Jorge Fernandez, Malibu, CA
Best board ever totally awesome. - Brian McCarthy, Newport Beach, CA
..wanted to let you know that my blackbird goes unreal, after 30+yrs its in the top 3 - Erik Eckert, Ventura, CA
As for the performance,I don’t know what you do Todd but you must cast a spell or sprinkle magic dust over it or something because this hands down performs better then any other board I have tried. I thought after reading your testimonials that maybe it was just a lot of hype but no - the board actually contains the properties of magic. It almost feels like it is spring loaded just waiting to be fired. The best part about it has to be the way it handles turns as this is when it really shows its quality. The speed you get when coming off of the top of the lip is incredible.You can feel the board ’spring’ off of the top and it feels a little like a sling shot.I can’t stress enough how much better this aspect of the board is compared to other boards I’ve ridden. I seriously feel like I’m “flying” coming off the lip and down the face.Since I have had the board I feel like I have taken my surfing to a new level and I’m having way more fun in the water.I also feel like you listened during our consultation interview to what I needed. The board is a nice balance for taking my surfing a level up yet keeping in mind my level of experience and size. You shaped it spot on. - Craig Potsep, Nigran, Spain
Just a quick note to say WWWWAAAAAAOOOOOOW! Love the board!. It came in one piece only four days after you sent it. I went surfing the following day and the difference, compared to my old board was like comparing a horse and cart to a Lambourghini Diablo! I can’t believe how light it is, any movement or weight shift at all and it responds immediately, unlike the coffin I was surfin’ previously . This is definitely going to take my surfing to a whole new level. I just want to say thanks to both of you for your kind and very efficient service, I will not hesitate to buy another board from you in the future… - Niall Carlin, Northern Ireland
Order a Custom Proxy ………………. Check Stock Boards
Currently Available Proxy Custom Epoxy Surfboard Constructions:
$735 - standard PROXY Custom Epoxy, includes one color airbrush fade, S-glass premium cloth, elite epoxy resins
$805 - standard PROXY plus one of the two Titanium Series Performance Upgrade Options
1.0 - Kevlar Compression Patch
2.0 - Carbon-Hinged Flex Tail
$870 - standard PROXY plus both of the Titanium Series Performance Upgrade Options
We are committed to making highest quality, custom surfboards, manufactured from start to finish in our factory in Ventura, CA. Surfboards built by hand in the USA, using highest grade materials, are more costly and labor intensive to produce. Yet, this is the model that enables the shaper to maintain essential hands-on interaction with the design and production process, and which sustains the synergy of shaper and surfer for the best possible equipment.
THE PROXY
Proctor Custom Flexible Epoxy version 2.0
- Stronger than before, lighter than before, with an even more responsive/ longer lasting flex memory -
Made from materials designed for the highest performance surfing possible – utilizes specific flex patterns to increase the board’s torque through turns.
Stronger than the molded boards (i.e. Boardworks, Surftech, etc…)
Lighter than traditional p/u boards (polyurethane)
Custom designed…no pop-outs.
Now with unlimited custom graphics options.
The Proxy….definition. – Custom epoxy surfboard that matches the flex and performance advantages of a polyester board with strength that surpasses the molded pop-out boards.
This is our latest development in the flexible epoxy series.
We begin with an ultra-lightweight epoxy “fusion Core” for the shaped blank - a uniquely formulated eps that has been fused under higher pressures to achieve greater compression strength and less ‘worm holes’ (i.e open pores typical with standard eps foams. These open pores, or worm holes add unnecessary weight due to water or resin absorption into the blank.) The “Fusion Core” does not suck in water, or bubble or delaminate over time like other custom epoxy core materials are prone to do.
I custom shape and design each board on the DSD surfboard cad design program.
This allows me to use my most proven shapes to further customize the perfect board for each surfer. Through personal discussion and interaction, I am able to determine each surfers’ height, weight, experience, the type of waves they surf, and the direction they want to take their surfing. I have always believed that plain old communication is an integral part of the design process.
The glassing is done with premium grade S-glass (the best fiberglass for yielding the highest strength-to-weight surfboards). Strategically placed flex points, or hinges are added at this stage as well. We are offering two performance enhancing upgrades to the new PROXY line….I’m calling this the Titanium Series. Upgrades include: (1) reinforced carbon-hinge flex tail and/ or (2) Kevlar deck compression patch.
The epoxy resin used in the process is also uniquely formulated to have more elongation, or flex than is typically characteristic of most epoxies. This is very important to how a board rides.
The best surfboards flex and recoil back out of turns…..
they flex lengthwise as well as side-to-side along the board….this is the “spring”, the “life” that you feel in a magic board. No matter how great the shape of a board may be, you kill it if you build it so it rides stiff and rigid.
Each board is made from start to finish here in our Ventura factory.
This allows me and the Proctor Surfboards crew to ensure that the highest level of attention and quality is put into every board.
Titanium Series Performance Upgrade Options:
1.0: Reinforced Carbon-Hinged Flex Tail
Gives the board a whip effect out of turns…a thinner tail reinforced with highest grade flex memory composites acts to slingshot the board through maneuvers.
2.0: Kevlar Compression Patch
Kevlar is an incredible composite material. It is five times stronger than steel on an equal weight basis. And the real beauty of this material is that it increases the board’s compression strength while maintaining the positive flex characteristics.
…
The Quest For Flex
Posted 08.11.2005
It’s been a long journey for Todd Proctor. Not in his bold pursuit to develop surfboard technology that rides just like a polyester board but lasts longer. No, that he’s well down the road on. After leaving his home in Ventura at 3:30 this morning, he’s hit a wall of traffic on the 405 south, heading down to San Diego with a truck full of boards for the TransWorld crew to test ride.
By 7:30 though, he’s in the parking lot at D-Street in Encinitas, screwing in fins and looping in leash strings on five brand-new surfboards. The boards are the culmination of five years of R&D, inspired by the dream of developing a surfboard that would replicate the subtle riding characteristics of a polyester board, but would live a longer, happier life–meaning, a board that would flex like a polyester, but that would be more resistant to damage as well the aging process that seems to sap the “spring” out of polyester boards.
“I want these boards to do what you’re feeling in an ultra light polyester,” says Proctor. “Those boards are flexing torsionally and from nose to tail, but they’re killing themselves while they’re doing it. So I want to harness that flex, but make it so it’s not going to fall apart so fast. That’s where I’d like to see it go.”
The first step, says Proctor, was to research materials, including ones currently used in the surf industry and beyond. “I started going to plastics, polymers, and composite trade shows, and I’d talk to chemists. I’d bring surfboards, and man, I got some funny looks–like, ‘Eh, a surfer? What are you doing out here in Chicago?’”
After years of research and testing out myriad combinations of foams, resins, and cloths–with both surf and non-surf-industry materials–Proctor has found what he believes is the winning formula. And he’s confident enough of the results that he’s applied for a U.S. patent for the process. While he won’t divulge the entire production technique, he says the construction is comparable to that of the wing of a Stealth fighter, even down to some of the same materials. “Same kind of foam, same kind of sandwich structure, and they use Kevlar, even the same grain and density that I use.” Kevlar in a surfboard? While it sounds ultra high tech, the process is relatively similar to traditional surfboard construction. The foam core is shaped, then laminated with a couple different materials, including fiberglass, using epoxy resin. “I use e-glass, s-glass, and Kevlar in different combinations,” he says. “How you set up those combinations determines the flex.” In addition, there are variations on stringers, as well as a flex agent added to the resin that gives the boards a gunmetal gray tint.
Proctor stresses that although the boards are glassed with epoxy resin, they’re custom shaped in the U.S. Some in the industry feel that uneducated consumers equate the word epoxy with a mass-produced product or a foreign-made one. “Epoxy in itself is just a word that defines a family of resins,” he reminds.
So, is Proctor’s epoxy/Kevlar invention another tolling of the death knell of polyester surfboards? Not likely. Instead, Proctor foresees people using polyester boards to refine their boards so that when they do get a “magic board,” they can replicate it with his epoxy technology.
Price-wise, the boards are more expensive than their polyester counterparts, but not prohibitively. They’ll wholesale for 500 dollars and retail for 645 dollars, and will be at retail in mid-May.
…
PUSHING THE LIMITS:
TODD PROCTOR WANTS TO MAKE A SMALLER, LIGHTER, STRONGER SURFBOARD, AND HE’S USING NEW TECHNOLOGIES TO DO IT.
• Instead of just using standard fiberglass cloth in the glassing process, Proctor employs a combination of S-Glass and Kevlar (a product made by DuPont that’s five times stronger than steel on an equal weight basis), which is used widely for military equipment, helmets, and bulletproof body armor because of its lightweight strength. Todd chooses Kevlar over materials like carbon fiber because Kevlar has better flex.
• A semi-closed-cell polystyrene foam core replaces the typical polyester foam that’s been used for decades to make surfboards. It’s more buoyant, so boards can be smaller and fit in the pocket of the wave better.
• Special epoxy resins formulated with flex agents allow the board to bend in all directions and increase the flex life of the board by five times.
• A flatter deck is a product of using more buyant materials and thus not needing to hide foam volume in the center of the board. The less-domey deck that’s achieved increases the flex characteristics of the board.
• Accelerated single concave on the bottom starts under the front foot and gradually deepens through the front fins. “When you push on the tail,” Todd says, “water accelerates through the fin cluster, producing drive.”
• A thinner tail makes for better flex and a more lively feeling board by reducing the rigidity and increasing torque.
• All fin systems are available including glass-ons, which are rare on epoxy boards.
Shaper’s Notes:
“Theres no such thing as the indestructible board,” says Todd. “Everything eventually breaks. Even the space shuttle breaks, but you can make something that lasts longer and retains its original traits.” Using new innovations in surfboard technology, like unique polystyrene foam instead of polyurethane, epoxy resin, Kevlar, and the DSD system, Todd hopes to make his boards smaller, lighter, and stronger, and by doing this, he hopes to help push modern surfing forward.
These aren’t pop-out boards; they’re custom shaped using a cutting edge computer-aided-design program invented by Luciano Leao that allows a shaper to modify his designs dow to the slightest detail.
All Proctor surfboards are custom made in Ventura, California.
Transworld Surf Magazine
Surf Science
Page 080
FLEXIBLE EPOXY SURFBOARD SERIES, VERSION 1
Shaper’s Description
Picture how a dolphin moves through the water; its body in a constant state of torque and acceleration - This same concept drives the “Flexible Epoxy” technology. The boards flex when you lay into ‘em and spring-back through turns, creating a sling shot effect.
In development for the last five years, this unique patent-pending process yields a super light, significantly stronger board with increased buoyancy. This is not a molded board;
a 100% custom designed and shaped creation made in the land of the free; built around the surfer
i.e. type of waves, experience, height, weight, surfing style, etc …
We begin with a semi-closed cell core that has proven not to bubble or de-lam.
The pre-shape is precision designed to the surfer on the DSD System (Digital Surfboard Design) and fine-tuned at the Ventura factory.
The lamination is done with high grade Kevlar and S-glass (the premium glass for board building) and a specialized epoxy that is formulated with flex agents. It has been my experience that, although traditional epoxies make for boards that are up to four times stronger than standard polyester/ polyurethane boards, they tend to be very rigid and ride stiff in the water…this is where the flex agents are key.
A major part of a board’s design and functionality comes from it being not only light weight, but also having that lively spring through turns;
this is flex or torque – and it is important not only lengthwise along the board, but also from side-to-side throughout the board.
My favorite boards in the past have always been the ones made from the traditional low density polyurethane foam with a superlight polyester lamination … they ride insane, but they are far more fragile than the standard “stock” poly board construction. The “Flexible Epoxy” materials are significantly stronger, ultra light-weight and they
maintain that sought after positive flex characteristic… the life that brings the magic.
The gunmetal grey color is a result of the glassing process, and resists even the slightest yellowing for the duration of the life of the board. The color will not sand off or chip off over time. Since all the boards are made from start to finish in-house at the Ventura factory, orders can be quickly turned around in a matter of weeks rather than months; specialized custom orders as well as shop account boards…exciting times!
U.S.A. built.