Article about board toughness

[spirit4earth]

http://supexaminer.com/2016/06/how-tough-should-a-stand-up-paddleboard-be/#.V1y1T2K9KSM

What do you think?

[lucabrasi]

I think you found a friend of Washington Irving's doing some ghost writing but I think some sort of durability scale of some sort would be useful. Not sure how one would go about getting something like that standardized tho. Independent labs, testing, $$$ and time for the tests, etc...... Without that I would think that Purples 5 would be Starbursts 3.
Durable is very important to me, probably more so than light to a degree but my heavy durable boards seem to collect dust now that I have gotten others lighter tho I like their shapes and performance better as well. Carbon has not seemed to be of much interest to me because of durability but maybe I am missing something.

 

[supthecreek]

The title of the article:
"How Tough Should a Stand Up Paddleboard Be?"

Would be more accurate as:
"I buy lightweight paddleboards and expect them to handle smashing into rocks"

and the last sentence
"I want my stand up paddleboard to last, not win races. I want to trust it can take me into the wilds and bring me back home. Is that too much to ask?"

Yup.
Very few paddleboards are made for the wilds.
If dragging your board over rocky shores is your mission, then buy one of the boards made for it.... like a "Bounce" Board

http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=18&v=bK3Ee2uEL6o

Ian Berger....blaming Exocet for your shortsightedness is pretty lame. Shop better.

[pdxmike]

The title of the article:
"How Tough Should a Stand Up Paddleboard Be?"

Would be more accurate as:
"I buy lightweight paddleboards and expect them to handle smashing into rocks"

and the last sentence
"I want my stand up paddleboard to last, not win races. I want to trust it can take me into the wilds and bring me back home. Is that too much to ask?"

Yup.
Very few paddleboards are made for the wilds.
If dragging your board over rocky shores is your mission, then buy one of the boards made for it.... like a "Bounce" Board

http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=18&v=bK3Ee2uEL6o

Ian Berger....blaming Exocet for your shortsightedness is pretty lame. Shop better.

That seems harsh to me.  I didn't see any blaming.  He's tried to find durable boards for cruising that are longer than 12-6, and can't find any.  He doesn't seem to me to be saying there's anything wrong with the boards like the Exocet, just that they're wrong for him, and that the industry's idea of "durable" isn't durable enough for him.  There's a possibly in the past he expected more from those boards that he's gone through than he should have, but he seems to have reasonable expectations now.  In fact, he sounds like the last person who'd have unreasonable expectations about durability, because he says flat out that boards durable enough for him don't exist (except for ones whose shapes don't suit his needs). 

Saying the title should have been "I buy lightweight paddleboards and expect them to handle smashing into rocks" is unfair, because he doesn't expect that.  In fact, he clearly understands that you can't have light weight AND durability, and couldn't have been more clear in saying he'd be happy to sacrifice weight to gain durability.

He mentioned the Bounce boards, along with Imagine, Tower, and BIC, and says they're all tough, but none are longer than 12-6.  He also mentions inflatables, and why they aren't a good solution for where he paddles. 

So how can the solution be "shop better" when there's nothing out there to buy that suits his needs?

It could be there are tough, hard boards longer than 12-6 available, but I don't know of any myself.  I don't know if there's a big market for durable, non-inflatable boards longer than 12-6.  But it would be nice if there were a few choices for people, which is really all he's saying.

I also think a big reason many people buy inflatables is durability, not portability or storage ease, which to me were the things many companies emphasized as their strengths.  The number of people buying inflatables for durability (perhaps even despite, not because, they're inflatable) could be a sign that the market for durable hard boards could be larger than people realize.

[SUPflorida]

"Much of where I paddle is a post-industrial landscape. That means besides rocks and concrete, we have twisted metal, glass, and slag poking out of water so murky a swimmer can’t see their hands"

If this is really true of the waters you paddle in, you are "not safe". A prudent person would not paddle in water with that kind of debris. Even a plastic (bleach bottle) kayak is going to be damaged by "twisted metal" or re-bar sticking out of chunks of concrete.

Nalu from Ocean Kayak should be closer to the durability your asking for. Since your not concerned about weight, 50 lbs shouldn't bother you.

[pdxmike]

Nalu looks durable, and does come in 12-6, but not 14', and is awfully wide at 30.5 inches. 


Here in Portland, the most popular launch spot near me has chunks of concrete with rebar sticking up, and lots of rocks under just under the surface.  And the most popular areas (Ross Island and Oaks Park) have more concrete and rebar, lots of old pilings just under the surface, plus the typical large, jagged rocks.  Add to that weird eddies, current, boat traffic, and (in winter) water you can't see your feet in when you're standing calf-deep, and sewage overflows.  If it's not prudent, then nobody who paddles in Portland is prudent. 


In our favor is that the popular launch sites are either boat launches, docks, or shore without large rocks right at shore, so launching and takeout aren't bad, meaning you can get by fine with standard boards.

[Fog City Rider]

More brands than Bic & Bounce are coming out w/ super-durable SUPs, although it's true they're geared towards beginners and rental ops. 

My advice to the author - contact one of them & see if they'll build him a custom touring SUP in their durable construction.  Focus has their R-type, & Pau Hana has Ricochet - probably variations on a theme, but both look tough.  The old NorCal Focus rep showed me a video of throwing a board onto the concrete from one story high, with virtually no damage.  That should do for the Hudson.   

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

Yeah, that was me.

[feet]

Not to mention the fact that many boards contain a type of foam that will absorb water when damaged, which only adds insult to injury.

As an industry, SUP has yet to undergo it's materials revolution.  As Ian mention, surf and wind sports companies got here first and wrote the rules on construction, which I would assume were not about innovation, but rather what was easiest and in line with their established business and technology point of view.

I had a Surftech B-1 (made by bounce composites) and it was very durable, but it was also 10'6" x 31.5" and my interests were in paddling a 14' as well.  Now I have a Naish that I need to baby...  I'd jump a a performance oriented 14' that was as tough as a B1...but the industry hasnt gone that route.  And perhaps it won't because it would be difficult to justify Bounce building a mould for a 14' board only to sell a few hundred of them...

Which eventually winds up back at SUP manufacturers conservative approach to design and manufacturing, which seems to say "this is what we understand, this is how we do it, because this is how we've always done it..." Oh, and by the way, lets mass produce these in China at less cost (and potentially lower quality) and increase the price because demand is up... 

I agree with the author's point - its time for something more durable than sandwich construction, and while were at it, why don't we also get rid of the stupid board length standards... 

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

In regards to that Exocet, it was really thin-skinned. I could literally push the skin with my thumb and make a depression. I mentioned it because it was sold to me as “durable” — I even mentioned the rocks and other crap I paddle by to the seller, but the thing was anything but. Then the seller insisted it was. This played out on real time on the Zone. I'm mentioned it because it was good example. My point was to push the issue.

I know about that Nalu, BTW. But it would have required a whole other paragraph, and I was getting a little long-winded as it is. I get the point about inflatables, and one may be in my future. Hard boards are just better to paddle on, though.

My point was to push the issue. I'm perfectly happy with all the boards that are light and somewhat durable, as long as I have some good options too. I know I'm not the only one.

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

feet, I talked to Bounce about bigger boards about six months ago on their Facebook page. They gave me a “wait and see” response, which I interpreted as they were working on something bigger. I haven't seen anything yet, but maybe 2017?

[SUPflorida]

Board builders use the materials they do because they give the best balance of strength/weight/cost. The SUP community is fortunate to have its board construction spawned out of windsurfing rather than surfing. If boards were built with the old Clark foam and polyester resin they would weigh considerably more... and would make the durability of most modern SUP epoxy boards seem like feather weight....battleship strong in comparison.

As to a 14 in plastic construction...gauging by what the 12-6 Nalu weighs you would probably be in the 60-65 lb. range. Maybe that's fine for your purposes but from what I read most people's acceptable weight limit is 30 lbs for a 14'.

[PonoBill]

The two most important things I've learned about marketing are:
The market gets what the market wants.
   and...
You are not the market.

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

Florida, I get it. SUPs are fairly tough, but for what I need, it's not tough enough. Besides the rocks, the water has a 28cm turbidity. That means after 28cm of depth (just under a foot), you can't even see a light under the water. That's a practical visibility of about six inches — no exaggeration. I've hit stuff I've never even seen.

If it means a heavy board, that's not the worst thing in the world. I'll be happy to try it out. I had the chance to buy a 17' Plastic Imagine prototype a few years ago. I'm kicking myself for not buying it. Yes it weighed over 60 pounds, but it was an interesting experiment. Imagine was going to bring a 12'6" plastic board to production — they even advertised it on their website for a hike — but I guess they didn't see a market. Maybe that proves Bill right. What I'm saying is, “This is my situation.”

Maybe one of those super tough inflatables is in my future. The one time I tried one, I wasn't impressed, but it wasn't a Red, Hala, or Uli. I'm open to ideas.

[PonoBill]

I've got a rotomolded river board sitting on the rack behind my garage that you can have. For that matter anyone closer than 2000 miles away can have it. Just lift it off the rack.

That sounds like a joke, but anyone that wants the thing is welcome to it. Totally indestructible. I unloaded it by shoving it off my racks and got it to the river by pushing it off the eight foot bank to the rocks below. When cockroaches rule the world, one of them will be paddling this board. I'm happy to leave it for the giant cockroaches. I did indeed have fun with it, but I don't need the back and shoulder trauma.

I also blame the thing for costing me a Winston rod and Reddington reel. Well, not having it tied to a lanyard cost me the rod, but the board didn't help.

That just made me realize what a fishing weapon the new Hobie is going to be. Holy smoke, no need to fiddle with a paddle. Rodholders on the handlebars. Tall cooler for a seat. Flyfishing from a kayak sucks toads. Bowhunting carp in Rowena. Damn, I'm going to have to get my deposit down.