The Love Machine
/R&D… Research and Development… Research new materials, construction methods, hydrodynamics. Develop methods of construction and design. Research through field testing and reflect on results to develop designs further. More an ongoing cycle than a this-then-that.
So with that in mind, I have been working with the issues around using 40d Taffeta material. It is lovely but it’s fragile. My mat Little Boy Blue finally gave out springing leaks from the seams towards the tail where the greatest forces are exerted on the mat. This is largely down to the significant difference in elasticity between the fabric and the TPU from what I can fathom and will always lead to leaks in those areas point loading and seams sooner or later.
Bugger…
That’s not to say 70/40 is a no go but if it is a go it will be very specialised to keep for those super perfect glassy days on long waves with good channels and dry hair paddle outs (although even that needs more testing before I’m prepared to put these out there). Dragging these under sets and bouncing around on choppy crap seriously limits the life-span as Little Boy Blue’s early demise has shown, and I’m really not into building disposable mats. There is no getting away from the fact that mats are plastic. That said, they aren’t much plastic and they outlast surfboards (if cared for properly) and the carbon footprint transporting them is super-duper low so they are a good option overall I’d say over their life-span, but not if you’re chucking them in the bin.
So then, onto this surfmat. This mat is named The Love Machine and is a 70/70 construction with 40d I-beams. My thinking here is that the TPU on the 70d bottom is adequate to keep it airtight whilst the 40d I-beams definitely feel lighter. I’ve had this mat out in rubbish waves so far and initial observations are….
[DRUMROLL]
FEELS LIKE A REGULAR 70/70!!!
Dang!
But this is why we research-develop-research-develop-research…. etc. Too early to gauge so far as I need to ride this mat in better waves. Our run over here in the South West UK has been pretty dire of late so time will have to tell. At the worst, I have a pretty sweet 70/70 RB-JMC, super-free-breather with neg rocker and I’m not going to grumble about that.
The Love Mat is in green and after I’d added the star logo, influenced by a US Army WW2 vehicle I realised I might look like some kind of inflatable war monger! I had the solution right in front of me thanks to Nate Kirby.
A few years ago now, Nate did me some stickers including this Build Mats Not Bombs military stencil. Pretty rad and perfect for the situation at hand so on it went. Thanks again Nate!
I have some other things to try around fabric weights. The R&D cycle goes on.
Cheers
G