Board Weight vs Board Liters

[B-Walnut]

I like geeking out on details and since I'm looking at a new board right now my mind got wandering about board weights and how they correspond to volume.

Obviously there are some variables such as board shape that impact this but I figured I'd throw my boards and weights up for comparison.

Kalama 9'2" x 30" 126l 16.8lbs or 2.13oz per liter.

WTB Infinity New Deal 8'6" x 29" 114l 15.4lbs or 2.16 oz per liter.

Quatro Carve Pro 8'2" x 29" 120l 14.8lbs or 1.97oz per liter.

I've long known that quatro was pulling some low weights on their boards vs other brands but was pleasantly surprised to see the Kalama weight per liter staying competitive. I never felt it was a heavy board but was unsure of how it compared in overall weight.

[ospreysup]

No doubt you are getting a little lost in the weeds on board choices and believe me I have done the same. Took 7 years but I finally have my three-board quiver in a happy place, for now.

Your question about weight is very similar to your recent question about volume and stability. It really is all relative to you, what you are looking for, and where you surf. There are many factors that go into stability and weight.

A lighter board could be built with better materials (foam, resin, glass) or less durable (less glass, poorer quality glass etc.) I remember the old Riverias. Light but you touch them and get a ding. My L41 is built with top-end materials and you notice it!

Stability is also relative to what is important to you. I prioritize stability over performance yet I want as much performance as I can get. I struggle with more front-to-back stability than side-to-side. I find a shorter board with a wider nose and tail gives me that. It took me a lot of trial and error to figure that out. Reviews and asking questions is great and helped me to narrow my search but ultimately I had to find out what worked for me.

With all that said, my one bit of advice is advice given to me.

"Volume is your friend. If you are questioning the size and volume, you have answered your own question."

Once I heeded that advice, it change how I look at boards. I actually just add a step-up board not down. 7 inches longer and 26 liters more than my other two boards. A more traditional shape to my shorter wider boards. Interestingly, not my most stable board, yet super snappy, fast, and smooth like butter. It is what I like most when it gets bigger. Fits great in my quiver.

Remember, less is not necessarily more!

Happy hunting!

[PonoBill]

The lightest board in the weight-per-liter race would be a sphere with one layer of glass--or perhaps none. You probably don't want that. The point is that weight is partly a function of shape, and partly construction. If a company is aiming to sell a lot of boards and provide any sort of warranty then they need to be robust to accommodate clumsy idiots like me. A custom shaper can make a lighter board if they either build it flimsy or use hyper-expensive materials. Flying Dutchman makes incredibly light boards that are very robust. The price is at the high end and you'll wait at least a year to get one. 

There's no magic solution, all these companies know how to make boards. If a board is light and cheap you can be certain that it won't handle being dropped off your truck--or laid down on a sharp pebble. Heavy and cheap means a lot of material and probably a thick hotcoat and a lot of filler and paint. Expensive and light we've already covered. Expensive and heavy--bad combination.

[B-Walnut]

Yep! I'm definitely exploring the edges of comfort on boards and shapes at the moment. I've never ridden a board with too few liters, so I don't know my lower limit yet.

Going to get a demo this weekend on an NSP Super X 9'x28" 122l which I'm excited to try. Also have a friend who's going to let me take his 114l Blurr V2 out for a few. I expect that to be a disaster but who knows? Only New Deals in the area are the 10x27 122l and a 9x28 104l so I may take a crack at those too. I expect 104 to be distinctly too low on volume for me though.

[Badger]

This is just an observation and I may be wrong. For me, the most stable boards have always been the ones where the deck pad is about equal to the surface of the water. Raising or lowering the volume from that point seems to decrease stability. Higher volume increases glide when paddling.

[PonoBill]

Badger, that's pretty much true. I've been riding a longer, higher volume foil board because of difficulty in swinging my fucked up knee around. But I switched back to my lower volume, shorter, narrower foil board since my knee is behaving a little better, and was surprised to find it more stable in choppy conditions. So much so that I stuck my Flying Dutchman 5'11" on my car. I'm sure it's going to be fine.

[B-Walnut]

This is just an observation and I may be wrong. For me, the most stable boards have always been the ones where the deck pad is about equal to the surface of the water. Raising or lowering the volume from that point seems to decrease stability. Higher volume increases glide when paddling.

I've heard this as well, but am yet to experience since I'm just heading into my 3rd year on the SUP I've spent more time trying different shapes, than different liters in the same shape.

My current situation is a perfect example. The kalama floats the deck pad above the waterline at 126l and is super stable for me. The quatro is closer to the waterline, but wildly unstable for me at 120l. Completely different shapes though so it's hard to compare.