Given the amount of pumping prone foilers have to do to connect waves, a stiff board that remains stiff is hugely important. Responsiveness is also directly affected by this.
Some older brands have been known for early board fatigue. I feel most builders are starting to figure this stuff out. Additionally, there’s the question of production boards vs custom boards. I’m suspect of both. I’m not sure what the custom builders are doing to keep their boards stiff. If any of you see this. I would love it if you commented. From what I can see, most are simply adding high density foam over the boxes to connect them to the deck. But is this enough? And in regards to production boards, I feel most aren’t stiff or durable enough, with the exception of a few brands.
Armstrong has their carbon stringers. I don’t think those go top to bottom though. I think they’re maybe at the top and at the bottom, but not fully connect the deck to the bottom of the board. Having said that, my Armstrong boards seem to remain stiffer for longer than others. That said, apart from the new X-form boards, they tend to be heavier than others.
Appletree would be at the top in terms of retaining stiffness. No question there. I think they would sell more boards if they worked on their prone shapes a little more and marketed them a bit better. Most of their focus right now is on parawing boards - understandably. But that’s a different topic. While they have a reputation of being heavy, the smaller boards, 45L and below actually tend to be lighter than others… because Appletree’s extra weight is in the foam. And the smaller boards have less of it.
I have an Amos Kruzer V2. So far after 20 sessions it still feels as stiff as day one. But that’s not a lot of sessions, so jury’s still out on durability. Not sure what he’s doing to reinforce boxes and prolong stiffness. I’ve been considering another in a different size, but I’m waiting on more time on this one to ensure long term durability. Mine has some deck pressures where I stand, like a surfboard, but that’s it so far. Not a dent anywhere else.
Sunova is another that I hear retains stiffness very well. Again, not sure what the secret is there.
As you can see, there’s a lot of brainstorming here and would love you guys’ thoughts. I’ve been looking at certain custom builders to have a 40L board made… but I’m concerned about stiffness durability, hence this post.
In the end, I feel that a combination of high density foam, carbon stringers, carbon boxes and extra layers of carbon back there, along with vacuum bagging (which should be the standard anyway) would be the way to go to make boards that retain stiffness.
Please let us all know your thoughts.
