II've been riding boards in Warrnambool for the past 18 months .
Surfing 3-4 foot waves that can be quite heavy.
Ive been surfing boards around 9'6.
I've broken 2 already, and I know that just like surf boards, yes they do break!
I'm a bit hesitant on handing over another $2000 + for a board ( although I will)
Any suggestions on a good tough board.
also, are carbon fibre boards ' stronger?' Is it worth spending the extra money?
Cheers

I have had great success with the Sunova boards and I have not heard of one breaking. But they are around $2100.
(I use them, I don't sell them.)

Hi jack
get a Naish GS model ,hard as nails.

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Tardy said..
Hi jack
get a Naish GS model ,hard as nails.

Yeah, I have been thrashing a Naish nalu10.6 28wide timber deck since 2012, no dings, still looks like new

I have put my sunova speed through hell here in Vic and its tough as nails.also took it to the Ments, no problems,I once borrowed a mates carbon hokua and destroyed the front end ,absolutely crapped myself when i looked inside the crushed rails and then had to find someone who would repair it.Just my experience with carbon,others will differ.

We also surf hard beachbreak that eats boards.... I have broken 8 surfboards here over the years, so durability is an issue.
I have also damaged many SUPs over the years, poking fins through the deck, delaming, creasing boards, smashing them on jetty's

Lots of SUPs folded in our shorebreak since they came on the scene, but less these days, as construction improves, and we learn what to avoid.

All boards will break if they get a direct hit from the lip of a heavy wave....
but these brands have proven themselves to me over the years.

Fanatic's..... HRS construction is as tough as it gets, but I did manage to crease the tail on my Prowave HRS a few years ago, in 8' shore pound.
The good news? no water got in, the rocker was totally unaffected and the repair came out perfect.... it's on it's 2nd resale for $800. Solid board.
The HRS is affordable as well.

Starboards..... lots around and I haven't seen or heard of any issues.... including my own Starboards, that all held up great.
The Starboard carbons are very tough... my buddy is a team rider, and he goes big all the time... never seen an issue with his boards.

Sunova's..... yes, I am the Sunova factory mascot
I have never seen a delam, crack or heard of any defects in construction. The construction is light, tough and affordable.
All my Sunova's look new after beating them with paddles and subjecting them to sizable waves and our shorebreak.
You can poke a hole in the bottom, if you are careless with sharp objects, but that is because Bert designed the bottom differently than the top, he made the bottom softer, with "give" to smooth out the ride. It feels amazing!
I have heard of one leash plug "pin" failure in some good sized surf, but zero negative feedback on any construction issues.

Like STC said, all boards can break, but the longer they are the more prone they are to being creased or snapped.

I parked my VW van on my Sunnova Speed. All fixed and surfing again. ( has a unique channel less than 5 mm). Hell of a tough board!

Another for Sunova, I'm pretty hard on boards and have 2 sunovas Long term and no damage to either. Funnily on Sunday a retailer who we will leave nameless said "sunovas are bulletproof, wish we had signed them up when they first came out"

Deep double vac bagged glass. I'm horribly hard on the gear, and they just keep taking it.

I have had a starboard Widepoint that de laminated real bad I lost half of my grip and the top coating on the board in one big sheet.

My Naish x32 had several good dings and I could eat my rice bubbles out of the foot wells.

My Jp pro rails, with rail tape are hammered and I have to cut bits of rail off all the time that scratch my legs when sitting on the board and the deck grip is rubbing off.

My Sunnova flow with rsp pro tape has no dings, minor foot wells but at 100kg thats to be expected it cops a hammering i surfed last week perfects rights into a shorey and i got a cracking bruise on my leg from a fin chop and hurt ribs from getting smashed on the nose of my board and not a scratch on the flow.

I've heard that the new 2017 Naish boards in the Quest range are as tough as because they are made like the old windsurfers were made.. and they were tough..

BIC boards! unbreakable !

All boards will break if hit by a falling lip, or stuck in the sand in the shorebreak.

If you remember, SurfingJ told us he broke his sunova on the first days with it at his home shorebreak.

I have even seen with my own eyes a Naish Nalu folded in 2 places on a mediterranean knee-high "wave" (6s period...), but the sand bank was shallow and the board nose hit the bottom...

And I love Gong boards, but although I have never broken one, I know people that have them broken in 2.

By discussing the issue with the Gong shaper, he told me the key to a board resistance to breakage is in the ... rails. When a lip pushes on the deck, the deck want to compress and the hull expand,, and as long as the rails locks the 2 skins in place, the boards resists. As soon as the skins begin to "slip" in opposite direction, the board breaks.

So, to avoid board breakage:
- Most important: learn to never let your board be in harm way, that's the most important. if you bail out in front of a breaking wave, push the board so that it is sideways, parallel to the wave.
- Chose a board with as little surface as possible for the water to push on it: short and narrow (and thick and domed helps, too). Longboards will break in hollow waves.
- Chose a brand where the shaper knows that rails are the true backbone of a board, not the stringer.

My wife's Starboard Atlas ASAP seems pretty indestructible - despite my best efforts. Failing that yhere's a BIC in my local shop that has some sort of thermoplastic outer skin.

The BIC performers look good. Built using thermaformed outer layer this tech looks very tough. I have a windsurf board built using this tech and its still going strong after 10 years

I've had my Sunova Soul for about a year now. Used 3-4 times a week mostly in dumpy shore breaks. Looks like new. No foot wells or even deck pad lifting. Xxx construction is the ducks nuts. Vote 1 Sunova!!

JL

Jimmy Lewis hands down

Jimmy Lewis boards ....I have two and yes they chip like other boards if you paddlecwhack them but that's about it.

howdy. I've had my JP surf wide body for over 3 years. surfed it in anything up to 8 foot plus. Reef, beach, ,
mush clean you Name it. It has gone the distance. I am harsh on gear but can't fault this bit of kit. Been a super fun board!!

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momasfolly said..
howdy. I've had my JP surf wide body for over 3 years. surfed it in anything up to 8 foot plus. Reef, beach, ,
mush clean you Name it. It has gone the distance. I am harsh on gear but can't fault this bit of kit. Been a super fun board!!

I have one too....can't fault it either way xceptnthe paintwork is easy chipped compared to other boards I have but structure is absolutely fine.....and yes...great fun boards.

Ditto pretty much all of the above, but it is worth drilling down a bit deeper -

Tough & light - good value
Tough & light - spendy
Tough but a tad heavy - good value
Tough heavy and spendy

Furthering the love for SUNOVA's, they are the only board we can put in our demo fleet for 2 seasons, take them out and customers will still get good money for them. The construction is key but they also use minimal paint, so it hides a lot of the usual wear and tear like scratches and scuff marks.
The new Naish QUESTS look and feel bomb proof and the JL boards have always had a good rep.

Naish - Sunovas big big one + to Sunovas.

Not a mark, not a dent and I'm using it

Happy customer

Jimmy Lewis....They're tough, they're light (you don't even need the carbon model if you don't want to spend the extra cash as the JL Construction is as light as most other brands carbon models) & they're shaped by a shaper who makes boards that perform :)

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Jimmy Lewis Boards said..
Jimmy Lewis....They're tough, they're light (you don't even need the carbon model if you don't want to spend the extra cash as the JL Construction is as light as most other brands carbon models) & they're shaped by a shaper who makes boards that perform :)

Does anyone stock JL in QLD?

Another vote for Deep Oceanboards they are very well made and very tough, with a range of construction methods. Locally made on the GOld Coast. Give them a call ??

HI Mrknownothing,
I'm just setting up my dealer network now around the country but don't have anyone in QLD yet so you can either go to www.jimmylewisboards.com.au or go into your local SUP dealer & ask them to give me a call on 0435456645....Cheers Rob

I ride a vacuum bagged Deep minion >>>tough as nails. Swapped with a guy recently > sunovas flow. Was prone paddling back out through white water, proceeded to be lined up and freight trained by a (gorgeous) woman on a long board! Amazingly only slight surface damage from her three fins across the nose of the board. The owner of the board was not perturbed.

You guys have mentioned a lot of good strong boards here. So, which boards should we stay away from? Which boards are NOT strong?

Deep Minion by far.Went for a paddle yesterday at Terrigal beach.Got out, had a shower, board back on the roof racks.

Got past Terrigal pub and all of a sudden noticed my board flying through air doing a flip to land smack bang
on the side of road.Had forgotten to strap it down :(

Embarrassingly secured the board back on and drove around the corner to assess the damage.

Not a scratch!

Had the board in a cheap, flimsy bag with zero padding.

Ozzie