VIC
5124 posts
Wondering what people feel is the most durable construction?
As well as working well and lasting well I want to avoid all those annoying impact dings from knees or bumping against hard stuff.
I've got/had all sorts of boards with all sorts of construction. They all work well in the water. None are particularly resilient when touched against the garage wall or hit a rail on the steps to the beach.
VIC
456 posts
Starboard starlite most durable I've owned.
5379 posts
The most durable construction consists of 3 parts:
[1] the board skin
Quality full (even on the rails) PVC glass sandwiches, hands down.
Carbon PVC sandwich will be a bit less impact resistant than glass (carbon is brittle), but structurally stronger (board snapped in two).
Some green alternatives to PVC may be great too, such as cork. But it must be thick, at least 3mm.
[2] the inserts
Fin boxes, leash plugs, handles must be reinforced by strong, waterproof closed-cell foam (PVC), maybe with some wood or carbon pillars/stringers
[3] the rider
A rider that takes care of its board (never leave it in the sun, in a bag with sand, etc...) and looks for small problems after each session (pinholes, cracks, dents, pad starting to unglue...) and fix them before they become big problems will have a huge effect of the board durability.
