This will definitely be the last Cobra built board. The tail starting to open up due to very poor layup or shoddy workmanship. I drained a cup of water out of it. This is a 2018 model board, one would expect better for the ?? a outlayed.

Have you looked , could be drugs inside .

Maybe thats the reason the deck has started to delaminate.

Looks like a problem caused by the user.

Clearly some impacts there.

Don't know .... looks more like the tail got knocked. A hairline fracture is enough for a board to slowly suck in water. Especially when it's really hot or cold.

Finally. I've had heaps of arguments re: The fabulous, brilliance & prestige of Cobra built boards.

They're a crock of crap budget built boards, that are getting worse each coming year.

I'll get slammed by some of you no doubt!

Flakey paint, poor thin areas where thicker areas are necessary, poor quality compared to many boards of yesteryear. Corners, edges of rails, etc where extra strength is needed.

I get hammered by some of you so be it!

But most guys want light boards & that's what you'll get light on virtually everything?


That's the compromise, you can't have it all. Lighter boards = lighter materials & the skimping of the added strength where it's needed.

Still got a Mistral, pre mid 90's. Will no doubt out last many of the Cobra units, HANDS DOWN!

I've had one starboard 3dx where they had forgot to add the resign so it fell apart and another one which has been brilliant, guess quality control is a bit lax.
Also had a fin box fall out of a fox so I guess everyone has an off day

Just had a look at the board . It's a dodgy build . The whole area is just bog . It all just crumbled when poked with a knife . No glass in the area . It's like it got sanded through at birth , then bogged and painted over . Bog can hide a lot of stuff . Shame on you Cobra. Eco friendly my ass when a board doesn't last ! The board has sucked in a lot of water because of this and is delaminating . It's a sad day

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nbr said..
This will definitely be the last Cobra built board. The tail starting to open up due to very poor layup or shoddy workmanship. I drained a cup of water out of it. This is a 2018 model board, one would expect better for the ?? a outlayed.

Nigel I gave up on them years ago, had a couple bad experiences, the last one the importer told me 18 months was normal life for my weight and sailing conditions. I had a great board out Vietnam and the last 14 years only boards from New Zealand, Carbon Art.

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redrabbitz said..
That's the compromise, you can't have it all. Lighter boards = lighter materials & the skimping of the added strength where it's needed.

Would much prefer lighter builds with lighter weight and less strength .. happy to pay a premium also for that.

I'm happy to accept the risk and won't complain about wanting a strong board to last 10 years.

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redrabbitz said..
Finally. I've had heaps of arguments re: The fabulous, brilliance & prestige of Cobra built boards.

They're a crock of crap budget built boards, that are getting worse each coming year.

I'll get slammed by some of you no doubt!

Flakey paint, poor thin areas where thicker areas are necessary, poor quality compared to many boards of yesteryear. Corners, edges of rails, etc where extra strength is needed.

I get hammered by some of you so be it!

But most guys want light boards & that's what you'll get light on virtually everything?


That's the compromise, you can't have it all. Lighter boards = lighter materials & the skimping of the added strength where it's needed.

Still got a Mistral, pre mid 90's. Will no doubt out last many of the Cobra units, HANDS DOWN!

Wont get slammed or hammered by me Rabbit.

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Imax1 said..
No glass in the area . It's like it got sanded through at birth , then bogged and painted over . Bog can hide a lot of stuff . Shame on you Cobra.

Not sure if's fair to put the blame on Cobra .. what do you think happens when boards are damaged in transit? A quick sneaky repair by the distributor/retailer then move on with a new board.

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firiebob said..

nbr said..
This will definitely be the last Cobra built board. The tail starting to open up due to very poor layup or shoddy workmanship. I drained a cup of water out of it. This is a 2018 model board, one would expect better for the ?? a outlayed.

Nigel I gave up on them years ago, had a couple bad experiences, the last one the importer told me 18 months was normal life for my weight and sailing conditions. I had a great board out Vietnam and the last 14 years only boards from New Zealand, Carbon Art.

Hi Bob, James is building me a 66 wide Martin Love designed board at the moment as my other board of that size is also falling apart.l see Future Fly are building their boards in Vietnam.

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JakeNN said..

Imax1 said..
No glass in the area . It's like it got sanded through at birth , then bogged and painted over . Bog can hide a lot of stuff . Shame on you Cobra.

Not sure if's fair to put the blame on Cobra .. what do you think happens when boards are damaged in transit? A quick sneaky repair by the distributor/retailer then move on with a new board.

To me it looks like it was built this way , not a repair .
Id blame this one on Cobra .
Id also accept hammering from Cobra lovers .
I understand that some people want to save weight at the expense of long life and accept light construction when buying a pro construction model . I don't accept dodgy craftsmanship as part of buying a lightweight construction board . Especially when the premium cost does not justify the cost of the premium materials used .
Not long ago most board damage came from crashing and bashing. I see more issues lately from what I would expect as normal use . Soft spots , delaminating in front of foot straps is a pandemic on newer boards. It seems newer boards die from delaminating way before they get smashed up .
I used to buy older boards , spruce them up and sell for a profit . Apart from fixed dings they were structurally sound . Couldn't do that nowadays .

Get Mark at Moz Customs in Geraldton to make you a board. Australian made, excellent hand crafted care & cheaper than a production cobra board made exactly to your specifications.

Have to agree that QC is not their strong suit. See my recent post on tail leak in dyno. Luckily for me it was only a few mil, not a cup like the OP. But that's beside the point. Not good enough for a not yet two year old board that has had normal use and zero abuse.

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JakeNN said..

redrabbitz said..
That's the compromise, you can't have it all. Lighter boards = lighter materials & the skimping of the added strength where it's needed.

Would much prefer lighter builds with lighter weight and less strength .. happy to pay a premium also for that.

I'm happy to accept the risk and won't complain about wanting a strong board to last 10 years.

Good luck with 10yrs. Unless you hang it on a wall for 10 yrs & don't use it. It'll still crumble away. Look at that photo it says it all. Lucky if it's 1mm & doubt that it is 1mm.

May as well make paper mashee' boards in the future. Use them once & watch them dissolve in the water.

I was told a trade secret by a well known source. It's the marketing speel, glossy brochures, the this the that, & how to target the masses with the hype from a few well known paid high achievers fraternity.

No different to getting arses in seats in the car trade, monthly sales targets of who's outdoing who for the yearly annual report.


Blah blah blah....& So it goes on.

10yrs not a chance, realistically 2-3 if you're lucky & don't use it frequently.


Forgot to mention the inflatables....

F. F. S.!

Chinwag over.

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redrabbitz said..
Finally. I've had heaps of arguments re: The fabulous, brilliance & prestige of Cobra built boards.

They're a crock of crap budget built boards, that are getting worse each coming year.

I'll get slammed by some of you no doubt!

Flakey paint, poor thin areas where thicker areas are necessary, poor quality compared to many boards of yesteryear. Corners, edges of rails, etc where extra strength is needed.

I get hammered by some of you so be it!

But most guys want light boards & that's what you'll get light on virtually everything?


That's the compromise, you can't have it all. Lighter boards = lighter materials & the skimping of the added strength where it's needed.

Still got a Mistral, pre mid 90's. Will no doubt out last many of the Cobra units, HANDS DOWN!

And I've got a model T ford.

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nbr said..

firiebob said..

nbr said..
This will definitely be the last Cobra built board. The tail starting to open up due to very poor layup or shoddy workmanship. I drained a cup of water out of it. This is a 2018 model board, one would expect better for the ?? a outlayed.

Nigel I gave up on them years ago, had a couple bad experiences, the last one the importer told me 18 months was normal life for my weight and sailing conditions. I had a great board out Vietnam and the last 14 years only boards from New Zealand, Carbon Art.

Hi Bob, James is building me a 66 wide Martin Love designed board at the moment as my other board of that size is also falling apart.l see Future Fly are building their boards in Vietnam.

Great board the 66. Loved it at LG and James builds beautiful strong stuff.

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Flying Dutchman said..
Customs ... made exactly to your specifications.

That's the problem .. I would rather a board that has been refined, tested and selected by world's leading pros as the best design to use as the template for my production board.

Does not Cobra build as a service provider to the lay up and other specifications of the brand (or badge engineered manufacturer) ? It is easy to blame the service provider but surely brands have some specifications to which the service provider will meet. What is the brand and the board ? Layup ? Specifications ?

Just ordered a custom board from www.facebook.com/cratercomposites
A Martin Love design , Fusion 64 with strenghtened nose , rails and deck. Tired of production boards getting destroyed by only looking at a rock or mast.....

La pussy K'ato.

Is ya "T" Ford a goer? Or a lost interest project? Plenty of them around.

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RichardG said..
Does not Cobra build as a service provider to the lay up and other specifications of the brand (or badge engineered manufacturer) ? It is easy to blame the service provider but surely brands have some specifications to which the service provider will meet. What is the brand and the board ? Layup ? Specifications ?

True.

Serious Question.
How long should a board last? What is acceptable?
85kg rider 100 hours / year = 3 years?
100 kg rider one summer in Maui?
Or does everyone expect a chunk of eps to last for 10 years?

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AUS4 said..

RichardG said..
Does not Cobra build as a service provider to the lay up and other specifications of the brand (or badge engineered manufacturer) ? It is easy to blame the service provider but surely brands have some specifications to which the service provider will meet. What is the brand and the board ? Layup ? Specifications ?

True.

But you have to remember , Cobra doesn't make JP boards because they are the best , it's because they are the cheapest for an acceptable product . It's JPs specification on layup and build process but they can't check quality control on all stages on every board , and if Cobra can get away with bogging over a dodgy build , they will . They are pumping boards out by the hundreds , every day . Time is money and every minute matters . There is not a windsurfing enthusiast painstakingly with a small sanding block getting things perfect . It's more like an underpaid worker with a large sanding machine hooking into it while getting yelled at to go faster . Then the bog guys cover everything up and the painters make it look pretty .
You may get a perfect one or one like above .
Ps . When I gouged out the bog there was a gap of 3mm along the back , from edge to edge , where the top and bottom of the board wasn't joined . During the build , someone would have known of this and just bogged it up .

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DarrylG said..
Serious Question.
How long should a board last? What is acceptable?
85kg rider 100 hours / year = 3 years?
100 kg rider one summer in Maui?
Or does everyone expect a chunk of eps to last for 10 years?

Good question .
I would hope it lasts as long as the brand has designed it to. Not for it to fail because it was a dodgy built one .
I wouldn't expect a board to last 10 years but have seen many well built ones that are old and solid and seen a lot of use , so it can be done.

I have a old s type starboard, wood version 2012 or 13 l think.Still in one piece no delam or soft spots, chiped in places.l must of got a good one.

I've got a Kode from 2008 or 2009. Wood construction, solid as the day it came out the factory.

Replaced the pads a couple of times and re-gripped the deck a few times.

Looking kinda worn and faded, but solid.

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Imax1 said..

AUS4 said..

RichardG said..
Does not Cobra build as a service provider to the lay up and other specifications of the brand (or badge engineered manufacturer) ? It is easy to blame the service provider but surely brands have some specifications to which the service provider will meet. What is the brand and the board ? Layup ? Specifications ?

True.

But you have to remember , Cobra doesn't make JP boards because they are the best , it's because they are the cheapest for an acceptable product . It's JPs specification on layup and build process but they can't check quality control on all stages on every board , and if Cobra can get away with bogging over a dodgy build , they will . They are pumping boards out by the hundreds , every day . Time is money and every minute matters . There is not a windsurfing enthusiast painstakingly with a small sanding block getting things perfect . It's more like an underpaid worker with a large sanding machine hooking into it while getting yelled at to go faster . Then the bog guys cover everything up and the painters make it look pretty .
You may get a perfect one or one like above .
Ps . When I gouged out the bog there was a gap of 3mm along the back , from edge to edge , where the top and bottom of the board wasn't joined . During the build , someone would have known of this and just bogged it up .

JP should be approached on this. Why not bag JP rather than Cobra ? Suggest you open up another thread and bag JP. Surely they are responsible as branded manufacturer, and I see you are making assumptions here on the factual basis of the matter but if there is a defect by way of error or omission in the performance by Cobra of the specification that can be sorted out between JP and Cobra. QA/QC may vary depending on the requirements of JP too.

Here's the secret to preventing this happening to you. Go and get a M-F job. That way your gear will never see enough water time to fail. Geez, I've got a trailer load of cobra built boards. They all look awesome.