Sunday, February 13, 2011

What’s more important, a good board shape or a good glass job?

What if you have your most favorite surfboard of all time but it has been laminated poorly? What happens usually is the board just doesn’t hold up very long. Dents and dings easy and generally needs fixing in short order. Patched dings put weight on the board that you don’t want… usually… and over a little bit of time the board almost becomes a throw away.

What if you have a board that the shape is not that great but the board has a primo lam job. The board will hold up better and if you decide you just can’t handle the shape you can unload the board without to much difficulty because it’s in good condition. Besides, you may not like the shape or maybe the shape is bad, but, someone else may think the board shape is nice and like the ride a lot… funny how that is sometimes.

I do know one thing, it’s really disappointing to have a board that you aren’t happy with for one reason or another… shape job or lamination. If you think a board is not shaped to your liking then it most likely won’t surf to your liking either. Surfing is mostly mental so if you think something is wrong then something is wrong until you convince yourself other wise.

Now if you have a board that’s laminated poorly you don’t have to convince yourself, it’s a fact plainly seen, by you and everybody else that sees the board. You may really like the ride but you’ll be disappointed with the lam quality and sooner than later you’ll be “over it”.

I’ve heard guys say that surfboards a disposable. If you don’t take care of them then I guess that may be true. But it’s not suppose to be that way. A board that you like, that is laminated well and is well cared for should last quite a long time, depending on how you surf it at any rate.

Of course if you don’t go the traditional route and get a molded board what happens? You”ll buy a model that is tried and proven, you may not like the ride anyway, but it is tried and proven and you can sell it off to someone else if you don’t like the board. If you like the ride then you’re good to go. Take care of the board and it will hold up for you for what? Years?

What if you had to choose between a good shape or a good lamination? What would you choose?

D.R.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I probably would choose having a good shape because one could get used to a board that dents and dings easily, but it would be no fun riding a board that might look really nice but rides like crap.

Aloha,

Derek