“No hot wax?”, you think to yourself as you curiously read the Skinbased Ski Quick Guide. “What is this stuff?” Well, "this stuff” is called Unicoat, and it's our proprietary, patented ski base material. In this tech post we will take a deep dive into the world of ski base materials, touch on a bit of Skinbased history, and talk about why we are so dang excited about our ski bases.
Extruded vs Sintered
There are two main ski base materials to choose from, extruded and sintered, and both require a regular application of hot wax to function as intended. Extruded base material is cheap, while sintered is much more costly. When it comes to waxing, a sintered base material allows the wax to chemically adhere, producing a better glide. In the before (Unicoat) times, Skinbased skis were made with sintered bases.
A New Era
As development continued, we put even more thought into every detail of our skis. We wondered which components were bringing us closer to Skinbased’s vision of easy-to-use skis that nearly anyone could enjoy, and which were inhibiting that dream. We began to question, and then doubt, if a labor-intensive base material was really the best fit for our skis.
While our skis are many things to many people, one thing they are not is a race ski. Made for exploring moderate and rolling terrain, the use of a high maintenance, racing ski base material seemed out of place. So, we began researching, developing, and experimenting with new types of base materials. In the early part of 2013, we hit on something. A durable, low-maintenance base that provided unmatched durability and plenty of glide. It even outperformed sintered bases in many side-by-side tests. With that, Unicoat was born.
One for the Skiers
What does Unicoat offer to its users? Well, an easy-to-care for, low-maintenance base for starters. Unicoat does not need, nor will it even accept hot waxes. So forget about the iron, ski clamps and wax fumes - simply go skiing! If at some point you feel a reduction in glide, just add a bit of liquid or paste “quick wax”, and off you go. Users also get a profoundly durable base. While you may notice some scratches on your bases after an encounter with some early-season sharks, Unicoat resists deep scratching, limiting the damage to merely cosmetic. If you experience a deep gouge, it can easily be repaired with the 2-part epoxy found at your local hardware store.
For a few winters, we offered our most popular KAR ski model with both sintered and Unicoat bases. Time and time again, our customers chose the Unicoat base. It got such good feedback that we eventually left the world of sintered bases behind us. Now, on the bottom of every Skinbased ski you will find the durable and easy-to-maintain Unicoat base.
For more details on how to care for your Skinbased Skis, see our YouTube Maintenance videos here!
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