Materials and construction

Every custom Happy Monkey Snowboard is hand crafted from the finest materials available. We hand-select premium wood to build our symmetrical wood cores, use only the fastest base materials, and incorporate high quality glass, Kevlar®*, and carbon fibers to build the best boards possible. Our boards are sandwich construction, with UHMWPE sidewalls, full-wrap edges, and poplar/ash cores.

Symmetrical Wood Core

We put a lot of effort into our cores. So much so that we're frequently a little sad that we have to hide them inside of snowboards. We start by selecting top grade, clear, rough-cut poplar and ash from local suppliers. Poplar has a good strength-to-weight ratio and makes a nice primary core material. High quality wood is the first step to predictable, consistent flex, and the ability to hand select wood for each core is one of the benefits of our process. The wood is cut into planks which are glued into a stack as tall as half the width of a core. Two slices are taken from the stack for each core. The slices are joined to form a core with strips of wood that are symmetrical from edge to edge. This extra care results in cores that are perfectly balanced, and a snowboard that reacts the same on both edges.

The cores are shaped to within 0.005" using our custom built, precision CNC router. This produces an extremely accurate, completely custom core for each board we build. For extra edge durability and vibration dampening we add ash hardwood stringers along the effective edge of every core. Ash has some nice properties that make it a great addition to the edges of our cores: it's hard, strong, and has high resistance to shock.

Sidewalls

Our sidewalls and nose/tail spacers are made from the same UHMW polyethylene material as our bases, which is very impact resistant and highly durable. We bevel our sidewalls to 15 degrees.

Base material

We use only high quality sintered base material from Isosport. Our standard base material is black ISOSPEED 7500, which is sintered UHMW polyethylene with excellent wax absorption, speed and durability. With good preparation and care, sintered base materials are the fastest you can get, and significantly better than the cheaper extruded base materials found on your average snowboard.

As a special option, we also offer ISOHIGHSPEED 2112, which is a specialized race base material with 10% graphite. This material offers superior wax absorption, abrasion resistance, and durability. It's some of the fastest stuff around, and it's usually only found on high-end race skis.

Edges

Our steel edge material has a Rockwell hardness of 48, which is the industry standard for ski and snowboard edges. Edges are wrapped around the full perimeter of the boards for extra durability and protection. They're bent to your custom shape by hand, and while this is a time consuming, painstaking process, it produces a very high quality edge fit.

Fiberglass, Kevlar and Carbon Fibers

We use a specialized stitched triaxial (0/+45/-45) fiberglass, one 22oz layer above and below the core. Stitched fiberglass, rather than woven, is critical to the long-term performance of the snowboard. Woven fabrics have voids where the fibers cross over each other which trap extra resin making the board thicker, heavier and weaker. Stitched fabrics pack the glass fibers in more tightly without weaving them. Boards are thinner, lighter and stronger. They also retain their shape and pop longer. Small amounts of exotic fibers like KEVLAR®* and carbon fiber are used when necessary. Strips of unidirectional KEVLAR® along the base and carbon fiber along the top add stiffness and spring to a board without adding core thickness or extra weight.

Inserts

Sixteen stainless steel 6mm inserts in a 4x4 pattern are standard. Insert pattern, number and placement is completely customizable. Inserts are backed with a very light weave of Kevlar® to provide bomb-proof insert retention.

Epoxy

Our epoxy is formulated specifically to remain flexible without cracking at sub-freezing temperatures. It's durable and lightweight.

Rubber foil

A very thin, narrow layer of "rubber foil" is placed between the edges and the base layer of fiberglass. This provides a shear layer between the metal edge and the rest of the board, allowing the board to flex properly and producing a durable, long-lasting bond for excellent edge retention. It also has a vibration dampening effect along the edges for a smoother ride.

Top sheets and Graphics

Our top sheets are a durable plastic that is sublimated with our standard graphics. Look for new graphics for the 07/08 season.

* KEVLAR® is a registered trademark of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company.