How long would you expect modern boards to last? Obviously excluding damage in use, transport, etc. People talk about decks going soft, board delaminating, etc due to age. What are some of the things that can go wrong with boards purely from old age?

i see plenty of older boards around (and have one myself) which i think are testament that if you look after them, they can power on for a very long time.

i think if you have a quality board, then de-lamination, soft decks and cracking fin-boxes are signs of abuse, not aging.

I've seen lots of old boards from 80's and 90's in good health. What I don't know is if they sat not being used for extended periods of time and hence the condition.

All things considered, are the new boards (late 2000s) built to last? How long would you expect to keep them for?

Just to draw a comparison, our TV from the 80s still worked as good as the first day 20 years later, till it was replaced for sake of going modern. Any TV we bought after it did not live past 6 years.

What's the go with modern boards?

if your technique is bad,and you slap the board down after going over chop/swell

then the bottom of the board will lose it's shape and

delaminate fast[the skin coming away from the blank core]]

what amazes me is people buy new boards + sails, use them maybe 5 times and sell them half price.

a $1000 sail is only worth $500,so $100 per each use which is exobertant!

if you use a board 20 times per year, expect board to last 6/7 years on average.

140 uses divided by $2000, around $14 per use!

so if you buy new, w/surfing can be a deceptively expensive sport.

wave-boards are built with thicker skin and maybe denser blank core so

will last longer.

but don't quote me on that as i'm only a expert on ct's.

Part of the reason I asked was because some of the second hand stuff is exceptionally cheap, as petermac pointed out. A $2500 board is about half price a year later. If they are only good for 2 years (for argument's sake), then half price board is not a bargain as it's only got half the life left.

petermac33 said...

wave-boards are built with thicker skin and maybe denser blank core so

will last longer.

but don't quote me on that as i'm only a expert on ct's.

Many are not any thicker, and cores are the same. I have an ultralight waveboard that is same construction as a freeride and after 4 years of really being hammered (bloke before me gave it heaps, I've landed 30footers flat often) it was a bit soft in a small area which was easy to repair. It was just a crack in the divinycell so I replaced the sandwich layer - cost $50 and 3 evenings. Now it will go another two years easy.

I also have a 2005 EVO which does have stronger construction than a freeride - it has 2 layers of divinycell sandwich and wood. After 5 years being thrashed it is as new.

From that I surmise that you are not going to cause delam just going over chop and slapping it. It will eventually, as all boards will fall apart one day - but certainly not "delam fast" as you said