|
Post by raymond7204 on Jun 21, 2015 12:06:29 GMT -5
Hi. Can anyone give their experiences with hollow wood SUP performance versus a traditional production board?
For context, I built a 9 foot longboard using Chad's book. The board turned out nice but has a few imperfections because of my woodworking skills. I think it's beautiful to look at, and it surfs okay, but performance wise, it's not as good as my custom shaped 9 foot fiberglass board. Still, I like the board and will surf it occasionally.
As far as a SUP, I'm worried that the weight of a wood board is going to be a factor to performance. I don't expect the hollow wood SUP to be better than a well-balanced, composite production board, but will the difference be significant?
Regardless, I'll probably still build one just for the experience, but I'm interested in your thoughts.
Ray
|
|
|
Post by raymond7204 on Jul 4, 2015 11:37:33 GMT -5
Wow. 30 views and yet no replies. Does anyone have any insight on the performance of their hollow wood SUP?
|
|
|
Post by jensen1031 on Jul 6, 2015 11:04:56 GMT -5
Raymond,
Just launched my board this weekend, so I can finally provide insight . ill be posting pics on the "NJ SUP" build soon.
The main difference is the weight. My board weighs a TON. Easily 75-80 lbs, compared to maybe 20 on the commercial foam/fiberglass boards. That makes a huge impact on travel and transport that I am finding out. Storage is also an issue.
Performance wise, I find it very comparable to the commercial boards. I coundn't be happier. I have some grip issues that Im going to have to put a pad down. Since my board has a narrower nose I found it to chop through waves a lot easier than the rounder, flat nose on my wife's board. (we are on a barrier island in NJ, so the bay gets 1-2' waves mainly caused by boat traffic). The rocker is a little greater on the wood board as well so the board is faster than I expected. No balance/stability issues and the board steers straight. I did notice, and some people mentioned this on other threads, that the SUP sits a little lower in the water. I blame me being fat, more than the design of the board . As a result, your feet get a little wetter.....but not an issue at all.
So in the end, its a great design, but just get ready for some heavy lifting. There are some things you can do to cut the weight, but I cant see any of them being very significant. Hope this helps
|
|