What is Lib Tech's Secret?

While trying to write a 'hardware guide' for the Surf Bunker platform I stumbled across a question that I could not answer. I did some research and still I could not find an answer. I thought I would email the manufacturer but still did not have an answer. I was left scratching my head and thought I would ask around some contacts I have in the industry. I drew a blank. It would appear then that this is a closer held secret than the combination to Fort Knox.

The company was Lib Tech. The question was 'What blank do Lib Tech use and what is this Eco Isotropic Thermo Pressure Fusion System?'

Lib Tech surfboards started retailing a new construction of surfboard in 2015, and since then very little has been found out about how the board is made and what it is made out of. In an industry which is very skeptical of change and that loves to put PU + Polyester on a pedestal it seems strange that more is not known about the mystery ingredients and how they work.

You can see the reply I got from Lib Tech themselves when I inquired as to what 'blank' they used and what the process of construction was below. I was careful to say that I did not want to know specifics but just given a rough idea so I could draw my own conclusions. Instead, all I got was the same industry blurb full of terms that meant very little to me. I inquired again but got the same very polite response. Something told me that this was a well trodden path and people had tried this before with no success. This was the response I received:

***Hi James,
Thanks for reaching out!
Our boards are not epoxy or polyester—we use our own top secret surf recipe!
Here is how we describe it on our website:
“Instead of toxic industry-standard polyester or old-fashioned epoxy, we use a new chemistry we call LVR43 HIGH REBOUND MATRIX that has higher elongation, extreme ding resistance, and responsive rebound.”***It is also 100% closed cell foam and will not absorb water!
And here’s some more info on the eco-friendly story:
“… up to 50% recycled content, and uses ozone friendly blowing agents. All off-cuts go back into the process of making new blanks. This is a new formula.”

That is all I have been able to find out. All other emails or follow ups to this have been blanked. The reply is polite but it tells me nothing of what I need to know. There are big claims of lighter, stronger, more flex, feels like PU and is a certain % recycled, but it seems that we are just meant to accept that, without and facts for us geeky people to tuck into. I could understand this if it was easy to test one of these surfboards but in my experience it is not. I live in one of Europe's surf centres as regards to industry, yet I could not find anywhere to test one of these.

A while ago the Shred Show got one of these to test and seems that they had a similar lack of information. Here is a bit more info about one of these and I do mean a bit.

So maybe it is that these 'Eco Isotropic' surfboards from Lib Tech are everything that we are told they are but there is a big difference between saying some words and them being true, especially in an industry that is unrivaled in its nostalgia of past shapes, construction techniques and components.

American born Ian Crane is the underground test pilot for these boards and while he admitted that he has broken one in heavy surf, still seems to be able to go huge above the lip on one. Then again, Ian could be able to do all this and more on a PU + Poly combo for all we know.

To get to the point, these new(ish) types of surfboard look amazing. If everything that they tells us is true then we should all buy one but how do we know? Are we supposed to fork out the relatively expensive price tag just to find out? What is the catch? Why won't they tell us any more about it?

If anyone else out there has more info than what is on 'Lib Techs' website, about the 'closed cell nitrogen core', what the board is laminated with or just anything beyond the blurb including what they are like to ride then send me a mail.

Meanwhile I will continue my investigation and send some more emails to Lib Tech and then go and smash my head into a brick wall a few more times.