Inside Stonker.

[DavidJohn]

Today Oliver and I did a trip to Torquay to take Alex (from Stonker) up on his offer to show us through the Stonker factory.

Oliver liked what he saw from my pics taken at the GSI demo weekend a few weeks ago and wanted to see a Stonker SUP in real life.

Stonker are located opposite Strapper and besides the big Rip Curl shop in the main street.

 

Walking in the front door there were windsurfers and kite boards everywhere.



I spotted one of the early Stonker boards that were not made on site.



Next to it were a couple of nice looking wood SUP paddles.



I haven't seen many wood paddles..These were very nice even if a bit on the heavy side but maybe I've been spoiled with my Kialoa's.





Anyway... We didn't come all this way to look at paddles..and Aaron took us out the back of the shop and into the factory.

The first thing I saw were their custom made SUP board bags.. Very nice.



It was like every other surfboard factory I've seen with ding repairs everywhere.



I love all the mess and interesting stuff to look at.



Oliver spotted one of their early custom boards... Interesting.



There were boards like I had seen down at the point a few weeks ago..all with that classic wood veiner deck...Very nice.





We saw the biggest block of foam that I've ever seen..Aaron said it was 15' long and it occurred to me that Stuey's new boards are even longer..

I couldn't help smiling.. I just can't imagine paddling a board that long.



We looked inside a shaping room and saw a surfboard being shaped..I could watch these guys all day doing their magic.



Then came the highlight of the day..Aaron showed us one of their new boards.

This one's for a customer..It's 10'6" x 30" and looked beautiful.



The wood grain on the deck looked fantastic.



I liked the nose shape and it had a slight point to it like my new Naish 11'4".



The tail was also very nice..I love the small squash tail..and they're much safer if you get hit by the board with no sharp points.



This board still needed it's finish coat and polishing and I could not fault the quality.

I could see Oliver trying to work out how much he could sell one of his kids for..I was going to offer him my hanky to wipe the dribble.



This is the bottom..nice and simple.





Alex turned up and told us about his new board and that it had a two tone wood deck and his board was still in the vacuum bag so we didn't get to see it.

We saw some wood veiner that they use.



They had a mal in the shop that Oliver liked the looks of and be was sold..It had a nice light wood center strip with dark wood sides.. Oliver wanted a SUP just like it.

Oliver ordered one.

Thanks to the Stonker guys for showing us through their place and letting me take pics so you guys can also have a look.

DJ

[stoneaxe]

Australian Pine? and ? Beautiful board...thanks for the trip as usual DJ!

[DavidJohn]

Thanks bob..and sorry I forgot to ask what type of wood that it is..I'm pretty sure it's not Aussie pine..I'll get back to you about the wood type.

It was a pretty crappy day here in Melbourne today so Oliver and I decided to go back down to Torquay and check on the progress of his new board at Stonker.

Once at their shop we saw the board that was almost finished last week.. It looked very nice... Mmmmm cheap Crocs (yes I bought some). []







How good does that wood look.



Next we went into the sanding room and checked out Alex's new board..

It's about 9'8" x 30" swallow tail fish and still needed some sanding and glassing but looks great.





The next room had Olivers new board..just finnished being shaped and looking good.. Here's Alex. (notice his 02 Mambo classic T shirt)



It was hard to get a good pic because of the confinded space in the small room.



I liked the balsa wood tail block.



They kept the rails nice and full in the mid section without going too boxy.



As we asked they kept the tail and nose nice and thined out...It looked great.



Alex showed us a nice pin tail gun surfboard that was in the room with channels on the bottom..Great paint job and nice thick stringer.





Walking out I noticed a couple of old Mambo Classic posters from the last couple of years.



Back out in the shop this board caught my eye.





This board has the nice two tone wood with the dark wood in the center like Alex's new board.



This one is like the way Oliver has asked for his board to be done with the light wood in the center.



Outside we noticed another custom Stonker SUP board but this time without the wood deck ( I think the wood deck adds about $200 to the price of the board)





Oliver had a big grin on his face all the way home.. []

DJ