Black glass fiber?

boardsurfr · Joined: 23 Aug 2001 Posts: 1266

Maybe someone can provide insight into something that's been puzzling me ever since I repaired the nose on my Fanatic Skate 110 from 2010. The board is the "standard", not the Team Edition. According to the 2010 Fanatic brochure, the standard Skates were bias glass; only the Team Edition was carbon. But the stuff I found under the paint was black, and looked like carbon to me, not like glass. Or is there something like black glass fiber?

When the Skate from 2010 started dying of old age and lots of use, I bought another Skate 110, this one the BGS construction from 2015. The shape looks (almost?) the same, but the 2015 board does not jump up on a plane quite as quickly, and does not feel as direct in chop. In direct comparison, the 2010 version feels much more like a slalom board.

What's going on here? Did Fanatic sell carbon boards as BGS boards in 2010? Based on the color scheme (white-orange) and the footstrap inserts (inboard and outboard options), my old Skate is definitely the standard (the TE was white-purple, and had only inboard footstrap plugs).

dllee · Joined: 03 Jul 2009 Posts: 5329 Location: East Bay

Looks more like black primer or sealer to me, rather than actual carbon fibers.

U2U2U2 · Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2016 12:24 pm Post subject:

The area you repaired ..is that the rust color mostly square ?
What is the small gold area.. Was it like that?

When I first looked at the black stuff, I did not think it was carbon, I looked at a board I completed in April that has carbon exposed, it's similar.
There are different weaves of carbon.
How it got there, which if I understand you, it's not supposed to be..?

A. Someone made a mistake, lucky you.
B. They add carbon to the nose always, lucky you.

I think it's carbon.
C. Ask the Fanatic forum experts.
D. Could be the sealer mentioned above ..and sanded to revel the glass under.

wsurfn1426 · Joined: 20 Mar 2004 Posts: 223

Looks like just a carbon reinforcement patch for the nose of the board to me.

boardsurfr · Joined: 23 Aug 2001 Posts: 1266

U2U2U2 · Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2016 12:56 pm Post subject:

I think it's carbon, how it got there..?
Thx for the answers, the gold I was particularly curious about.

FWIW , I was repainting a board, and removed a lot of paint.
The board had what was I believe a factory repair across the bottom, maybe just a crease or bad handling .. It was very odd, I asked a few knowledgeable people and all felt it was done under initial construction.
Brand shall remain unnamed.

U2U2U2 · Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2016 2:25 pm Post subject:

This is the nose of my last project board, the black is carbon.

DW · Joined: 15 Jul 2014 Posts: 26

The Cobra factory is using black pigment to make boards look like carbon. I had a brand owner tell me this.

I also found the same doing a ding repair on a Naish. It was black pigmented micro balloons I found when sanding.

boardsurfr · Joined: 23 Aug 2001 Posts: 1266

U2U2U2 · Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2016 7:11 pm Post subject:

Micro balloons is a epoxy additive, one could add black pigment to the mix of epoxy/ micro balloons mix to create a black look.

Why would...... in this case would you cover it with white paint? If it was supposed to be carbon..you would want the world
If it was sanded to create a carbon look, it would make sense

I use 3 different additives to my epoxy, you can't tell lookin at them any difference, unless it has a different color. I can also if I like use ALL three with the epoxy.

Occcams razor theory : the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.

I acknowledge that I could be wrong. Carbon will sand off different to tinted epoxy, but could be similar to glass, it will have strands of fiber

Who the hell knows what they use at Cobra?
FWIW.. 2,0f the additives / epoxy enhancements are white, like baby powder
The other is low density fairing filler is red,or rust. These being the one from West Systems that I use.