I came across a Surftech Wood Series 9’6" Bill Hamilton Stylist and I was surprised at how much it weighed. I’d never seen one of these in person and had no idea what the weight was like. The board was absolutely beautiful.
Anyone have any experience on how the wood series boards ride? It seems like it would be a nice board to trim and carve turns with.
Not sure if it came out of the same factory as a Surftech, but there is a rebrand in HI “Hawaiian Island Surfboards” that includes a “wood” board. If the surftech is anything like the HIS, avoid it like the plague. It has really light glass and I assume low density foam making it get pressure dings (and I mean serious pressure dings–busted veneer, deep concavity) if you look at it wrong. We bought the board as a cheap loaner from a very small woman, who managed to get a ton of pressure dings, and a couple loans to also small other people made a bunch more. Looks pretty enough, but I’d never buy one again, even if it were a great deal. I’d rather surf than do ding repair every day.
I have repaired a few of the Surftechs and the ones I have seen had wood veneer with only a gloss coat of resin over the veneer with the exception of some light glass at the nose and tail blocks. I just did a Velzy that had fell off a car. It seemed to have some kind of glass under the veneer at the rails. That was the only area where the veneer was damaged allowing a view underneath. They are beautiful boards so I cannot understand why they would not glass over the outside.
Thanks for the replies. This one had a pretty big ding in the rail so I was able to see the different layers of construction. The layers from outside/in were: heavy gloss coat, fabric on the rails, layer of real wood (very thin), glass, then foam core.
As I mentioned, I was just surprised by the weight of the board. It seemed very durable - you could hardly see any pressure dents.
Wow, are you guys so blinded by Surftech-hate that you’ve lost the ability to read? According to the blurb, Surftech wood boards with “classic glassing” have an extra layer of 10oz glass outside the wood veneer. Surftech wodd boards without the “classic glassing” are glassed with only a layer of glass underneath the veneer.
There are therefore 2 possible explanations for a relatively heavy wood Surftech: “classic glassing” or water.
I’m actually very interested in this “classic glassing” development. I have a Surftech wood Nuuhiwa noserider. I’ve always thought it was a little light (although not as extremely so as their tuflite boards), and although it’s held up well for a few years without any soft spots or serious dings from normal use, it picked up a serious ding being moved by builders (long story). Anyway, I’ve toyed with the idea of adding a layer of glass myself.
Damned if I know. I don’t own one, and have never done a repair on one, either.
I don’t understand why the wood series has no sheet foam layer below the wood, like they put in their standard boards. Also can’t fathom the single layer of glass with none on top of the wood layer. A friend had one of the very early woodtech boards. It looked really nice when new, but did not hold up well, as I recall.
Every type of skin you put on foam has an effect strength-wise. I'm just a believer in what wood can do for performance on its own , appart from the cosmetic appeal of a "wood look". ........my 2cents worth is probably only worth 2cents , in the overall scheme of things................
I’ve had a Wingnut noserider woody for about 7 years.
No glass cloth on the outside. Resin finish dings and cracks like crazy and needs to be repaired otherwise the wood soaks up water. The wood is not veneer - much thicker and seems quite fibrous.
Not particularly heavy. Surfs quite well, much better than tufflite longboards.