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HumanCartoon said...
I've got one as well, agree the coco top and carbon rails are tough as a very tough thing but the bottom on mine is prone to paint chipping, much more so than any other board I've had. I have a couple of small dings as well but not fussed about those, they have come about because of things I have done to the board but mildly vexed by the apparent fragility of the paint in case of water permeability of the underlying skin (dunno just wondering about that?). Not so fussed about the aesthetics of paint chips, it's a piece of sporting equipment after all, but taking the precaution of clear nail polish over the chips to make sure it's all sealed. Could there be a batch issue with the paint? Haven't seen magilla's board up close to compare to mine yet.
Will leave it to CMC to defend the product technically, but if you had asked me yesterday "Is the bottom fragile?" I would have said No, and why would you think so? Or more to the point, "I have not thought about it because it shows no damage."
To chip the bottom, and I don't think it is "paint" , you have to hit it on something. In the top photo I posted above, you can see a couple of adhesive ding patches on the rail of the Fanatic. That doesn't mean the Fanatic is fragile, it means I paddled it over a reef and the swell went out, grounding me, and scratching the skin through to the core. This does not suggest anything wrong with the board, just stupidity on my part.
I have not done this to the Dc14, so no similar damage, but after close to a year of general use it has no scratches or dings that are not directly attributable to my clumsiness, and none that can be seen in the photo at all.
When I move / carry either board, it is usually "bang, woops, that's the fin, bang, woops, that's the nose", and both seem built to take it without problems. (the naish is only transported in cotton wool, but that's another story)
I am a bit surprised that both the Dc and the Fanatic have quite a "chalky" finish to the bottom, rather than a shiny glassed / polished finish. My background is self built / semi pro built skiffs, that were always glossy in finish, but again after a year of use on both boards there seems nothing wrong with the slightly porous seeming finish, apart from picking up marks from tie downs or fingers, which clean off without a trace.
No affiliation to anything, but I would hate for a board to get a reputation as "fragile" when there is no basis.
Don't use a lot of nail polish myself, clear or otherwise, so lucky I have had no chips to repair. But if you can't see the fabric of the cloth in a ding, don't think any seal has been compromised.
Again, it is a bit of sporting equipment, and almost a boat, and we used to spend $20,000 on a second hand skiff (also 14 ft long), throw $10,000 at it in sails (consumable) for a year, get an hour or so once a week on the water 20 weeks a year if we were lucky, and not bat an eyelid (did I mention the shoebox we lived in?)
These things are so cheap and so much fun, there is no basis for complaint.
Or maybe I am going to defend the product.
Can't believe I just typed all that. Not concerned with propping up second hand values either, 'cause I can't think of a reason I would ever want to sell it.
It's also prettier than most other boards, which is why I bought it in the first place!
Here's another picture to give some value to the post
magillamelb
> 9 months ago, 11 Jun 2014
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