This is mainly for the backyarder, so which of you actually thought that building your own surfboard was going to be cheaper than just buying a new one? really lets face it how much money did you have to use up to get to close to a factory board finish? first board i did must have weight about 12 pounds… it was a 5’10" :), and it was one ugly mother****** After being adicted to surfboard building i just started thinking how much money ive used in tool, materials etc etc… still my board come up with imperfections but i am getting closer and closer to that point were i can compare them with factory finished boards. Dont get me wrong i dont regret one cent spent on any surfboard ive built, its somehow therapeutic for me, just my opinion for people thinking they are going to save money building a surfboard, just discard that notion and have fun with it, because really, you are just better of buying a second hand board or saving up for a new one if you really want to save some money!
Also if your riding really shit surfboards for 5 years whilst you get good at your hobby, if they are the only thing you ride, its going to hold your surfing back…depending on how you want to surf that is.
Amen brother
and then when you do finaly make a decent board , if it sells you maybe break even if your lucky
Ha,
Talking about this with my buddy the other day. Got into it for the same reason…along with wanting to experiment with weird designs that might not work well -that you don’t want to pay 800 bucks for off a shelf.
I’ve been pretty lucky I guess on selling each board I’ve made for atleast cost -even the first ones. Eesh…feel bad for that guy. I think I’ve spent most my money on upgrading tools as I’ve gone along. I should of known, it’s a lot like musical instruments. Just buy the solid stuff first, don’t buy the cheap crap because you’ll eventually just trade it up.
Right there with you though, glad I’ve gotten into it, a great hobby with endless options.
cheaper is the wrong reason. i got into it first of all because i weigh over 100kgs. short boards are like toothpicks for me and the only thing i can buy in a shop that will work is a mini mal. secondly i would like to thank all the big brands for making terrible quality boards which gave me no choice but to start building. the only people i would buy off would be some of the craftsmen such as Pavel, Mandala and so on. for me i have worked it out and i have more than tied even! i have designed, build and surfed my own, priceless lad.
I started building because I couldn’t afford to buy what I wanted. And sometimes I couldn’t even find what I thought I wanted. Bottom line: definitely not cheaper in terms of money but I’ve learned heaps (and have sooo much more to learn) about how boards work and that alone has been worth it… and I really like to work in my shop when the weather is lousy. Everything I have made I enjoy riding. It’s so rewarding to be out on my own gear.
Man I would have to say otherwise. I just built a 6’3" for about $240.00 and that’s with buying all supplies from a surf shop. Now I could go buy a new Channel Islands board for over $600 but I just choose to copy them as best I can if i want a board like that. At the price I just paid for my supplies I could make 3 boards for the price of just one C.I. board. I’ve only made about 60 boards in my life but after the first 10 or 15 I felt confident enough to sell all my other boards and begin riding only my own shapes. Over the last 6 years or so that I’ve been shaping I’m sure I’ve saved thousands of dollars by making my own boards. And when you break them it hurts much less to know the board can be replaced for around $250 instead of $600!
So in the short term you may loose some money, but if you stick with it by the time you nearing 10 - 15 boards you’ll not only be saving money your probably be making money. Now days I make a board, ride it for a few years, and then sell it for $250 to $300. Then I put that money into the next board. So I get to ride a board for 2 or 3 years basically for free. That’s worth not only money to me, but shaping experience and test pilot experience that can then be used on the next board I make.
BB
God knows I need therapy and considering the therapeutic effects of this hobby, I'd say I'm ahead of the game. Have you priced a therapist lately?
[quote="$1"]
God knows I need therapy and considering the therapeutic effects of this hobby, I'd say I'm ahead of the game. Have you priced a therapist lately?
[/quote]
Dirt bikes, mountain bikes, fast cars , classic cars , Jeeps , scuba , Boats, Gambling , fast women , ect.....Home improvements....Prom queens and chrushed dreams......
....building surfboards is a cheap hobbie...and very therapeutic.....
Stingray.......
You are right, building surfboards is pretty cheap once you compare them to other hobbies, specially women… that is one costly hobby and a bit of a headaches sometimes but heck its one of my favorite ones 
I’m around $225 in materials per board, not too bad. When I first started in 2000 it was around $100, blanks were $50 and resin was $18 a gallon. The thing that pisses me off is being on the east coast it’s hard to get a reasonably priced blank or resin, a $100 for a poly fish blank is ridiculous. Shipping costs now really add up too.
i still dont rip, even though i have 3 customs [all coils] and 5+ home made boards
how do i start to be a ripper ???
:)
well, just to say it is very true - you have to build plenty before you can really surf them well because your boards CAN
i recently made one that surfs REAL good, and still mistakes happened
it is very expensive making your own boards, time and money
but i just can't give it up, nor can i give up buying coils
im gonna have to go with Billy on this one
sure its not worth it if your only gonna build a few boards but the longer you stick with it and the more boards you build the cheaper it will be for you in the long run
now days it only costs me around 150 bucks when i do every thing myself so id say its worth it
I'm in a different situation from most - I definitely spend way less per board than buying new. The boards I build tend to be labor intensive, but not costly for materials. I probably pay about $40 per board to get to ready-to-glass stage, maybe less, since I try to use available scraps whenever possible.
One of the reasons I've gone to slower, more meticulous building methods, is that I can enjoy the building process longer before I get to the expensive glassing stage. Probably doesn't make sense to anyone else, but it works for me.
Big expense is epoxy resin and fiberglass. Glass I can buy in bulk sometimes, but resin I don't use fast enough, so its purchased on a per-board basis. Tools I had, mostly, but I did purchase a set of calipers from foam e-z.
I think I'm going to switch to 2 oz. glass for wood boards, since its a lot cheaper than the 6 oz. I've been using and which is probably overkill for a wood board anyway. The board below (at the bottom) was glassed with 6 oz. on the rails, and no glass top and bottom. Hasn't been ridden yet, so its still a pig in a poke, as it were.
“The boards I build tend to be labor intensive” I woudnt doubt that o.o, wow that is beautiful, i cant imagine myself building a Hollow board, (i would just kill myself waiting for the glue to dry…) plus that just looks to complicated for me, nonetheless that is a beautfil board!!. atleast for the shaping part i can get myself a shaped blank for 20$ “EPS” the real costly part for me is the epoxy and fiberglass, paying atleast 5-7$ for the yard and 100-150$ for a gallon of epoxy… thats just crazy, shipping cost just kills the price :S.
If you already have the tools and build your own racks you are already half way home. Starting with nothing puts you way behind the eight ball. And once you get good with epoxy you can equal the cost of polyester. So it comes down to your blank selection and any shipping. Luckily I can pick up and save a bundle. So for me it is significantly cheaper.
OP,
Some people have skill and some do not. Clearly there are people who are pissing away money building shitty boards. There are others who get professional results immediately. Money comes and money goes. If the person pissing away money making shitty boards is having fun building them and riding their creations nothing else matters.
As to actual cost I am making boards for $200 including tax apiece that are nearly identical to boards that are on the local shop racks for over $600 plus tax.
[quote="$1"] Money comes and money goes. If the person pissing away money making shitty boards is having fun building them and riding their creations nothing else matters. [/quote]
http://forum.surfermag.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=2278764&page=0&fpart=all&vc=1
Wow, now that i think about it my first board really wasnt that bad hahahaha !!! Well as long as he had fun its all cool, but i have to say it looks interesting i would surf it just for the heck of it haha !
I would never stop buying boards, because A) my shaping.glassing skills are very crap, and B) shapers know what they're doing, im just kinda guessing. I do still like to get in the shed with foam, glass and resin. Shit, its fun riding one of my own. Best board i had was a keel fish i made. The following few, while fun, weren't magic. Musta been a fluke, but oh well, im not upset, its all fun. Same as my beer, i don't do it to save money, i do it coz i brew beers i like. I can tell you, here in oz, there will never be a time when i'll be able to walk into a pub and order a pint of mild ale on a handpump, or a freakishly beautiful beer like Green Flash IIPA, so i have to make my own.