Who makes it? Not talking about how it sails but it's construction. Who's got the right mix of durability and weight, who's finish is the best, who fin box is actually the right size etc?

you will need to go to custom manufacturers to get the best built board.

"The one I just bought!" Could be what's goes thru most people's mind.
But in reality it is the one you just bought, until you use it a few times, then most likely not so much.

Construction peaked around the mid 2000's I reckon, with double sandwich waveboards that lasted.

Since then its been a race to the bottom with weight savings that many of us just don't want, and cost considerations. Lots of it has been removing materials in some areas gradually gradually - til they all break and then next year they go add a bit again.

FWIW I think the best life and least damage I've seen is in the Fanatic / RRD etc wood/carbon-innegra combination, and the Starboard wood/carbon. Nuevo etc were tough as. Most Starboard wood finished degraded cosmetically but easy fixed.

Some brands continue to think we want eggshells. I'd rather have the 500g under my feet thanks.

Agree with the above, I'd add Severne in there as both my Fox's look great after a year plus of hard use which is more than I can say for others I've used. Thinking I might give Fanatic a go next just for old times sake as my first real performance board 20odd years ago was one

Just saying, I'm still using an 09 CarbonArt and I know of an 05 still going strong

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kato said..
Just saying, I'm still using an 09 CarbonArt and I know of an 05 still going strong

Yup. Ditto on my nxs board.

while i've been working through my eco board construction i worked up a spreadsheet of typical layups.

i doubt each manufacturer is going to advertise their special sauce but what was available online i tabulated. ie. this may not be exact and i had to join the dots in a few spots.

Witchcraft Dyneema is supposed to be pretty damn amazing. I have not personally sailed one.

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Mark _australia said..
Construction peaked around the mid 2000's I reckon, with double sandwich waveboards that lasted.

Since then its been a race to the bottom with weight savings that many of us just don't want, and cost considerations. Lots of it has been removing materials in some areas gradually gradually - til they all break and then next year they go add a bit again.

FWIW I think the best life and least damage I've seen is in the Fanatic / RRD etc wood/carbon-innegra combination, and the Starboard wood/carbon. Nuevo etc were tough as. Most Starboard wood finished degraded cosmetically but easy fixed.

Some brands continue to think we want eggshells. I'd rather have the 500g under my feet thanks.

I've seen some double sandwich parts in a Fanatic freestyle board when I put tracks in; covered only part of the board, though. That particular board has seen quite a few years of intense (ab)use and is still going strong. But just recently, I saw a Fanatic board for winging that was such poor construction (thin fiberglass directly over EPS core) that a guy managed to break the nose with his knee in a crash while winging. On another Fanatic FS board, I had multiple failures at the edge of a wood enforcement panel. I'd made the mistake of often placing my foot too far to the outside, next to where the wood panel ended. In my defense, that had never been an issue on an almost identical board (which, however, did not have a wood reinforcement panel). So the devil can be in the details.

Flikka

You would have to chuck Pete Ross's OES boards near the top of that list. The speed board he built me many, many, many years ago is still going strong and light as. The Atomicsurf boards he is building me are bullit proof. Ditto for Carbonart

Not sure I'd go with many of the comments here.

In my experience I have never broken any board, despite having a lot of them - or despite sailing a favourite board all the time in our windy season.
What I find is that some people break boards all the time, whilst others don't.
The same board breakers have been to 'custom' brands for their strongest layup, supposedly better than any production board, and yet they still have the same problems and those custom build boards last no longer, in their hands.

Just an observation.

Windtechs are solidly built.

This board lasted me 2weeks before it died.

Large void in foam, very thin layer of glass with looked like it had never touched resin. this wasn't in just one spot either

Doesn't matter what materials you put in it, if you don't wet out the glass properly.

Ben that's a SUP..?

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Mark _australia said..
Construction peaked around the mid 2000's I reckon, with double sandwich waveboards that lasted.

Agree with Mark, I have a JP Slalom Pro III (2007) that is as solid as a rock as well as pretty light. Model is 69 liters, I've done 3000 kms with it. Recently I have shortened the nose and I realized the skin is super strong, I think they used kevlar in it.

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Ben1973 said..
This board lasted me 2weeks before it died.

You should name the brand. Thats shoddy work. I'll asume it's not from a custom builder because typically they have enough pride in their work to try and do things properly but who would know.


I have heard stories of a particular brands boards creasing after little use and the warranty being rejected. Same brand you see boards coming up second hand that are being sold as creased.

How much control do the major brands have over quality at the cheap labour manufacturing places they use? If John Doe is having a bad day would he or she be able to throw out the script and cut corners and not care about the finished product? Is it deliberate by the brands in all cases to cut costs?

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Orange Whip said..
How much control do the major brands have over quality at the cheap labour manufacturing places they use? If John Doe is having a bad day would he or she be able to throw out the script and cut corners and not care about the finished product? Is it deliberate by the brands in all cases to cut costs?

I've had one if those boards. Obvious damage post lamination that was simply filled with putty then sent for paint.
I don't ever buy new boards but if I did it would be from a small manufacturer. When I buy used at least I can see if any obvious defects have shown themselves.

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Mark _australia said..
Doesn't matter what materials you put in it, if you don't wet out the glass properly.

Ben that's a SUP..?

Not a sup, a 150liter freeride board. After the fin box fell out due to not being glued in I cut in up and found a few areas like this.

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Ben1973 said..

Mark _australia said..
Doesn't matter what materials you put in it, if you don't wet out the glass properly.

Ben that's a SUP..?

Not a sup, a 150liter freeride board. After the fin box fell out due to not being glued in I cut in up and found a few areas like this.

You really need to name the brand. As a user group how are we supposed to get better built gear if the manufacturers aren't taken to task.

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Orange Whip said..
How much control do the major brands have over quality at the cheap labour manufacturing places they use? If John Doe is having a bad day would he or she be able to throw out the script and cut corners and not care about the finished product? Is it deliberate by the brands in all cases to cut costs?

I think thats somewhat the difference between custom and mass production.

to a custom builder, each board is a project, quality control is a big part of each build. To a worker doing a single part of a board build, with 20 more boards to do on their shift, not so much. I think the only control a brand has over quality control is how often they visit the factory, and QA from said factory, if they ask for it.

My preference is:
a) zero warranty
b) significant savings in weight
c) significant reduction in strength
d) significant reduction in cost

So a very fragile board, say 4kg for a 85L waveboard, price after discount about RRP$1500 (not RRP$3000+) and no warranty then I accept the risk with any issues.

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Subsonic said..
I think the only control a brand has over quality control is how often they visit the factory, and QA from said factory, if they ask for it.

Warranty risk transfers from the brand to the manufacturer, so it is their (eg Cobra's) interest to manufacture well without shortcuts.

There's a cool vid of Patrik smashing one of his AirInside boards. Tough as, he smashed it real hard with an extension til it broke. MAD!!! Then he sunk it. Jumped on it but it didn't sink. Weighed 150kg. Drained it the next video was the fix. Spears to be a good build. Prob pricey but his boards are keepers

The only problem with the airinside boards is were you to have a bad catapult on them there is next to no give on them so any potential injury is likely to be more severe.

In rough chop they sail a bit harsher than a conventional board if your technique is lacking or you are having a bad day trimming the board.

Overall they offer better performance and ive heard they never go soft but I am not convinced they are any sweeter to sail.

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BSN101 said..
There's a cool vid of Patrik smashing one of his AirInside boards. Tough as, he smashed it real hard with an extension til it broke. MAD!!! Then he sunk it. Jumped on it but it didn't sink. Weighed 150kg. Drained it the next video was the fix. Spears to be a good build. Prob pricey but his boards are keepers

Ep 3 -Does the AIRINSIDE board sink

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JakeNN said..

Subsonic said..
I think the only control a brand has over quality control is how often they visit the factory, and QA from said factory, if they ask for it.

Warranty risk transfers from the brand to the manufacturer, so it is their (eg Cobra's) interest to manufacture well without shortcuts.

Im sure that weighs quite heavily on the managers/upper management, even the person responsible for putting the the little QA sticker on.


the dude who's meant to blow the board down properly right before smoko, not so much.

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petermac33 said..
The only problem with the airinside boards is were you to have a bad catapult on them there is next to no give on them so any potential injury is likely to be more severe.

In rough chop they sail a bit harsher than a conventional board if your technique is lacking or you are having a bad day trimming the board.

Overall they offer better performance and ive heard they never go soft but I am not convinced they are any sweeter to sail.

I have spent a fair bit of time on the airinside boards Pete. They can be soft riding. The advantage is they can actually have areas of flex built in, ie nose section of bottom. Then incredibly stiff / power transfer around fin box. a huge amount of time has been put into the feel of the boards. It's not as simple as making everything as stiff as possible.