What's everyone's favorite board traction and why? Corduroy or diamond sheets? Stick on surf pads? rxpro hex? Other?
seems like Mystic, WFMG, OVHD and FCS all offer some sort of full deck pad.

anybody wing on a board with a waxed deck (no foam)? Does it get all over the wing?

just considering options for a new board. Ive really only had diamond sheets or corduroy sheets on my boards. Diamond can rip you up when starting but it's my go to now. I've slipped on corduroy too many times.

On my last SUPs I tried a mix of many pads, you can see my feedback on:
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/Hexatraction-or-Wax?page=1#2808807

In a nutshell, the best traction is the new thin one (2mm) by FCS... but expensive
- Hexatraction is nearly invisible.
- Wax mat has the best "wax" feel soft but direct traction, but is somewhat heavy if you are over-sensitive to weight (like me :-) )
- Slater designs pads are as good (2.5mm), even better grip than FCS, but can be hell to get out the packaging. It seems they use some alguae-based fim that can stick to the pad if stored improperly (heat) in the store.
- Gong pads provide one of the best value for the money (not used on these specific boards, but others), but as all 5mm pads, you do not have as direct a feel of the board as a 2mm pad. But 2mm pads are more tiring for long sessions (harder surface)
- The cheapest of the cheapest is just wet the deck with an ultra fin layer of epoxy and sprinkle some foam dust of sugar on it. But too much and it will destroy your skin and wetsuit, and it is not removable.

Surfdek is prob the best you can get but also most expensive. If it's for a board you are going to keep for a few years then it's well worth it and can get custom logos etc on it

I think the corduroy or flat brushed for stock boards sre great for the ability to layer on additional traction as needed(it's flat enough for another layer to stick on top). Wether prone or wing I like some rear foot arch support for comfort and extra front and rear traction to communicate foot placement mostly through texture - knowing that if my toes can feel the diamond tread I'm spot on. Prone I'll go so far as to strip out all the front traction EXCEPT for where my foot goes to make sure it doesn't end up in the wrong place on pop up.

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leepasty said..
Surfdek is prob the best you can get but also most expensive. If it's for a board you are going to keep for a few years then it's well worth it and can get custom logos etc on it

I've never heard of this option but it looks pretty nice. What's the difference between standard and pro? Are you affiliated w the company?

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colas said..
On my last SUPs I tried a mix of many pads, you can see my feedback on:
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Stand-Up-Paddle/SUP/Hexatraction-or-Wax?page=1#2808807

In a nutshell, the best traction is the new thin one (2mm) by FCS... but expensive
- Hexatraction is nearly invisible.
- Wax mat has the best "wax" feel soft but direct traction, but is somewhat heavy if you are over-sensitive to weight (like me :-) )
- Slater designs pads are as good (2.5mm), even better grip than FCS, but can be hell to get out the packaging. It seems they use some alguae-based fim that can stick to the pad if stored improperly (heat) in the store.
- Gong pads provide one of the best value for the money (not used on these specific boards, but others), but as all 5mm pads, you do not have as direct a feel of the board as a 2mm pad. But 2mm pads are more tiring for long sessions (harder surface)
- The cheapest of the cheapest is just wet the deck with an ultra fin layer of epoxy and sprinkle some foam dust of sugar on it. But too much and it will destroy your skin and wetsuit, and it is not removable.

Hey Colas just wondering if you have any views & experiences with certain pads etc regarding there water holding ability etc., I have found some can make a board quite heavy when wet & others dry quickly and do not appear wet at all?:-)

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Johndesu said..
Hey Colas just wondering if you have any views & experiences with certain pads etc regarding there water holding ability etc., I have found some can make a board quite heavy when wet & others dry quickly and do not appear wet at all?:-)

In my experience you want a pad with 2 features:

- the foam itself is closed cells. I think all modern pads are now closed cells.
Or the material is solid with no air in it (hexatraction, wax mat, ... all the thin clear grips)

- if the surface is sanded / cut / routed to create ridges / bumps / diamonds, the cells at the surface are opened up and water can cling to them. It is not a terrible weight overall, but if you want the water to slide away, look for pads where the surface is kind of melted / sealed. The ones I saw were the ones with dimples: the old FCS SUP ones, or the new "treadlite" ones such as:

www.surffcs.eu/collections/traction/products/fcs-kolohe-andino-teadlite-traction

As an update to this old thread, I wound up resurfacing one of my boards with Surfdek traction and it works great and looks amazing. It was a total b!tch to strip the old pad off and prep the board for the new pad. I may have been overly cautious, but I wanted it to stick well. It took hours of scrubbing with adhesive removers and scraping with a razor blade, but we eventually got there. In the end, I wish I had spaced the pad pieces a little closer to one another, but its a very minor issue.

I also stuck some traction pieces on TOP of the smooth deck pad on another board. These traction pieces serve as reference points given that I ride that board without straps and was having trouble finding my sweet spots. I added a pro-lite tail pad that I LOVE. It is super thin and super grippy. Also added a few strips of gridded traction where the arch of my front foot would go. All of the traction was backed with peel and stick 3m adhesive and they stuck to the smooth pad with no issues and have held well.