Where have all the Minions gone?

I still have my minion in my quiver and love surfing it as a fun board in anything from 1 -6 foot surf.
Just wondering why they seem to have gone underground around the Goldy as you never see them anymore.

If anyone has upgraded from the minion I am interested to see what you are riding now. Mine is 7'8 x 27.

Seems when the hype disappears so does the board

Only a couple of hours ago I organised to buy one 2nd hand - stoked!

Mate I still have mine in my quiver as my sub 8ft board, along with 8'5 Speeed and 8'7 Acid. Trouble is my my girl has taken a liking to it now and takes it for a spin
Chur

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Stev0 said..
I still have my 7'4 Minion in the quiver but hardly use it as conditions have either been no waves for months or windy offshore or on onshore so the 8'10 Sunova Acid has been my go to board. The Minion blows me away when I do get to ride it, the acceleration and looseness is amazing. Pity I've hardly riden it over the last year.

Apparently the newer Minion models come with a long overdue Goretex vent plug as you don't want to leave it in the sun from my experience.

I know a dude who reckoned the Gullivar V/Box was better than the Minion but Gullivar seem to have gone out of business?

I surf with Azza, the designer/shaper of the Vbox for Gulliver and the bottoms of both boards are quite different. He still rips on his.
Yeah your right....the acceleration is second to none especially on point breaks. Turns on a dime too.
Mine lost a fin box on Thursday after being run into by an old dude on a big sup who bailed out on the take off in front off me.
Off to Simon at DEEP to repair.
Still get comments on the shape of the board in the carpark.

Yes, see at the end of:
www.surfsource.net/store

Be very careful to not drill onto the threads of the handle. I would try to make a guide out of wood or metal to drill through.

Nice one Matt!
Chest mount or headband?

Is that a GoPro? If so, what setting do you use to get such a great field of view. Mine are too myopic.

Thanks Matt
I think I will spring for the original Sessions (on sale now)
I like that Superview..... it gives a very useful vantage, because it really shows how a board works.
I'll just bolt a "visor spring clip" to my kook hat.... light and manageable. No more headband mount to fall off !!!!!

Today Headband view

My 7'8 MV2 just gets better n better - still reckon its the most awesome thing I've ever ridden. Like stevo says it is so loose and the accelerator just works by itself. I'm doing stuff I never imagined I'd do at my age. Even getting out on it in the not so glassy days now.

Well I've had mine a few weeks now. 7'3" x 27 3/4" - 95L. Although it is not as stable as my previous board (7'6 Hokua GT), it's not too far off it and it hasn't been too hard learning to adapt.

I've been amazed at the speed it generates, and the loose, skatey feel. When I saw the size of the fins that came with it I thought they were overkill, but you definitely need all of it. It's really light and easy to throw around, so much fun in a range of conditions.

But, in 5 sessions, I've put dents in the rails (from hitting with parts of my body) on two occasions. Considering that in 3 and a half years of sup surfing I've never dinged a rail, I'm really surprised by this. I'm considering hanging on to the old Naish instead of selling it because compared to the minion, it was bulletproof (yes you read that, a Naish). I'm torn, it's a really fun board, but I do value durability highly. Maybe I should just keep both and have all the toys .

Having said that, does anyone have any recommendations for repairs? I'd usually use one of those UV resin things, but I don't know if the sun is strong enough this time of year (or if we'll get sun anytime soon). I was thinking just one of those selleys 2 part epoxy things - won't look as pretty but I'll be covering it with rail tape anyway.

Note that you may have dinged your rails more because you were able to surf more aggressively with the minion, and be more often in the critical part of the wave.

On the repairs, please invest in a good surf brand epoxy resin. It is night and days compared to all the repair kits or the epoxy glues (and microspheres,and syringes). Add a cheap ($10) scale precise to 0.1 gram to be sure to have a perfect mix ratio, and repairs will be a breeze. The lack of a precise mix ratio is what makes these "2 part epoxy things" worthless. Pre-mixed UV kits like Solarez are much better for this reason.

UV curing kits are great, but may not stick as well as true epoxy resin in the long term. My advice:

- weight all your boards when new (a luggage scale is nice), so that you will be able to detect water entry later, or when to stop trying to dry a dent.
- water is your enemy, and salt prevents epoxy curing: get out of the water immediately after a ding and rinse it, and dry the dent.
- do a quick repair job to waterproof it: solarez and UV kits are nice for this, helped with a UV torch lamp that can be bought on the cheap on the internet, and allow repairs at night. This way, you can be in the water immediately, and it will stop the board bubbling through your real repair job.
If there is water in the board, you can still go surfing, and re-drill holes to let it dry between sessions.
- Once you have the time, do a proper repair job with real resin and glass or carbon on top of the solarez. Repairs are incredibly easy when you are not stressed by time nor by the bubbling. And tape over the repairs with PVC tape to avoid resin drips.

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GusD said..
so am used to working with polyester resin

Epoxy resin is quite the same as polyester, but differ on some points:
- The mix ratio must be exact. With polyester, different mix ratio just slow or fasten the curing time. With epoxy, only the exact mix ratio will cure, the excess in one component will just stay encased in the resin, weakening it
- Curing time is thus less manageable, and exothermia is always a risk
- Epoxy doesnt wet as much the glass as polyester, so if you are used to "pull" resin a lot from the glass, you will leave pinholes with epoxy. In general bubbling during repairs is more a problem with epoxy
- Polyester is harder, so is easier to sand. Epoxy stays softer (which makes it more resilient than polyester, less brittle), and softens with the heat of the sanding. You will have to move about more when sanding epoxy to avoid heat to build up in one place

On the quantities, in my experience, the shelf life of a quality epoxy resin once opened is huge (many years), and you can find it in 1 kg kit. Whereas cheap ones (such as the ones found in the hardware stores) are unusable after some months once opened.

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GusD said..
I was advised by a chemical guy that I could use a one part UV activated epoxy to seal the foam core, and then use polyester resin on top to properly shape the repair. I know you'd have to be 110% sure that you've sealed the foam, but the idea sounds workable - I assume also that the polyester resin would lock the UV epoxy in place.

Actually a lot of guys use this method, especially for extensive repairs on glossy boards
- do the full repair with epoxy, which is mechanically better (more flex and less brittle) than polyester
- do the hot coat in polyester, so that you can sand it easily, even up to a glossy finish. You are actually using the polyester as a kind of varnish.

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Piros said..
Just a big warning here .You can't put polyester resin on bare polystyrene foam ( it will eat the foam) , that's why everyone uses epoxy......

And on and on it goes until you end up with a big hole. Good point Piros.

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Piros said..
Just a big warning here .You can't put polyester resin on bare polystyrene foam ( it will eat the foam) , that's why everyone uses epoxy......

Haha yep I know from an epoxy surfboard repair I did a few years ago, hence my comment about being 110% sure it was sealed. Lucky it was a crap board anyway. Was amazed at how much of the foam it ate away