Author Topic: Echo Composites 18' touring - good deal?  (Read 21190 times)

deepmud

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Echo Composites 18' touring - good deal?
« on: October 08, 2019, 07:34:58 PM »
I'm looking at an $800

oops hit send

18' ft x 28 touring board - looks stable - to me - it would be a trick for me to get it in Seattle but I have friends who could store it until I could come down - or figure out a way to ship it north.

I got a 12'6" hard board last winter - it's nice - but I find my 14' Elite a good .5mph faster or more for the same effort - I'd love to try an unlimited (might go with my unlimited weight 280 lol)

Terrible idea? Ok? My impulse is to just do it :D
« Last Edit: October 08, 2019, 07:39:59 PM by deepmud »

TallDude

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Re: Echo Composites 18' touring - good deal?
« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2019, 08:30:02 PM »
Big Blue is beat up and I bet very heavy. It's probably taken on water. Not a great design. I have four unlimiteds and have owned and raced / paddled many others. None of mine are over 28 lbs. I have shaped a number of them myself. I would pass on Big Blue.
If you can work out shipping or ROAD TRIP, this is a better deal. Great quality build and shaped by a master of unlimiteds. https://santabarbara.craigslist.org/spo/d/carpinteria-bark-sup-race-board/6972474441.html

It's not overhead to me!
8'8" L-41 ST and a whole pile of boards I rarely use.

Wetstuff

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Re: Echo Composites 18' touring - good deal?
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2019, 06:21:54 AM »
You'd be about $5-600. underwater from the looks of the pics.  Did the guy found it on the side of the road?  Take TD's advice.

Jim
Atlantis Mistress .. Blue Planet MultiTasker ..   Atlantis Venom

Bean

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Re: Echo Composites 18' touring - good deal?
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2019, 07:35:13 AM »
On a positive note, that board does look completely theft proof  ;D

deepmud

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Re: Echo Composites 18' touring - good deal?
« Reply #4 on: October 09, 2019, 07:51:37 AM »
Too heavy to run away with? :D

deepmud

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Re: Echo Composites 18' touring - good deal?
« Reply #5 on: October 09, 2019, 07:55:16 AM »
Big Blue is beat up and I bet very heavy. It's probably taken on water. Not a great design. I have four unlimiteds and have owned and raced / paddled many others. None of mine are over 28 lbs. I have shaped a number of them myself. I would pass on Big Blue.
If you can work out shipping or ROAD TRIP, this is a better deal. Great quality build and shaped by a master of unlimiteds. https://santabarbara.craigslist.org/spo/d/carpinteria-bark-sup-race-board/6972474441.html

One hell of a road trip :D it's a bit over 2000 miles to get to Seattle from here. Total bonzai non-stop driving can make that in 48 hours - but then there's a ways yet to go...and still get home again.

That Bark! I'd jump on it if I could figure out shipping for under $500.

deepmud

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Re: Echo Composites 18' touring - good deal?
« Reply #6 on: October 09, 2019, 07:25:28 PM »
well - Uship seems like a sort of Uber for shipping - you put up what ya got to ship and where, you get bids. I can both buy that Bark and ship it to Seattle for nearly what that big blue was going for.

Ron, the guy in California, sounds like he's got a good life. Lots of surfing :D I feel pretty comfortable when I can talk on the phone with the seller. I hear the the sound of regret as he says "I'm giving this away"  and he is. But I hope it will be happy with me :D

Thanks for the good advice and help.


deepmud

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Re: Echo Composites 18' touring - good deal?
« Reply #7 on: October 09, 2019, 07:38:32 PM »
I have to say - the bottom - looks a lot like the shape of my old Sea Otter touring kayak. Flat in the middle, rounded up on the sides, pointy on the ends.

TallDude

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Re: Echo Composites 18' touring - good deal?
« Reply #8 on: October 09, 2019, 10:47:22 PM »
Here's the thing.... That bottom will cause the board to roll side to side. You just have to get use to it. It has great secondary stability and really rolls through the chop well. This was one of Joe Barks earliest SUP designs, but he had had years of prone paddleboard R&D behind him before SUP started. I would be interested in selling my highest volume Hobie custom 18'6 x 26 carbon fiber unlimited if you can work out the shipping details. If your interested, I'll send you pictures? It's in almost perfect condition...at least it was last time I paddled it about a year ago ::)
I had plans for recessing the foot well about 3 inches, but there are a ton of other board building and repairing projects I'm planning on in front of it. At 280, this board was made for you. It has a flat bottom with a recessed standing area.

Here's the only picture I have of it at the moment. I'll have to pull it down from the racks in my garage and take some more pictures.
« Last Edit: October 09, 2019, 10:54:38 PM by TallDude »
It's not overhead to me!
8'8" L-41 ST and a whole pile of boards I rarely use.

deepmud

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Re: Echo Composites 18' touring - good deal?
« Reply #9 on: October 10, 2019, 04:28:45 PM »
well - I kind of just pulled the trigger last night on the Bark. :D Uship seems to be pretty great for non-critical-time,big-weird-stuff shipping. I even sprung for insurance with Lloyds of London and I'm still not out what I paid for my last inflatable.

Good secondary - yeah - that's how I think of my kayak, too -  but my then butt is below the waterline in a hard shell kayak :D . However - I'm getting pretty good at balance. My 14' Red Elite is pretty unstable and I've used it for creeking, lakes, some chop. It's round-ish(cause it's a narrow Isup) mostly, and tall, and does not have much secondary stability - I usually get tossed in the drink if boats go by.


I messaged you ....

eastbound

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Re: Echo Composites 18' touring - good deal?
« Reply #10 on: October 11, 2019, 08:45:41 AM »
nice work, td!



matchmaker!
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TallDude

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Re: Echo Composites 18' touring - good deal?
« Reply #11 on: October 11, 2019, 09:22:23 AM »
nice work, td!



matchmaker!
Always like to hook someone interested in unlimiteds up with a good one.  ;)

The uShip looks like a great way to ship boards across the US. Uber for shipping. https://learn.uship.com/shippers/
It's not overhead to me!
8'8" L-41 ST and a whole pile of boards I rarely use.

blackeye

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Re: Echo Composites 18' touring - good deal?
« Reply #12 on: October 11, 2019, 10:25:41 AM »
I used U-ship to bring a truck home. I had a deadline so it was a bit nail biting when the first bids came in and they were high. It was a Dutch-auction style where competing bidders lower their bids against each other. They can withdraw suddenly which is alarming and frustrating.

In the end it worked out great. The shippers like it because if they can fill in idle time or avoid deadheading home.

deepmud

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Re: Echo Composites 18' touring - good deal?
« Reply #13 on: October 11, 2019, 03:06:32 PM »
So - which board is for what conditions? I look at the Bark, and imagine open water, chop - and I look a the Hobie -sort of same but better on lakes, and primary stability looks better. Am I nuts to try to do both? 2 unlimited boards - 2000 miles away....lol

deepmud

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Re: Echo Composites 18' touring - good deal?
« Reply #14 on: October 20, 2019, 12:22:29 PM »
So Big Blue is about 45 pounds btw, and supposedly built with renting in mind, so some of that would just be thick glass. I might have been happily ignorant paddling it :D
The two boards are in my friend's garage now. There's a chance I'll visit 'em and paddle this year. Ice is forming on the lakes so I'm not in a hurry to get them up to Alaska.
I'm dying to try them out. My wife thinks I'm nuts getting more boards, and "why 2 more? Aren't they both about the same?". But 2 unlimited boards for $1600 seemed too good a chance to pass up. Thanks again for the help  TD. I will be posting up when I finally get to paddle for sure :D

 


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