Author Topic: Fragile Naishboards?  (Read 18861 times)

Acrane7

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Re: Fragile Naishboards?
« Reply #60 on: February 03, 2017, 09:03:04 AM »
I should have highlighted the word raceboard better. There are others who are making full pvc all arounds and sup surfs, but havent seen another brand who makes a full pvc wrapped raceboard. If there is, this would be new news to me. Most brands do just the tops in some variety and sometimes the rails. PVC foam is costly and difficult to mould with the curves and lines of some boards.

There are QC checks through the line, which help to limit manu defects. From the SB production, since boards are moulded, there is knowledge of how much foam, fibres, resin, etc are needed to make that 1 board. Thus, minimizing chances of delams, overweight, deformities, etc. I would think this is common for other brands that mould boards?

The sad fact is, it is hard to know what you are buying from any brand. Because they can fill over the error and move on, this goes for all production boards. It makes it tough for a shop to sell the board based on what is inside, because the consumer cant see it. Overall, there are brands that are known for making well built boards but errors happen. Just hopefully for them it doesnt happen often.

This is correct. No secrets are shared and all processes for the brands at Cobra are different. The SB race boards for instances are the only boards at Cobra (possibly only in the world still) that are a full PVC wrap sandwich. Cobra even separates its own SUP ventures, NSP & Surftech to minimize trade secrets.

One thing important to note on the SB side is there is a full time team, independent of Corba, who QC's boards. Even the owner of SB, Svein, pitches in to check on the QC of boards to ensure accuracy. Quality assurances is very important to SB.

Things happen, and it is always hard to know because you cant see inside a board when you buy it. This is the tough part about boards and knowing their QC. At the end of the day, Cobra has some of the best built boards on the market (there are other manufactures who do a fantastic job but historically Cobra has a great track record).

My understanding of the Cobra Factory:
Same factory yes.... but each brand is fully independent of each other. Different tech, different employees, different materials, different management.

I believe Fanatics are made there and their HRS construction has no connection to the construction of other brands at the same factory.

Secrets are not shared.

I could be totally wrong... but the difference in quality coming out of the same factory, seems to support "total separation of teams" within the factory.
Anyone know for sure?

There are a number of people doing full pvc raped boards starboard by no means is the only one! QC cheques should not just be done when the boards are shipped out, it should be done throughout the hole process! I have repaired hundreds of boards and a lot of the time the problems are with poor quality manufacturing and most just end up getting covered over with filler and paint to hide them, I'm looking at one right now! You only have to walk in to a shop and look over the boards on the shelf to see that the QC is poor from most of the manufacturers. Its hard to say wether cobra is a lot better than the others as companies vary there manufactures for different ranges, it probably is better than some but its not saying that there great by any means.

yugi

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Re: Fragile Naishboards?
« Reply #61 on: February 03, 2017, 10:05:04 AM »
Is it a little ironic my naish kite board has just started to crack booth sides on one end, im waiting for a reply from them about it, Fingers crossed!

Check out Nobile kite board construction.

More like skis. In fact they've now branched out and are making solid bad ass skis. I'm riding some.

These are made by Nobile

http://youtu.be/FMqADdsVmwQ

http://youtu.be/rzw55AfnoyQ
« Last Edit: February 03, 2017, 10:11:35 AM by yugi »

connector14

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Re: Fragile Naishboards?
« Reply #62 on: February 03, 2017, 11:29:05 AM »
Thanks for sharing that....very informative and impressive.
"never leave the dock without your paddle"
Imagine Rocket 14 ...my new favorite, smooth and fast and lite
2018 Red Paddle 14 x 27 Elite
2014 Bark Dominator 14....smooth and quiet
2014 Imagine Connector 14...the "barge"

Area 10

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Re: Fragile Naishboards?
« Reply #63 on: February 03, 2017, 12:08:34 PM »
I should have highlighted the word raceboard better. There are others who are making full pvc all arounds and sup surfs, but havent seen another brand who makes a full pvc wrapped raceboard. If there is, this would be new news to me.

The Jimmy Lewis U-Boat is apparently "All-Carbon with full Airex sandwich top, bottom and rails".

IMO the Kinetic factory output is very consistently better in every way than Cobra's. And the boards are cheaper, like-for-like, as well.

PonoBill

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Re: Fragile Naishboards?
« Reply #64 on: February 03, 2017, 06:41:04 PM »
I think anyone that has products built in Asia has horror stories. You need someone on the ground to pay attention. Jimmy gets the results he does because he likes being in Vietnam, and he'll hop on a plane to go deal with any problem, however small. That gets great results. Most people aren't big fans of hanging out in Asian countries, especially China.

The idea that secrets don't get shared in the bigger factories is laughable. Everything gets shared, everything gets backdoored. If you aren't willing to buy the rejects and seconds you can expect them to show up on Alibaba and eBay with your brand on them. If your brand demands a big enough premium they'll show up no matter how much you buy. It's the wild west.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

wrybread

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Re: Fragile Naishboards?
« Reply #65 on: February 03, 2017, 07:11:56 PM »
@SUPUK:

Quote
I would still would not advise people to use any form of tape as a temporary ding repair, for various reasons and especially in hot climates were the pressure inside the board could quite easily lift the tape and break any seal that thought you had and then when it goes into the water it will cool and suck a large amount of water it. I have seen it way to many times and had to many board sat in my workshop while I try and dry them out. It crazy to risk it with expensive boards like this!

Puka Patch tape works pretty well in my experience:

https://www.amazon.com/Puka-Patch-Instant-Ding-Repair/dp/B00E9D4TYC

Its basically rail tape cut to bigger sizes. Its main issue is that its a major pain to remove... Always keep a pack in the trunk!



connector14

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Re: Fragile Naishboards?
« Reply #66 on: February 03, 2017, 09:06:10 PM »
It's rather depressing to me that it appears all of the major sup's are coming out of essentially the same facitilites with the same process. Why the heck can't each company build their own? Crap,  are all of the inflatable sup's also coming out of the same plant?
My faith in the car oem's has suddenly been raised. (a Ford is not built in a GM plant and I assume a Honda is not built in a Toyota plant)
Where are the Jimmy Lewis sup's built? 
"never leave the dock without your paddle"
Imagine Rocket 14 ...my new favorite, smooth and fast and lite
2018 Red Paddle 14 x 27 Elite
2014 Bark Dominator 14....smooth and quiet
2014 Imagine Connector 14...the "barge"

ukgm

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Re: Fragile Naishboards?
« Reply #67 on: February 04, 2017, 12:54:23 AM »
It's rather depressing to me that it appears all of the major sup's are coming out of essentially the same facitilites with the same process. Why the heck can't each company build their own? Crap,  are all of the inflatable sup's also coming out of the same plant?
My faith in the car oem's has suddenly been raised. (a Ford is not built in a GM plant and I assume a Honda is not built in a Toyota plant)
Where are the Jimmy Lewis sup's built?

Completely different volumes though. That dictates manufacturing strategy and feasibility. Boards are relatively low volume and a huge cost for s start up facility.

Ichabod Spoonbill

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Re: Fragile Naishboards?
« Reply #68 on: February 04, 2017, 04:17:13 AM »
Acrane7,

Take a look at the Hydrus race boards (https://www.hydrusboardtech.com/collections/paddle). These are boards that come from a whitewater heritage, so they might fit the bill. They are definitely tougher than the typical race board, with the compromise of a few extra pounds. I interviewed one of the founders a few weeks ago:

http://supexaminer.com/2017/01/hydrus-sups-are-built-to-last/
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supthecreek

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Re: Fragile Naishboards?
« Reply #69 on: February 04, 2017, 08:37:19 AM »
It's rather depressing to me that it appears all of the major sup's are coming out of essentially the same facitilites with the same process. Why the heck can't each company build their own? Crap,  are all of the inflatable sup's also coming out of the same plant?
My faith in the car oem's has suddenly been raised. (a Ford is not built in a GM plant and I assume a Honda is not built in a Toyota plant)
Where are the Jimmy Lewis sup's built?

I'm starting a new thread in the Sunova "Marketplace" to answer this, since it is an important question.

Acrane7

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Re: Fragile Naishboards?
« Reply #70 on: February 04, 2017, 08:56:50 AM »
That is awesome to see that Jimmy does a race board with full PVC. PVC seems to be a great solution for building a light board, with flex that is still highly durable, although had one board builder tell me it was s**t material. Great to see the PVC reinforcement on the plugs, boxes and handles, something that is often overlooked.

It is also great to see the new techs that companies are developing. This means there is still a ton of passion out there at the brand level to keep the sport driving forward.

red_tx

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Re: Fragile Naishboards?
« Reply #71 on: February 04, 2017, 01:18:31 PM »
Although this thread has gone a different direction than the subject line, I thought I would share my experiences with yellow boards.

My 2015 8'3 Hokua - 2015 is super light and also super chippy.
My 2016 7'0 Raptor - was returned to Naish twice. First return was due to stressed looking hairline fractures that apparently took on water. It was as if the entire paint coat did not take and was failing, breaking away.(imagine a dry lake bed with all or the cracks, not that bad but not good either)  The second return happened because There were obvious dings that someone tried to "repair" with the wrong color yellow. It was kind of unbelievable. The Third and my current raptor has one quarter sized discoloration on the deck. They clearly tried to touch it up again with the wrong color paint. I got tired of the back and forth and just kept the third one. Awesome board.. so fun.. super light..

I love my yellow boards because they are light and fun but I am looking for other options moving forward.

***Naish was super cool about swapping the boards out.. They must have known about the quality issues. There is no way this could have been limited to just my experience. 

Now I rail tape everything I can. I am also running a piece of electrical tape around the blade throat and also a bit down each blade.. Carbon fiber paddles chip the hell out of yellow boards.

I have a ton of pictures somewhere if anyone wants to see them.
-red

 


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