Eva Hollman (aka The Boardlady) rocks. Here is a recent addition to her website comparing Boardworks to Surftech. Note improvement in finbox support on recent Boardworks model and different rail wrap methods used by each…
Very informative pictures. I can’t understand why Boardworks leaves the rails so vulnerable to injury by not doing a full wrap.
They also have some issues with the overall surface quality of their boards. I’ve seen some wavey surfaces on brand new boards still on the racks in surfshops.
Hopefully they can make the adjustments. The secret’s out. Doug
Hi Doug -
Aren’t there supposed to be partial stringers in Boardworks? When I opened the link, that was the first thing I looked for. I just told somebody that from what I gathered, Boardworks might be superior based on the partial stringers they add.
" can’t understand why Boardworks leaves the rails so vulnerable to injury by not doing a full wrap"
They lack the alledged 25 year old technology to do so. The surftech tooling allows for exact everything. The skills and know how of Randy French goes well beyond the “board room” and advertising pages of magazines. He actually knows how to build boards.
Why do you never see vent plugs on surftechs and boardworks with that super low density foam??? Could the BW waves be delams on the aircraft shipped boards??
There is no competitive comparison.Boardworks are severally inferior.Herb
John, I don’t know about the internal stringers in Boardworks products. My first-hand observations have been confined to looking at the finished boards either at the beach or in surfshops.
They make one particular model that is fairly new: introduced in 2006, that has some wild surface undulations that are very obvious when viewed from a low angle. I’m surprised that a company that distributes internationally would let that kind of quality on the market. Bad PR. Doug
There was a recent thread with pics of the process.
http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=294710;search_string=boardworks;#294710
Interestingly, links to Boardworks website(s) are not working… looks like maybe they forgot to pay rent and had their domain name highjacked.
Quote:
They lack the alledged 25 year old technology to do so. The surftech tooling allows for exact everything. The skills and know how of Randy French goes well beyond the “board room” and advertising pages of magazines. He actually knows how to build boards.
This part is actually true. The guy that owns Boardworks name is Craig and he lives in Louisiana and does not surf. The strangest part in the comparison for me is those I know that have owned both claim the boardworks ride better. Maybe it’s just the model. No doubt the quality is on the side of Surftech and the fact that R.F. actually built surfboards for a living gives him an edge. Most of the boardworks I have seen have zipper cracks along the edges.
The main reason they are appealing to some Shapers is they allow the shaper to buy the mold and get the boards at pre wholesale cost. This allows them to double their money…or…sell them to shops and make a retail price. If you look at some of the shop owners that put their names on them…they are buying something like a 6’6’’ for $230.00 and retailing them for close to $600.00 if not over. Otherwise…I doubt Boardworks would still be in business.
The 9’1" bonga model is twisted and knowingly been built that way from the begining, so much for shaper -rider pride. Show me the Money board building.
my friend paid $800 for a new surftech.snapped in half by a wave a few days ago-ouch!
Where did this happen? Can we see the pieces???
When paddling back out in huge surf the hard lesson to learn is keeping your composure, timing your dive and if having to aboandon your board to maake sure it is not perpendicular to the oncoming wave.
I recommend to your friend to bring it back for replacement.
I would like to know more details though. Does your frined post here? It is not an imaginary friend is it?
if he bought it w/in the last 90 days, credit card insurance might pay for a replacement.
and yes…definitely post pics. i love seeing popouts in pieces.
I used to repair lots of Surftech, Boardwork, Southpoint and various sailboards (Naish,JP,Star), all out of the same factory with exception of Boardworks I believe. I saw several snaps all of wich were Surftechs.
We do lots of epoxy repairs , especially back in the day everyone was afraid of epoxy. I figure you send out 80,000 boards per year you will certainly see some dings and breakage.
Now pu\pe boards that break support many in the industry who totally make a living on those repairs. They even advertise in the yellow pages so business must be good.
I have owned 4 surftech shortboards, 6’4" to 7’2 Egg. I just never warmed to the ride. IN certain situations they seemed to work very well, particularly when throwing weight into a turn, in other situations the sucked - for my style (or lack of). I never had any quality issues with them.(Including when the tail of my JC was eaten by the dog!)
I have ridden a Boardworks Walden magic model 9’6" for about 4 years. It rides really well, I like the flex pattern. The Flex pattern in the Surftechs was something I did not like. They didn’t respond to delicate user input. This may be a function of superior rail (stiffer)construction mentioned. The Boardworks has had many rail cracks, right through to the foam - but I would never get rid of it, it rides great in any size. I have used it as protection against rocks in sketchy exits with minimal damage compared to a PU/PE. It seems all the problems occur around the rails.
I also bought a chinese epoxy/eps 6’2" rocket fish (min fang factory) for one of my kids. I rode it all summer, It rides amazingly well, I can throw it around in small waves like no other board (with expensive FCS H2 fins) and despite a summer of abuse there is not a mark on it. Great board, dirt cheap and solid construction.
I think the industry has matured beyond the Surftech/Boardworks discussion.
My local surfshop now has clones(exact) of surftechs (Wombat & fish) for half the price. It’ll be interesting to see how they last.
I have a Boardworks Hynson twinzer fish that I accidentally swung into a vintage Weber I have hanging from the ceiling in my garage. They struck rail to rail. The Weber sustained a crack in the rail, the Hynson has no visible damage; nothing to denote an impact at all. My understanding from their website was that the rails were wrapped and made stronger as a result.
Randy French never responded to my former post, but I’ll say this,they would make a great travel board(s).Herb
My post simply mean’t the following: anyone who thinks Surftech, Southpointe or Boardworks are ding-proof or unsnappable are full of shit. As far as polyester goes; I don’t do snaps in the Hawaiian Islands. I used to do them in Calif. but only with stringers. My comments were not mean’t to provoke a poly vs. epoxy debate. I don’t have a yellow page ad and your skin is too thin.
I wasn’t implying anything of the such.
Never ever said a surftech is ding proof or unsnapple. To compare a surftech to a boardworks and south point is totally bogus, apples and oranges when considering durability. So my only conclusion was that you were comparing epoxy molded boards to pupe.
Didn’t suspect you had a yellow page ad cuz they are expensive and effective for business. You don’t seem to be the type to be that smart.
Even Toyota’s get into fender benders and sometimes even get totaled.
In the durability contest epoxy wins and of the molded epoxy surftech wins.
Ever see the randy french 2 x 4 test on a surftech verses a pupe?? pretty impressive stuff.
I am not thin skinned. Though my skin has never been sensitized to epoxy resin because I know how to use it. I am however allergic to ignorance and I get a big rash after reading your posts.
Howzit OTAY, I have a question about the 2x4 thing, does Randy hit the board with the 2x4 on it’s edge or ram it on end like Velsy did to the Duane board back in the 60’s at the Santa Monica Surf expo. When he rammed on end, it went right through the deck and he said “what a piece of s&#t”.Aloha,Kokua