travelling w/ a longboard

[tkane2000]

so i'm doing a 2 wk trip to nicaragua and costa rica and was planning on bringing my longboard (9' 4"), but am not looking forward to lugging it around or paying for shipping, etc.

few questions:
- is it possible to travel by bus or cab or should i just bite the bullet and rent a car?
- is it worth spending a fortune on a wheely bag?
- should i just rent a board instead?
- what's the best packaging anti-ding technique?

any advice or interesting stories would be great.

thanks!

[Surfergirl15]

I need to know the best anti-ding way to transport a board too. When I move I HAVE to let the movers pack my board in thier truck so I need to know the best thing to wrap it in...... bubble wrap anyone???. Sorry I couldnt answer your question

[Driftingalong]

Sorry to tkane2000 I can't really help you, I've yet to travel outside the country.

Surfergirl15
Get a padded day bag for your board if you can. You should probably be using one already for traveling to the beach. If you can move with it on you car, and it has to go in the truck. Try the bubble wrap and stuff the bag with beach towels; making sure to get padding all around the rails, nose, tail, deck and bottom. (Take off the fin/s if you can)

[Surfergirl15]

Thanks!! And yes I have a bag and the fins can be removed

[caverock]

I have not travelled to Costa Rica. I have heard that it is about $10 a day to rent a nice board. Sometimes the airlines charge between $70 to $120 for a board. One guy I know who regularly goes there advised me to rent boards. Most of the surf camps supply boards but I don't know how good they are.

I have flown to South Africa and back with three shortboards. No extra charge on SA Airways. However the boards did get several pressure dings although they were well padded inside soft bags. Expect them to get thrown around by the handlers! Next time I think I will take epoxy boards with removable fins inside a hard case. The surf in SA is awesome and its just nice to have boards you are familiar with.

[borneng]

I used this method to protect my board during transit to Bali last February and it does the job (I put it into my boarbag after as well)

http://www.perfectwave.com/packing_tips.html

tkane2000, sorry it's kind of a late reply.

[tkane2000]

ok, we've decided against bringing our boards. ...dont' want the hassle of taking them on the bus and we couldn't find a way to take a rental car from nicaragua to Costa rica. (we're flying into nic and out of CR). oh well, i think we'll save a lot of money this way and taking the bus seems to be the way to go. just hope we dont' have to ride bics, or even worse soft tops (might just body surf if that's the case!)

as far as packing goes, the technic on that site works pretty well for the edges, but i'd definitely want some more padding for the bottom of the board and maybe the top as well. ...although, when i went to PR, i got dings on the rail...probably from them carrying it and dropping it hard...might just have to double up padding on the rail which is on the opposite side of the bag handle, cuz they'll use the handle and drop it on that rail.

another issue is keeping it light as possible...cardboard is not a good option there.

...probably want to use a decent travel bag or even a coffin in conjunction w/ this. ...check online, sometimes there's good deals.

[borneng]

Actually, the strips of the insulation foam on both side of the deck acts as extra cushion for the board when it is put into a boardbag (I used 10mm travel bag) and it provides air gaps that's identical to the bubble wrap effect. Only it is more sturdy than bubble wrap as it will not burst. Also since the board becomes slightly larger, this makes the boardbag becomes almost tight fit, which leaves very little room for the board to move around in the bag during transit. I even test press the boardbag to see if I can feel the deck of the board and I failed. As for maintaining light weight, the foam strips are very light (weight next to nothing) and are reusable for return trip. But try to use one of those all purpose silver coloured duck tape so that you won't damage the foams when unpacking (these foams are pretty cheap but you might not find them in every countires especially tropical ones). Coffin bags are good, but don't forget they are also heavier than normal travel bags.