How many boards is too many boards?

My quiver is way oversized, mostly due to my habit of shaping boards and then not wanting to get rid of any. I have about 12 (five of which i shaped myself and can't stand to part with). I like them all, which is the problem: I'm constantly riding different boards, and sometimes feel like i dont ever really get one dialed in properly.

 

I have 8--I cycle through 5 of them...2 of them will likely cover everything we get on the EC and go to the beach with me about 90% of the time. The rest are specialty boards (step-up, super groveler, special boards I keep on "ice" for the future) or have a sentimental value. I think a solid 3 board quiver should be sufficient for anything the EC could throw at us (groveler, DD, step-up).

IMHO this is too many...

 

Not possible to have too many...what I use...
-1 set of churchhills for body surfing
-6' foamie for shorebreak
-9' LB and a 7' mini LB for ankle slappers
-5'6 retro quad for 1-3 ft
-5'8 Rocket fish for 2-4 ft
-5'10 Rocket SB for 3-pretty much anything NOFLO throws my way
-6'3 CI Black Beauty traveler or all time Florida
What I own but never ride...
-Booger (really just for use when I can't take a board somewhere)
-7'0 single from the 1970s (too big for me..but its worth something... WRV offered a straight up trade for
any board in the shop 10 years ago)
-collection of 3 or 4 6' range beater SBs and hybrids...learners, loaners, or give away boards
+ a host of boards scattered across VA and NC which we established on a forum last year that I am a jerk for leaving at peoples houses over the last 14 years which may or may not still be mine

 

You can never have too many. Some boards that I almost sold or traded away I know rediscovered, they take on a new feel for you as your surfing progresses. Do most people hold on to their first board?

 

11.
9 or 10 is just enough.

 

Don't get caught up in the giant quiver syndrome. A friend of mine has 20 boards and rides the same one all the time.....unless your a world traveler you have no need for a huge quiver. Get a fish, SB, HPLB, Log and everyone has a go to board that they like above all others. Keep it simple and spend more time surfing and less time wondering which board you're gonna ride today.

 

Too many. It's best to sum up why so many this way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il2sPIJoBNk

With a large quiver, you can grab whatever board ur in the mood for. I go with "morning mist" every single time

 

got 4 board which cover all the bases at least for jersey , hypto krypto ,shred sled ,sweet potato and a joel tudor LB.

 

I have 4 at the moment:
-5'3 Mini Simmons (my go to board)
-6'0 Al Merrick k-small quad
-6'7 vintage Nomad single-fin
-4'11 chopped up beater shorebreak board

 

I have 11, one is my first that I learned on. A few need major restoration and fall in the "someday" category. A few work for teaching. A few hang on walls to make me look cool. But I pretty much only ride three - short, fun, LB

 

Have 5 boards plus boogie. WRVs 9' lb, 7'7 fish, 7'2 fish, older 9' and 8ft Perfection pin. Solomon BB. Makes for lots of versatility and friends can use one if their along for the ride. Prob'bly pick another log and all around board to add to the quiver.

 

In a way, it's been stated already...if you have so many and have a hard time choosing which one to ride, or if you're in the line-up and wishing you'd brought a different one, perhaps you have too many.
I like to keep it simple...one for small waves, one for medium waves, and two to choose from for bigger waves.
Kinda depends on the surf in your area. That and the amount of traveling to other waves you might do.
(But I like the idea of renting a board through swell info's service. The airlines deserve it.)

 

A hplb is designed to be ridden more like a shortboard, so it has a different rocker, bottom contours, outline, fin config... than a log, which is designed to glide and trim and noseride. Really, the only thing the same about the two is the length!

To the OP... my answer would be, "when you run out of storage space." Personally, I chose from a quiver of 5 boards, four of which get 95% of my water time - a log, a fish, a hpsb, and what I call an East Coast Gun... a board for the biggest days of the year. It's really just a longer shortboard with a modified bottom design.

 

I don't think any amount is too many, if you have room to store them, can afford them and most importantly: actually have time and conditions good enough to enjoy them all. Nothing breaks my little raisin-of-a-heart more than going to buy a board off of craigslist and some rich yuppie has a garage full of boards collecting dust, 4 pristine Bing logs of similar dimensions that never get enjoyed but the owner can't bare to part with any of them. There's a big difference between a supple quiver and being a straight up hoarder.

 

I still have mine after almost 17 years, it's beat to hell and will never see the water again most likely, but still got it.

 

boards that still float... about 6 or 7, ranging from 5'10 fish to 9'6 nose rider. Plus the body boards and other misc crap my garage is pretty full. I am plotting on another board or two pretty soon.... There are probably 5 or 6 beaten old boards up in the attic. My first board is up there, as well as the first one I shaped, matter of fact there is an un-glassed, fresh shaped blank up there that is like 5'9x 19. Not sure what I was thinking, but I could give one of you groms a good deal on a "custom" board...

 

I have such a hard time selling boards. I get emotionally attached to them unless its a turd or I never really used it. I still have my old Gary linden 6 foot swallow tail I learned on. Its destroyed and probably couldn't ever ride it again but I'm never getting rid of that thing

 

5'9 not so mini Simmons
6'0 hp shortboard
6' 3 hp shortboard
5'7 garage shaped mini driver
7' foamie
5' 10 fish
3 bodyboards (1-3 foot board, 4-7 foot board, 7-12 foot board)
Churchills

I am 6'3 and age 14 and 135