I surfed with the polymer pro, big ass van driving, x pro snowboarder Matt Cambell, the creator of Resin-X yesterday. Matt was kind enough to offer me his Marlin Bacon quad, glassed in his special mix for a test ride. The board was light, despite the thickness Marlin added to compensate for the fresh water Matt usually surfs, but the glass job felt much stronger than a standard 4+4 over 4 poly construction (sorry Matt, I squeezed the Charmin). Unfortunately, I couldn’t put the board through any turns that would shine a light on it’s flex characteristics as Cardiff was about 2 feet on the sets.

Visually, Resin-X looks ton’s clearer than the epoxy on my Patagonia thruster. The Patagonia board is a few months older than the Resin-X board so it’s tuff to compare, but it’s starting to turn pink around the laps which is a known characteristic of some epoxies. JP of Moonlight told me Matt put Resin-X through a weather simulating UV light chamber set for a 1 year time warp, and it came out about the same as it went in, and faired way better than both epoxy and poly. The board also had a bright gloss finish which looks great and helps protect the board even further.

One of the most important factors in a light glass job is durability. Matt’s got the lab tests to stand behind his mix, but apparently Marlin’s feed back throughout the process told him what to expect even before the testing was complete. Stands to reason that a lab just can’t beat trials conducted by a board building expert.

Resin-X seems like it’s going to be a serious advancement for domestic glassers that will help them keep up with the growing demands for durability in light glass jobs. Judging from what I saw today, I’d feel confident enough to order my next custom wrapped in the stuff.

For more info on Resin-X see:

Surfy Surfy’s Resin-X Posts
Resin-X… What’s The Scoop erBB thread