Surfing Waves

I've been spending some time trying to find a new board that would be durable for at least like 5 years. I mean like durable.. no ding, no pressure ding whatsoever for at least 5 years. So I've looked into like these carbon fiber board. Are they any good? Strong as superman? Stronger than an epoxy board? My budget is 1800$ right now, and I would like to make the most of my money spent well.
I just don't want to go with an idea buying a 3 board and dinging all of them. THe boards are like my friends!

with $1800 i can goto my shaper and get 4 custom made boards . To me that right away wins the race. Fair enough if you have a spare $1000 chugging around then yeah why not. But i couldnt justify that price knowing i can get at least 2/3 boards custom made for the same price.

I beleive in building a quiver so the more boards the better. so forking out so much on one board is like limiting yourself unless you already have a pretty decent quiver.

another thing is that as long as you treat your boards with care theres no reason why they wont last for years to come. At the end of the day pressure dings on the deck do nothing to the preformance of the board. Id go out and buy a carbon fibre board right now if i thought there was any real advantage to preformance.

I love my boards but i certaintly dont baby them. They are there to do a job and preform the function i want. I dont mind a few war wounds here and there

it's up to you, i would get a couple of custom made boards, maybe three, one for small waves, one average wave and on big wave board. i think the carbon fibre boards may be useful in the future but not enough shapers make them now which makes me wonder why? its up to you if you would like one why not give it a go? but i think i would get some custom made boards

THe thing about quiver is that, I don't have much space in my house. So I m basically stuck with one or two boards that are good for all around condition(big or small). So I m still guessing whether epoxy is the way to go?or carbon fiber? I don't know.. which will last longer??

Sorry but, I baby my board... they're like my sons!

well, both are strong but from what i've heard carbon fiber should last longer, however you can never tell. say you got a ding, how easy would it be to get it repaired on a carbon fiber?

Well if you only want to buy one board I would definately suggest a Firewire!
I rode my mates one whilst in Australia and not only was it a good board, but it was pretty durable. I think they're around US$800.

Good luck finding a board

firewire cost $1100 each here in aus, they are epoxy boards. With that much money, you should just go for 3-4 boards, they pretty much can last 5 years altogether one after another...

pkbum wrote:THe thing about quiver is that, I don't have much space in my house. So I m basically stuck with one or two boards that are good for all around condition(big or small). So I m still guessing whether epoxy is the way to go?or carbon fiber? I don't know.. which will last longer??

Sorry but, I baby my board... they're like my sons!

thats what the walls are for

Why not just buy just buy one custom then put money in trusty savings account ,then when your board gets damaged flog it and buy a new one EASY.

Carbon Fiber boards are know to split in half since they are molded and seamed in two pieces. If you ever see a deal on one, usually it was split in half and repaired. If you want a strongboard, usually the molded surftech boards are the strongest on the market. I personally seen a car run over one and nother really happen to it since it has no stringer.
Instead of worrying about dinging the board, just try to ride the board to the limits. Keep buying new boards, they were never meant to last forever.

HBsurfer4life wrote:Carbon Fiber boards are know to split in half since they are molded and seamed in two pieces. If you ever see a deal on one, usually it was split in half and repaired. If you want a strongboard, usually the molded surftech boards are the strongest on the market. I personally seen a car run over one and nother really happen to it since it has no stringer.
Instead of worrying about dinging the board, just try to ride the board to the limits. Keep buying new boards, they were never meant to last forever.

youve see na car role over an epoxy board and nothing happen to it?

Carbon Fibre also has very high tensil strength, but i don't know as it will be as "ding-resistant" as you are hoping. it will certainly make a strong stiff board, but my guess is that, while it might "last" longer than a regular board, it will probably succumb to roughly the same injuries... i suppose the other choice you have is to shape your own board, and then sheath it in CF... (one thing CF has going for it, absolutely nothing looks as cool as raw carbon cloth gleaming through a clear coat of epoxy! *wriggles in glee*) then you would save some expense, and get the strength and cool factor of carbon, and probably still be able to afford another "normal board or two... but, that may be more time consuming that you like...

my epoxy board just copped a blow on the bottom when some guy scrwed up cutback and had his board flying towards me, a direct puncture against my board with the nose and then rail of his board T_T

I have a really bad space problems in my place as well. One way to make sure you can get enough boards in your place is to hang them from the cieling with cords and also make some racks out of PVC or go and buy some. This way you can have 3-4 boards just hanging out on your wall out of the way. So far as the types of boards I would go for the 3-4 custom boards you could get with that money rather then just limit myself to 1 or so.

You can get a Sunova custom for about 1000 for a shortboard, but shipping would be alot. I've only heard good things about Sunova. I just got a coil construction from a shaper in central Florida and it is awesome. It was only around 600.

I have been surfing for 17 years and have ridden all sorts of shapes and new technologies. Here is my two cents if you want them: I am on my third Aviso carbon fiber board. Currently riding a 6'6" Doc. I love these boards more than anything I have ever ridden because they are twice as fast and twice as responsive as anything. I have a 9 board quiver. In it I have a couple of Tuflites. They are tough but not very flexible. Tend to lose all my power coming out of a roundhouse. I have a custom EPS semi-gun, gun and fish that I like a lot, but they are still doggish compared to the carbon fiber. I have a couple traditional glass boards which are nice to ride especially in chop, but still not as speedy.

The carbon fiber boards are kind of like ferraris, fast and light. So if you are in a place with a lot of chop you will feel it in your knees. When it is relatively clean you will fly. The boards also paddle really fast too. My home break is OB San Francisco and I ride my 6'6" up to DOH. The boards have different flex characteristics because they are hollow and have no stringer. The top flexes differently than the bottom. This generates speed out of cuts and snaps off the top and makes them very responsive.

They are great travel boards too. Bounced one off a rock in Mexico and nothing. Got drilled into the reef at Rocky Point in HI and still nothing. I have broken a couple though. One by landing a huge air on the backside of a wave - not too smart - would have broken anything. Another getting crushed in a 15 ft monster Fort Point SF wave.

As I hear it Tuflites and CF boards are too stiff. Hearsay, tho.

You should be able to get a good custom compsand style shortboard for around/under 1,000 depending on where you are.

No pressure dents. Highly ding resistant customs.

-doug
Compsand.com - The Composite Surfboard Cooperative!

JG wrote:I have been surfing for 17 years and have ridden all sorts of shapes and new technologies. Here is my two cents if you want them: I am on my third Aviso carbon fiber board. Currently riding a 6'6" Doc.

Is the 6'6" you're riding bat tail quad one? I m planning to buy that one...not quite sure... need some more advice...

dougirwin13 wrote:As I hear it Tuflites and CF boards are too stiff. Hearsay, tho.

TL is stiff, TL2 isn't. not sure about CF boards, but I've seen boards with only CF railings

Like I said, havent tried one yet

You've ridden one? How much flex is there?

CF rails seem a bit... Silly to me. That's where they are going to cause the most stiffness. CF is, by nature, a stiffener.

-doug