I live in South Carolina, occasionally travel to NC and Florida to surf, and may try to get out to Costa Rica sometime in the next year or 2 as well. I’m 32, weigh 165lbs., and currently use a 6’2" x 21" fish in waist to 2-3 foot overhead waves (in the rare case that happens), in glass to windchop with pretty good success. I have a day job that is flexible, am lucky enough to have a wife that will let me out whenever there is surf, I’m not a weekend warrior, been surfing for 18 years, but I’m not pulling off aerials on every wave either (my surfing heroes are still guys like Tom Curren and Occy). I don’t see me needing a more performance oriented shape as I won’t be travelling to reef or otherwise faster breaks that would cause this board to get too squirrely for comfort. However, I could probably go a little shorter and narrower (5’10"-6’1" x 20" wide max).
This is the first polyester short(er)board I’ve owned in a long time and I’m noticing pressure dings and superficial cracks a lot quicker than I remember 20 pounds and 10 years ago. It is a 6+4 oz on top and either 6 or 4 on bottom (pressure dings are mostly on top, with some watertight wear and tear cracks on the rails and deck). I’ve really liked the epoxy boards I’ve owned in terms of their durability and weight, but have never had a real serious ding and have never tried any of the composite epoxy surftech shapes. After our latest swell, I saw a 5’10" Xanadu surftech in one of the local shops and can’t seem to get it off my mind. Looks like exactly what I’d like to have in terms of shape, volume, durability and lightness, but I’m hesitant to lay down the cash for a few reasons, and want to get feedback from you guys on your opinions.
How do the surftechs hold up to wear and tear compared to a polyster or epoxy board? Given that they are used in the kind of conditions I described above, what is the expected lifespan? If I buy a surftech and like the shape, will I still be replacing it a year from now before it loses it’s liveliness?
I also windsurf and have had a few EPS sandwich-style boards that have done well for me. However, most come with pressure screws to allow the board to better expand and contract with heat to avoid delamination and better maintain the hull’s integrity. Windsurfers have also moved to heavier use of carbon. While that makes them light, stiff, and able to withstand impacts due to hard landings and other blunt impacts, they are super brittle and don’t handle sharp or direct impacts. I don’t think these boards are as brittle, but they don’t have pressure screws either. How does this play out on the overall life of the board?
The surftech boards are supposed to be pretty stiff, which can be good and bad. Since I’m not hesitant to go out in Victory at Sea style chop, is all that stiffness going to beat me to death? Am I better off on polyester?
(This is the biggie…) We have a local shaper in town that makes great boards that will do exactly what I want them to do (made the board I have now). I have never placed a custom order with him, but that would be the alternative to buying that Xanadu Surftech. I could probably get a custom polyester board for about $150 less than I’d pay for the Surftech, and it would be a great board for my style of surfing and the places where I surf. I prefer to support my local guy, but I don’t think he works with epoxy (which I prefer). If I do use him, what are your suggestions for ordering the lightest board possible that will last at least a couple of years and not come out looking like the surface of the moon?
Based on all that, for the best value, is it a smarter idea to lay down the cash now and get the surftech that I’m assuming will last me longer than a local shaper’s board, or buy one or more of the local shaper’s boards over the next 2 to 3 years? (Pay now or pay later?)
Just my opinion…again,just my opinion…after skimming all that typing(I may have missed something…) I would go with a local shaper and a more sturdy glass job. It will last as long if not longer and be a better board overall. I hate surftechs/boardworks pop-outs…love hand shaped boards. Will you be able to tell the pound or two difference in the glass jobs(lighter vs heavier…)?? Doubtful…and it will last longer,which is what you want. Surfing costs money…get what you WANT and have fun…peace and waves…
*oh yeah, you could always make your own…and get EXACTLY what you want…
Wavecrazed, I live in Fl so I surf very similar conditions to you and weigh 160 and surf a similar sized board, 6’0 x 19.75 x 2.25 swallow tail. I’ve been getting my boards with a supergreen blank and 6-6-6 glass jobs and they have stood up to much abuse. Just got a new one shaped and my last one lasted over a year, and although it had some serious pressure dings under my feet, it was still water tight with no dings and had more life left in it. I prefer local shapers especially on the east coast because they have a lot of little tricks for making boards work well in small weak windswell.
I have ridden the exact same shape with an ultralight blank and triple 4 glass and it was a little more responsive but after one session I had put some serious dents in it and I don’t think it would’ve lasted me for more than a few months. For the little extra weight I’m very happy with the extended life of my boards.
Just a sidenote, the glassing factory my shaper uses glasses with UV resin and it has helped with the durability of my boards also.
Have you considered asking your shaper to look into epoxy? Greg Loehr has posted a ton of info here. If he can use poly, he can use epoxy. He can use the same foam he’s been using. Also, for a steeper price, there are some cloth upgrades he can do. “S” cloth, carbon, hybrids, etc are widely available and will hold up better at the same, or less, weight.
That’s all good information, and I’m going to talk to the shaper in the next couple of days (hopefully).
It seems that may be a better deal than going for the Surftech shape. I know they get on here every now and then, so they should know about the best strenght to weight ratios.
I’m still curious as to what, other than massive trauma, kills the surftech boards. Sunlight? Heat? I figure there has to be a weakness other than the fact they can’t really be custom ordered from the local guy.
a well made sandwich board is the best money can buy…
that being the case , i cant personally vouch for surftechs…
plus your still gonna want the shape to match… my strongest recomendation is get a custom sandwich board …
doesnt seem like the technology is to readily available in the american surfboard industry yet…
i dont recomend either of the choices you put up …
but if the surfer was me and i had to buy a board with my own money , knowing what i know about both contruction techniques , id buy a surftech if they were my only choices…
Oceans23, I was having a problem with my boards delaming under my front foot after they had gotten sufficient enough pressure dings from usage. After the glasser switched to UV resin this was no longer an issue, all other things being equal (blank density, glass schedule, board shape). That was my personal observation, may have been a bad choice of words to describe it. I haven’t tried an epoxy board yet (either EPS or Poly blank). Seeing as Resin Research is next door to where my boards are currently being glassed there’s really no reason why I shouldn’t try it. My shaper has gotten a couple Clark blanks glassed over there with S glass and one with Carbon that turned out quite nicely. Haven’t heard the feedback from the riders yet though on how they are holding up. I know a lot of guys who swear by custom epoxy boards, but I just haven’t gotten around to getting one yet.
I would think a cheap, strong, commonly available option would be a Poly blank with S glass and epoxy. Although I’ve never had one so I can’t speak from experience. I’m taking into account he’s in SC and doesn’t have easy access the the wide variety of construction techniques were are fortunate enough to have here in Central FL.
Don’t overlook the value gained by having a shaper relationship, that pays off after a couple of boards…you can start with a shape similar to the surftech, and make tweaks in the design on successive boards. The feedback loop…
As for the epoxy, see if he will try it, or maybe find a glassing shop somewhere that does, have him shape the blank, and take it (carefully) to the glass shop for the epoxy…some people have said that they get their boards even cheaper by doing all of the legwork…just check with everyone first to see if they are cool…
True we are fortunate to have a lot of options.All my boards were Loehrs/epoxy/eps and were durable,great shapes.I make my own now with eps/RR epoxy and having a blast learning,my shapes are somewhat ugly,but ride great and get better(looking,glass jobs ect…) with each one. You should have Greg or Steve F make you one on your next, you would be stoked. Or use your regular shaper and get it glassed with epoxy, I love the stuff and would never go back . Have fun…peace and waves…
Since your in Florida, go with Greg L or Steve Forstall handshaped epoxy. Needless to say I completely disagree with Bert on buying a Surftech. You ride a Surftech back to back with one of Forstalls hybrids and tell me the surftech rides better.
I suppose the reference to UV and durability might relate to
the idea that a UV cure could be considered more complete in a shorter time frame that the MEK curing process. When I was using polyester products I found that Silmar with SunCure was whiter and was much more easily sanded in a shorter period of time than using MEK alone. Just some observations from the sidelines.