I just opened up a (wing) board that had soaked up a liter of water over time. A bit to my surprise, I discovered that the EVA had been glued directly on top of the wood veneer, without any fiberglass in between. For most, but not all, of the wood, there was just a thing layer of paint in between. One area had no paint (and had been marked up at the factory).

I also discovered a couple of holes right at the side of the EVA that where probably the ingress points for the water. Still, this made me wonder if the wood they use is treated so that it would be water tight, or if the wood would possibly soak up water that gets under the EVA?

Nope on most boards they are relying on the thin layer of resin over the wood from the vac or moulding process. It should have glass over, but doesnt.
Then factory workers sand it, and sometimes too much.

If there is raw wood i would say warranty as it will soak up water.

Just seen wayyyyy worse dodginess in a board i just opened up. The mass produced sh!t really irks me. Keeps me employed and busy though huh

Instead of others, Pawlonia wood seems to not "drink" water with reduced strengh. The standard 0,6mm wood will not suck litres of water, you will see before. A fiberglass epoxy skin to protect wood from puncture and water is the key of modern boat wood build, it's amazing mass produced don't do it ! On other hand they forgot resin sometines so...
Stop buying this ****! Give your money to a local shaper that will take care of you!

Select to expand quote

lemat said.
Stop buying this ****! Give your money to a local shaper that will take care of you!

Getting a bit off topic but couldn't agree more. We have some talented shapers who wouldn't sacrifice quality!!
Go looking and support them

Select to expand quote

lemat said..
Instead of others, Pawlonia wood seems to not "drink" water with reduced strengh. The standard 0,6mm wood will not suck litres of water, you will see before. A fiberglass epoxy skin to protect wood from puncture and water is the key of modern boat wood build, it's amazing mass produced don't do it ! On other hand they forgot resin sometines so...
Stop buying this ****! Give your money to a local shaper that will take care of you!

Yes.... but.....
any wood will draw water in if there is no resin over top or a break in the top layer. Pawlonia may be better then some, but it will still suck some water.
And the mechanical properties of pawlonia are not quite as good as some like pine.

I know I am splitting hairs, but don't want people to run out buying pawlonia boards thinking they can mistreat them.
Done right, wood laminate can make a really tough board, unfortunately I think most companies do it to meet some Eco target to get 0.01% back from the Government or some crap and they do it wrong.

Agree with the local build - yes!

Yes pawlonia is a light wood with law mechanical stengh from what i have it's a bit like ayou (obeche). But when it take water, seems not propagte in and keep some mechanical properties but as with all wood not good idea to let suck water. Personaly i use know only local wood: fr?ne blanc fran?ais (french white ash), around 600kg/m3 density, realy though wood use for tool handle, ski core etc... well protected of water work nice.

Looks great Lemat

Select to expand quote

lemat said..
Give your money to a local shaper that will take care of you!

I'm on the US East Coast. I know where I can get CNC'd blanks (if I want to pay a few hundred dollars for shipping), but I don't know about any local shapers. I've also owned a couple of dozen "big brand" windsurf boards, and the vast majority of them never gave me any serious problems. The one exception where I folded a board in shore break I would blame on marketing rather than manufacturing - the manufacturing was standard, but the board was over-marketed, and really was not built for wave sailing at all. I have built a total of three wing boards myself, but make mistakes due to lack of experience, and have limited time and space for building. I mostly build them because we wanted something that was either not available, or way over-priced and/or of questionable quality.

Starboard didn't put any glass on their board-deck, only varnish I think, or possibly resin. It seems too hold up fine to me, but one has to be careful when there is any damage to the surface protection layer. I usually try to soak in some thin epoxy in cracks and use glass cloth if the wood is damaged.

Here is what an EVO-wood looks like after 20 years of use (the picture was take this Sunday):

I use wood (UD) as a layer of composit, like other fibe+resin layer, with good strengh by weight against buckling great toughness an dampening. But need to be protected from water = over: a puncture resistant layer over, for me best should be 0/90? Sglass+real seal coat and under: a sealed foam with structural multiaxial fiber support layer.

Most problems i see with mass production is fiability.
I don't doubt cobra know how to build well but like for everyone it's difficult for us when you must do a lot fast and cheap. At their doorstep they sell surfboard half price i paid materials ! When you see price tagged at local surfshop... it let me time to perfected my rails shape and to chase bubbles in lam LOL.