I've clicked on a couple of those little "best wave for today" icons next to the forecast, which takes you to Global Surf Industries website... What has shocked me is the price for a couple of those boards. Today's model, the magic mushroom in SLX epoxy is $660 clear and $700 with a spray. I just got my 4th custom Coil, in my opinion the pinnacle of board technology and light years from a GSI, and they run $700, which includes shipping. Something seems a bit off...
gsi is a major chinese board company geared towards new surfers. atleast my sweet potato was made in thailand lol.
$2800 in short boards, impressive. I bought an Italian motorcycle at an auction once for about that...
You guys are all tripping buying $700 surfboards.
do you know how many handcrafted customs i could buy for $2800, not saying that coil is a bad board, just expensive
not sure where everyone is getting the $2800 number...the OP didn't say he bought all 3 boards, nor are all 3 coils. he's comparing the most recent custom coil (a company who he considers to be at the pinnacle of advanced surfboard construction & produced here in the USA) he bought for $700 to 2 GSI boards recommended by the ad at the top of the swellinfo forecast page, which have a MSRP of $600 & $700, respectively.
GSI's boards are cheap, crappy, poorly glassed excuses for surfboards. shops like them b/c they have relatively high margins, so they get more bang for their buck, & can even "mark down" the boards & look like they're giving you a deal. it's pretty sad that this is what surfing has come to...& while a lot of it comes down on the shops for even beginning to carry boards like that, the same shops are almost obligated to continue carrying those products b/c it's become what their customers want...7S superfish, NSPs, mctavishes, robert augusts, most SUPs, webbers, the list goes on...
I have a Webber Fatburner ( no longer made I think ). It's regular polyester/polyurethane construction. The glass job has held up well and it's the best all 'round board I've ever ridden. It's made in Thailand by people who definitely do not surf but they do make boards all day long every day. Almost all boards today are computer assist shaped and then finished by hand, just like GSI. I only paid 299.00 new. That was a deal. I took it to Barbados at Christmas and an English guy was there who was familiar with Webbers and didn't have a problem. He thought they made good boards. I think the hostility is an American thing. As far as the 700.00 goes, that's for the new Epoxy vacuum bagged process they have ( over a regular shaped blank ). I haven't surfed one but they're probably strong and light and if designed by somebody like Greg Webber ( used to shape boards for Taj ) who knows their stuff they'll be a good board. For 700.00 I might buy domestic just to avoid the stink eye.
glass,
for a small time shaper, $300 new is barely enough to cover the cost of making a board. that's where the problem lies, IMO. companies like GSI can build & sell boards for what it costs an independent to build one custom board b/c they pay their employees pennies & don't have to abide by the same regulations that domestic shapers do. i get that everyone wants a deal, but eventually the small scale, local shaper will be a thing of the past & all we'll be left w/ is companies like GSI, the walmart of surfing.
as far as the vaccum-bagging process, domestic shapers are & have been doing it for some time...small scale guys like scott busby in nc, & larger production guys like coil in (i think) fla. you don't need to go GSI or surftech to get a light, strong, durable board. to be honest, almost ALL of the glassing issues i have seen, particularly fin plug problems, have been on GSI products.
so it's really not a question of whether GSI makes a good board or not (IMO, they don't), it's a matter of how they are systematically squeezing smaller shapers out of the business. yes, "hardcore" (or whatever you want to call them) surfers will still want to order custom boards, but most shapers DO NOT make $$$ on custom orders, not a significant amount, any way. they make $$$ from selling stock boards to local surf shops. besides word of mouth, showing their work off in shops is how they get their name out there. if cheap GSI boards are taking up rack space, something has to make way for it. will it be CI, ...Lost, etc...? not a chance. it's your local shaper that will have to take a backseat to make room for more popouts, SUPs, & charlie-made surfcraft.
Money is the real reason I went with Coil, you can chastise me all you want for spending the money now (yes, all 4 are custom Coils, 3 i got a shop employee rate), but I bet I make out better than you in the long run. I'm pretty confident, as are most Coil riders, that they last as long as 2 if not 3 poly boards. Do the math now. My first one is now 3 years old, is still pretty white, with barely any heel marks and not a single ding.
not to derail this thread but, how's the flex on those?Originally Posted by Exit98Surf
not that i'm in the market for a new board, but i am also interested in learning more about the coils...
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