Author Topic: Starboard 2014 Carbons - Overly Fragile or just mine?  (Read 22930 times)

14 West

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Re: Starboard 2014 Carbons - Overly Fragile or just mine?
« Reply #15 on: April 03, 2014, 05:19:12 PM »
Tony, maybe you bought a dud?
Sorry about your board.

My 7'7" has a few cracks and one moderate pressure ding, but no water leaks.

Yeah, well that is what I am wondering! The 2012's and 2013's shared the same construction and are bulletproof from what I've seen, but I know they changed the materials a bit for 2014, so maybe they are just fragile now? But still, a carbon board that dents from finger pressure just seems bizarre and really defeats the purpose of carbon!
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14 West

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Re: Starboard 2014 Carbons - Overly Fragile or just mine?
« Reply #16 on: April 03, 2014, 06:52:17 PM »
Here are a couple photos, it's really hard to make the light work so you can see them in more than a small area at a time but both sides are like this plus across the top. Many of those dents are from my fingers squeezing the rails.
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Fog City Rider

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Re: Starboard 2014 Carbons - Overly Fragile or just mine?
« Reply #17 on: April 03, 2014, 07:47:17 PM »
Whoa!  Warranty that.  I have a 2012 carbon & the layup is super stiff and super strong... nothing at all like those pics. 
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14 West

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Re: Starboard 2014 Carbons - Overly Fragile or just mine?
« Reply #18 on: April 03, 2014, 09:57:04 PM »
Yeah I had a 2012 8' Pro and still have a 2012 7'7" Pro and same story as you, they are bullet proof. 100+ sessions on each and not a single dent. Is it true with everything - they just don't build them like they used to?!?
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eeck62

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Re: Starboard 2014 Carbons - Overly Fragile or just mine?
« Reply #19 on: April 04, 2014, 12:47:23 PM »
It is definitely worth a direct call to Starboard.  I would guess they would like hear about it and fix the problem. 
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Cardiff Sweeper

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Re: Starboard 2014 Carbons - Overly Fragile or just mine?
« Reply #20 on: April 05, 2014, 01:44:12 PM »
^
Not normal!

Call it in, ASAP.


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newton333

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Re: Starboard 2014 Carbons - Overly Fragile or just mine?
« Reply #21 on: April 06, 2014, 07:47:17 AM »
the 2014s are very different then 2012 and 2013s

robon

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Re: Starboard 2014 Carbons - Overly Fragile or just mine?
« Reply #22 on: April 06, 2014, 07:57:38 AM »
I have heard the carbon lay up isn't the same for this year, and I recall hearing the AST/epoxy versions aren't the same across the board either. More flex and possibly not as durable. Just speculation from other people's opinions but it would be good to know what the real story is on the build process for this year.

SupTrip

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Re: Starboard 2014 Carbons - Overly Fragile or just mine?
« Reply #23 on: April 06, 2014, 10:12:51 AM »
Okay- i can offer some insight here. I was lucky enough to somehow order a 2014 allstar and take delivery of it in november last year. It was a pre-production board (evidenced by dark blue color). When it arrived it had a slight blister on the nose where the carbon delaminated from the divinycell. I still paddled it for a while then made a warranty claim. Starboard basically said - oops, we'll send you a fresh one, just cut that one in half first.

It was painful, but i did it. See pics.

Well, my new board arrived 4 or 5 days later. I guess that kind of service should be expected at the pricepoint, still I was very impressed,  and very happy.

So now i'll rat myself out. I'm reassembling the two halfs, having never done any work with composites before its been a fun and challenging project. And please believe me- IN NO WAY cost effective. Ive bought probably $600 in consumables & materials, and will have spent 80 hours or more working on this thing (& learning). This warranty claim isn't some clever way to get another board for half price, its a tedious way to go insane. But im already nuts & have a lot of tools.

The relevant bit is - their boards are constructed exactly as described on the site, eps, inner glass, h50 & h80? divinycell, carbon, then faired with tinted filler. Rails get crazy reinforcement, several plies reg. glass and some uni directional carbon. Standing area has a hardwood ply veneer of sorts. This whole system appears very well thought out. There is one reoccuring problem that the board lady mentions on her site,  at some stage of construction at Cobra, there is a some product used to fair depressions or bond loose glass or something? I cant remember exactly? At any rate it can lead to blisters or delams, if they could iron out this last weakness they'd be  flawless. Also the blister can be fixed pretty easily.

To summarize, I'm a not an expert, but ive recently dissected a starboard, and successfully reassembled it with all oem materials  & methods. In my opinion, they couldn't be built any better or more complexly. Sandwich construction over a eps core, pretty crazy. Also the board is awesome. I was at a race yesterday and it was like the village bicycle, i lost track of it for a while, id bet 15 people took it out and everyone loved it. Making my new board available for everyone to try was my way of paying back starboard HQ for keeping the board i cut in half, they'll sell 5 more because of it.

Ill add pics later ipad wont let me.

Cardiff Sweeper

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Starboard 2014 Carbons - Overly Fragile or just mine?
« Reply #24 on: April 06, 2014, 11:11:55 AM »
Well, how are they making the boards 5% lighter each year for the past couple years? 

New materials?  Less glass?

At 12 to 14 lbs for the shorter boards, I'll take more durability over a few ounces!


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laszlo

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Re: Starboard 2014 Carbons - Overly Fragile or just mine?
« Reply #25 on: April 06, 2014, 11:27:28 AM »
Had a similar experience with a Coreban carbon. I ordered the Coreban  from the local rep in the Gorge. When it was delivered I saw several dimples in the skin, which I thought shouldn't be there, on a brand new board. I showed it to the guys at Big Winds, where the board had been delivered, and one of them tested the board with his fingers. Every spot where he pressed down left a new dent! Needless to say, I did not accept delivery. Apparently, some carbon layups do not set properly, or so it seems.

14 West

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Re: Starboard 2014 Carbons - Overly Fragile or just mine?
« Reply #26 on: April 06, 2014, 06:08:25 PM »
Well I sure hope warranty comes through. The are probably 1/2" heel dents under the pad in it now.
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Cardiff Sweeper

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Re: Starboard 2014 Carbons - Overly Fragile or just mine?
« Reply #27 on: April 18, 2014, 01:14:32 PM »
Any updates?


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Easy Rider

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Re: Starboard 2014 Carbons - Overly Fragile or just mine?
« Reply #28 on: April 20, 2014, 02:35:39 PM »
Okay- i can offer some insight here. I was lucky enough to somehow order a 2014 allstar and take delivery of it in november last year. It was a pre-production board (evidenced by dark blue color). When it arrived it had a slight blister on the nose where the carbon delaminated from the divinycell. I still paddled it for a while then made a warranty claim. Starboard basically said - oops, we'll send you a fresh one, just cut that one in half first.

It was painful, but i did it. See pics.

Well, my new board arrived 4 or 5 days later. I guess that kind of service should be expected at the pricepoint, still I was very impressed,  and very happy.

So now i'll rat myself out. I'm reassembling the two halfs, having never done any work with composites before its been a fun and challenging project. And please believe me- IN NO WAY cost effective. Ive bought probably $600 in consumables & materials, and will have spent 80 hours or more working on this thing (& learning). This warranty claim isn't some clever way to get another board for half price, its a tedious way to go insane. But im already nuts & have a lot of tools.

The relevant bit is - their boards are constructed exactly as described on the site, eps, inner glass, h50 & h80? divinycell, carbon, then faired with tinted filler. Rails get crazy reinforcement, several plies reg. glass and some uni directional carbon. Standing area has a hardwood ply veneer of sorts. This whole system appears very well thought out. There is one reoccuring problem that the board lady mentions on her site,  at some stage of construction at Cobra, there is a some product used to fair depressions or bond loose glass or something? I cant remember exactly? At any rate it can lead to blisters or delams, if they could iron out this last weakness they'd be  flawless. Also the blister can be fixed pretty easily.

To summarize, I'm a not an expert, but ive recently dissected a starboard, and successfully reassembled it with all oem materials  & methods. In my opinion, they couldn't be built any better or more complexly. Sandwich construction over a eps core, pretty crazy. Also the board is awesome. I was at a race yesterday and it was like the village bicycle, i lost track of it for a while, id bet 15 people took it out and everyone loved it. Making my new board available for everyone to try was my way of paying back starboard HQ for keeping the board i cut in half, they'll sell 5 more because of it.

Ill add pics later ipad wont let me.


It's a shame you took advantage of their warranty policy. 
As a retailer that deals with Starboard - I hope it does not affect the ease of how they process warranties in the future. 
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surfcowboy

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Re: Starboard 2014 Carbons - Overly Fragile or just mine?
« Reply #29 on: April 20, 2014, 04:41:37 PM »
Easy, I'm of two minds. Let's start by saying they should have inspected that board before selling. That's the straight truth.

If he sells it, that would mis-represent the brand and be bad, I totally agree with you. On the other hand, making a beater/loaner and keeping that one out of the landfill I think is a solid thing to do as long as it's made clear that this was a hack job and he retains ownership until the end of its days.

I think it sounds like he's more than paid for that "blank" with effort and materials. ;)

I'm going to reserve judgement. He did what they asked. He could have made them pay for return shipping for that unusable board and we all know it.

If it was my company I'd have told him, "don't sell that one and it's yours to keep."

 


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