anyone ever order a board from point blanks to be shipped to your doorstep? my uncle is thinking about doing it. their boards are interesting. im just curious to how efficiently they can ship a 9’2 fed ex. the uncle doesnt care about shipping costs, and they supposedly ship a lot of boards this way. anyone, anyone?
Hey Poser,
I’ve never ordered a board via shipping but I’d iron out as many “what if” and “just in case” scenerios before ordering. That is; What if it shows up and it’s not exactly what was ordered, it was damaged, etc. Especially who would pay for the return shipping if it didn’t meet ordered spec’s.
Also when it is eventually delivered, quickly open it up and give it a fast once over for shipping damages. You’d still sign for it but briefly note it on the delivery person’s log book/screen that there were damages.
I deal with these things daily. The delivery drivers hate the latter part of my suggestions but it saves a lot of headaches when a dispute does occurs (and they occur a lot)…
Best,
HerbB
I didn’t think FedEx delivered box lengths that long? The only time I have had a board shipped via FedEx was a 6’6". Everything else I have had shipped was a longboard 9’+ and was told that FedEx would not deliver. (Perhaps it was a pricing issue as opposed to a size issue.) My one experience with FedEx was very good - the board arrived much faster than the shipping companies that have been used. I second HerbB’s recommendation to inspect the board upon delivery. I had a board arrive damaged once. It was insured but, nonetheless, there was alot of braindamage involved in pursuing the claim and even more importantly I was denied the instant gratification of using the board upon arrival.
Ok here’s the deal cost wise. You have 1 board shipped to your home =$125-$145 shipping cost. Any shipping damage, on your dime. So your cost = Full retail price +$135-$145 shipping plus damage costs if any.
Conversely you order the board from a shop and they ship yours along with 3 others. Their shipping cost $35-$40 per board. Any shipping damage, their dime. So your cost this way= Retail price +$35-$40 shipping , no shipping damage costs passed on to you.
Obviously it’s your dime, but I’d go the shop route.
An employee at the Patagonia store in Santa Cruz told me that they would ship a board to any Patagonia outlet free of charge–even customs. If you live near an outlet (you can probably find a list on their website), you might want to have them take care of the shipping.
i’ll look into that retrosexual, thanks.
No problem. You might want to confirm it with the store before you go ahead with the order–I overheard the same saleslady telling another dude that gloss coats increase the strength of a board by 50% and make it turn better, too.
Keep us posted!
While I'm sure it's important to iron out the details, Fletcher and Pointblanks are a class act with loads of integrity. If there was a problem I'm sure they would do you right. That said...I agree opening your shipment upon arrival is always the best course if possible.
The construction itself is very strong and ding resistant. I just had my new board bouncing on the jetty during Howard, I could hear it banging underwater but came away with one small ding, and some small scratches...as it is my newest board I was very happy.
I wouldn't put much credence into the gloss coat comment. Their light styro/epoxy construction allows lots of glass without weight gain relative to poly, thats the strength factor.
Last, those of you around the world, here in southern California, we are trunking good waves with offshore wind, it almost makes up for missing SA '04...life is good. Gil
just got off of the phone with them. they said that it can be done through a patagonia shop but only when the shop is doing orders for themselves. he said a shop near me just ordered 16 boards and if i placed my order with the shops order it would take a long time for my board to be ready, he didnt even know a time frame. he said that it would be fine shipped to my house and that they have never once had any damage done to a board through shipping. i just printed out the order form and im sendin it in tonight. excited.
I’ve had 3 pointblanks. First one was off the rack. Ordered a bigger one & had it shipped to the closest shop. Then ordered a Patagonia/Bisect. This was probably 1999 or so and Bisect was going through some warbles. Fletcher was great to work with and kept me updated on the board’s status. He even called me when the shape was done and asked if I was sure I wanted him to cut it in half, bacause it came out so nice. I should have listened. Not that I have any problems with the bisect, I just don’t use it all that much. Too easy to haul a solid board to the surf or rent a board wherever I travel. Its a good board, but it hardly ever sees water.
As to Pointblanks, you won’t be disappointed in any way. The materials & construction are completely reliable & very strong. Its my experience with these boards - and fixing the few dings I’ve managed to pick up with them - that led me into the project in the “$14 blank” thread. Enjoy your board, you made a great choice!
I got a board from point blanks about 3 years ago, they packed it and shipped it to my door step, well, almost, the trucker read my address as 264 instead of 246 and left it on the wrong step, we actually were calling back and forth from point blanks to the trucker to me to the trucker and so on to find it ;-)----anyway , all was good , they packed it super well, in fact, i saved some of the packing for other projects----- it’s a great board, i use it as my travel board, it’s been to panama, costra rica and france, and zero dings from the airlines–ever!rides great and still looks like a new board, no fade, no yellowing, i’d buy another in a minute…
poser-
you could say i have a deep, inside connection at point blanks.private message me and i will set you and your uncle up via the “front line”
All,
What are the differences, if any between the Patagonia/Pointblank boards and those built by XTR/EpoxyPro? I believe both use extruded foam (not the EPS "beercooler’ type).
I’m leaning toward a Patagonia LB - do they use any type of venting because of the lower heat resistenance to delamination (I believe this is the one (and only?) advantage EPS foam has over extruded foam, per Greg L.)?
Is HDX Surfboards (Jeff Wells) still building custom xtruded foam epoxies?
Thanks, John
Patagonia/PB EPS is bead foam, although in higher densities than the Home Depot sheets. It is not vented.
The Epoxy Pro boards are XPS and are vented. As well as the 3 Patagonias I’ve had, I have a Velzy/Phillips XTR board that I like very much.
Basically, the Pointblanks are really, really advanced versions of the $14 blank I made; the Epoxy Pro are really, really advanced versions of the dock-foam blanks rfd makes.
Can you tell I like hand-shaped styrene foam & hand-laid epoxy resin? Good stuff, whichever method & materials you choose…
Benny1,
Boy was I off base - I could of sworn that I read that the Patagonia’s were extruded, not expanded polystyrene. Do you think the Patagonia EPS foam is superior to the extruded foam used by XTR EpoxyPro and HDX Surfboards? Does Patagonia use the Greg Loehr Resin Research epoxy or some other propriety epoxy? Thanks, John
I don’t know if PB calls it extruded or expanded. I just know that when a guy dropped in on me and his fin went 3" into my rail and I cleaned out all the crud, the foam was little beads. I’ve seen lots of extruded foam, I used to outfit whitewater kayaks & canoes with minicell which is very similar. This wasn’t extruded, at least, not as I know it. I also know the Epoxy Pro has a couple hundred little one-way vent holes along both sides of the stringer on the deck and none of the Patagonias have them.
Superior? They both surf great. I’ve tried a surftech and I hate how stiff the sandwich epoxy pop-outs are, at least for longboards. I like longboards to have some flex & some organic feel in the water. (I think ST is fine technology for your basic modern 6’1" thruster & its intended uses.) Both the Pats and the E-Pros have good flex that feels just like a poly/poly board when surfing. Under paddling loads, they flex less then poly/poly boards, so you put more energy into forward progress and less into flexing the board. More like riding a rigid bike uphill and less like riding a suspension mountain bike uphill. They both flex about like a heavy volan-glassed board: no flex while paddling, but definitely when you load up a rail on a deep fade bottom turn and want it to spring you out again. But they weigh half what a volan board does.
The Pat is more durable - glassing is 6x6x6+4 top and 6x6x6 bottom, while Velzy is 6x6 top & 6 bottom. The Pat is 10’ and 19lb, about like a lightly glassed longboard (Stewart, Pearson, etc.) but many times more durable. The Velzy is a few times more durable than a lightly glassed LB, but only weighs about 16lb at 9’10".
Don’t have any idea what resins either one uses. None of the boards have yellowed as much as poly ones do.
I have a Velzy/Phillips XTR board that I like very much.
I was not aware that there was another option for Velzy other than the poly boards he shapes and the Surftech models. Kindly tell me more about the Velzy/Phillips.
I shipped an 8’ board from hawii to east coast for $65± but the 8’ was at the limits of Fedx’s Length + Width + Thickness formula. (I think for a total of 145 inches.)
Jim Phillips is one of the - probably the primary at this point - shapers in the house of Velzy. If you order a '63 model, a pig, a round pin 'bu special, or a high-performance XTR, chances are, it comes from under Jim’s planer. Dale looks 'em over, maybe puts his pencil to the stringer, but they’re Jim’s. Dale puts his work into the balsas (even on those, Jim does a lot of the blank truing & gluing, template cutting, chambering, etc.). Heck, Dale’s like 77 years old!
When the Epoxy Pro XTR’s first hit the shops up here (Northern CA) they caught my attention immediately. I’d never seen a Velzy look that modern. Some traditional design elements were there - belly roll under most of the board, slight beveled rail under the nose, template curve that waited until it was close to the tail to really bend in - but there were 3 fins, complex rails, vee through the tail, it weighed 16 lb., and had all these little pinholes in the deck! I wound up getting in touch with the Velzy rep (Surfore on this bb) and ordered one for myself. Just like the one in the shop but bigger. It arrived Thanksgiving 02 and has seen more beachbreak time than any of my other longboards. I run it with minimal fins - 3" on the sides and 6" in the center - and its very responsive. Squared off turns, floaters, barrels, this is the board for all that. The only dings are stars on the corners of the tail from parking lot clumsiness and are still watertight.
While its true that probably 75% of Velzy boards made today go to Japan (and retail for over $3k there) you can definitely still order one here. And they’re as good now as they’ve ever been for 50 years.
At this time Surf Boards by Velzy is not doing any XTR products and currently the shape Benny is referring to is no longer in production. I would prefer to not go into details but for one Dale isn’t interested in dealing with any of the “issues” that come up from time to time. He’s comfortable with the things he’s doing/done with Clark and in wood and isn’t comfortable answering questions regarding a new technology and it’s longevity.
However, about a month ago I logged some time on a new Velzy prototype: A hollow, carbon fiber board. The board was 9’6" and weighed…9 lbs. If you saw a big, pale white dude surfing a black board at SanO in Sept that was me. Did you hear the strange/hollow noise the board made when the water slapped up on the belly? The thing was freakishly buoyant to the point when riding it, it reminded me of standing on a kickboard in a swimming pool - I couldn’t really sink the kick board but it wouldn’t totally float me either. I was roller coastering a nice right into the inside when I decided to take her up to the top and do a hard cut back. The board was so high out of the water that when it came down I didn’t know where my feet were. Well unfortunately my feet were on the inside rail and the opposite rail immediately came into contact with my knee. MOMMY! The board was fine but the knee was dented. No news yet on the availability but the cost is projected to be in the $2k range. “How many ya want?” I was hoping to bring it to the Swaylocks event but a wedding (the fourth of five this year) was on the same weekend. I’d love to share it with anyone who’s interested so if a few are interested I can meet some folks at SanO.
If you would like information on the shape Benny is riding, high performance squash tail, and material options for this model (under a different label), or any Velzy boards, please contact me off this bb board.
Benny a check is in the mail.
Thank you,
Surfore (Andrew)
650-759-2304