Nano Board Enhancer Test
Recently I blogged about receiving a sample kit of Surf Nano Products in the mail. Well I finally got around to applying it to my board today.
I decided to try it on my 5’11” Bonzer5 Mini-Merk because I am familiar with the feel of this board and it’s already really fast.
After using the supplied board cleaner I sprayed the Board Enhancer liberally on the bottom of my board. This was not what the directions said to do, oops. 
As you can see my board was soaked in nanos. I was supposed to only spray the supplied sponge and wipe it on, ha.
The directions said to apply the nano spray with the sponge in circular motions, which I then did. But I couldn’t help myself and finished it with long smooth strokes from nose to tail.
The sponge picked up a lot of grime so maybe I should have cleaned it better in the first place. After letting it dry for an hour I could feel the difference in texture on the board. It felt slicky, like a board I once polished with Turtle Wax years ago (the Turtle Wax experiment was way more work than this).
Burning Question: Did it work?
I gotta say the board really did feel more slickery in the water. I was surprised how noticeable it was. Did I surf faster in general? Not sure, I did link some big sections which the Mini-Merk is good at. I didn’t make every wave either. The waves were pretty good tonight. Absolutely beautiful conditions with long peeling offshore mush walls so it was a good test track. I for sure noticed it on one bottom turn in particular.
One thing to note, I really don’t like the smell and now I feel like I have nanos in my mouth and on my fingertips that won’t wash off. But I’m an idiot and did not apply it in a well ventilated area or use gloves. I have a stack of rubber gloves in my work room and I could have easily applied it in the shop lobby with the breeze coming in, so I kinda spazzed that one.
Conclusion: Heck, fellow surfboard nerds might as well give it a try.
rob70
March 17, 2010How do we know NanoNanos are then next asbestos? I’m being serious here.
Whats the enviro impact? Do the little nanos come off and are eaten by fry which are eaten by anchovies which are eaten by yellowtail?
Don’t laugh! It happens with plastics!
rob70
March 17, 2010*aren’t the next abestos.
Anonymous
March 17, 2010about the same as turtle wax, my guess..
Vyusher La Kali
March 17, 2010I think the Merk is ruined now. Just put it aside and I’ll send a hazmat team to pick it up tomorrow.
sharkbait
March 17, 2010Did they send you the life size Snookie poster?
Now I need to use some on my shark skin so I can swim faster…
Anonymous
March 17, 2010Sounds like one more polutant in the ocean
ras
March 17, 2010here’s some info on the dangers of molecular technology.
http://www.crnano.org/dangers.htm
it’s probably best to spend dough on the t-knox fitness video and get super fit that to use some snake oil f@ckery to go fast. but hey that’s just me.
B-Dog
March 17, 2010Be careful where you touch, you don’t want Nano Nuts!
Anonymous
March 17, 2010Here’s the straight scoop. I’ve done more than 100 hours of research on nanoparticles. The ceramic (quartz) particles in this product are inert, and sub-molecular. The alcohol carrier smells like alcohol, but once it is cured it is the same substance as most beach sand – silica. The particles are smaller than crystals and “self install” or “self assemble” to each other and the surface of glass or epoxy or polyester, sealing the pores. The only removal method is to remove the surface itself, since the particles become part of the board. But the thickness of it is 300 times thinner than a human hair. The only nanoparticles that have some questionmarks are silver nanoparticles, since they are anti-bacterial, but the ceramic nanoparticles are even hypo-allergenic. I put it on the inside of my coffee cup = no stains. By the way, I’ve been on the Executive Committee of my local Surfrider Foundation chapter for 14 years and that’s why I did the research on nanoparticles. They do not leach into the environment. Alcohol can dry your skin out, but the particles will not hurt you, or the ocean.
Anonymous
March 17, 2010Justin Cote from Transworld did a decent review of this stuff last year:
http://surf.transworld.net/1000082526/features/product-review-the-ultimate-board-enhancer/
Anonymous
March 17, 2010Hi Ras. Did you look over the info in your link to “dangers” of nanotechnology? Here’s the complete and only paragraph from that link regarding environmental dangers:
“Molecular manufacturing allows the cheap creation of incredibly powerful devices and products. How many of these products will we want? What environmental damage will they do? The range of possible damage is vast, from personal low-flying supersonic aircraft injuring large numbers of animals to collection of solar energy on a sufficiently large scale to modify the planet’s albedo and directly affect the environment. Stronger materials will allow the creation of much larger machines, capable of excavating or otherwise destroying large areas of the planet at a greatly accelerated pace. It is too early to tell whether there will be economic incentive to do this. However, given the large number of activities and purposes that would damage the environment if taken to extremes, and the ease of taking them to extremes with molecular manufacturing, it seems likely that this problem is worth worrying about. Some forms of damage can result from an aggregate of individual actions, each almost harmless by itself. Such damage is quite hard to prevent by persuasion, and laws frequently don’t work either; centralized restriction on the technology itself may be a necessary part of the solution. Finally, the extreme compactness of nanomanufactured machinery will tempt the use of very small products, which can easily turn into nano-litter that will be hard to clean up and may cause health problems.
And Ras, here’s the best quote:
“Nanomanufacturing may threaten the continued existence of humankind. Others could produce significant disruption but not cause our extinction. A combination of several risks could exacerbate the seriousness of each; any solution must take into account its effect on other risks.”
That’s deep stuff there, if you know what I mean…
beep beep im a jeep. eat me, im a giant twinkie
March 17, 2010nano nano. take me to your leader.
Eric.
March 17, 2010Did you put in on the fins, too?
If you wash your hands in it, do you paddle faster?
Danny Cruz
March 17, 2010You know, sounds stupid, but I actually want to try it.
Anonymous
March 17, 2010From chemistry, physics, and global threats to humanty, to “nano nano. take me to your leader.”
Surfy Surfy has become a gathering place for the greatest minds of our age.
Anonymous
March 18, 2010slickery trickery? nano on mano?
blee
March 18, 2010Enough about trying to follow directions and appropriate usage of chemicals, which surfers never do well anyway. Let’s relate this to St. Patrick’s Day. After you apply it to your tongue, do you get the gift of blarney, does it lap up beer faster, or does it shoot uncontrollably out of your mouth?
dogleg
March 18, 2010dig the merk.
Anonymous
March 18, 2010yes, really digging the merk.
Anonymous
March 18, 2010my board i haven’t cleaned or taken the wax off in over a year surfs just as good if not better than when it was clean
Anonymous
March 18, 2010I think a little acetone on a rag will do the same thing, but that’s just me…
Anonymous
March 18, 2010Once again, the only chemical in Surf Nano is the alcohol carrier, which evaporates during the short cure time. After that you simply have a surface with the pores sealed by harmless quartz/ceramic.
Anonymous
March 18, 2010Do not use this product if you experience premature ejaculation.
Surfy Surfy!
March 19, 2010Session #3. The weird slicky nano feeling felt more normal under my feet today on the one good wave of the session. Too bad the trendy organic surf wax I used was just as slippery. I fell off 8 of 10 waves surfed due to slippy wax. Total shocker. It was brutal.
mike@waveridersgallery.net
March 19, 2010Hey Surfy, a cool post on this topic would be to do an experiment that would be more objective, could be reproduced and would show without much debate the results of using this stuff. The UV test is obvious, just take a pure white chunk of glassed goodness from the shop and tape off a square, apply the Nano and watch the yellowing vs the untreated area. The water flow experiment would be only a little more complicated. Layup a deep dbbl. concave, or treat two halved pvc pipes (if the nano properties apply to pvc.) treat one side or pipe and pour. Try to get the rate of flow from the source the same for the control and treated and time the flow until you catch a liter. As long as the rate of flow and the incline of the surfaces are the same, you should be able to measure the “slikness”. I bet Cirus would rock this on his site. Whadoya think?
PG
March 19, 2010Apply the stuff on one half of the board, using the stinger as a point of dermarcation.
Paddle into some larger waves and ride straight off, laying down.
See which way the board wants to yaw. This will tell you which side, if either, is faster.
Anonymous
March 20, 2010sounds like you got some surf nano on the deck as well. did you ever get it off your tongue?
Anonymous
March 25, 2010I just heard that Dean Randazzo and Peter Mendia give this stuff a thumbs up for extra speed. Any real lab tests yet?