Tell me again why your boards start at $700

550 for a custom from the local shaper...cut out the middle man

 

First and most important: if you buy a $700 lost, CI, etc you are paying for a name brand (period)

Boards don't just take foam, cloth resin and catalyst... You gotta pay the help, pay the power, pay the water, pay the advertising, pay for tape, pay for razor blades, pay for fin jig, pay for gatorskin, pay for sand paper, pay for all the shit your help fucks up.

I used to fix dings for a big-time east coast shaper. He's been in business 35 years but margins are still razor thin at $5-600 for a shortboard/fish and about $800 for a LB. He was making as much, if not more, on the ding repair than on the new boards. It's not a biz for the faint of heart.

Edit: I thought of more overhead. ...pay for CNC machine, pay 10k when CNC machine dies and you have to ship it to Australia to be repaired. Then the U.S. gov't wants to charge a huge duty to bring the machine back into the country because they think you are buying it, but you already bought it and already paid the taxes. Damnit! The surfboard game is a constant series of headaches from stress and from breathing toxic shit all day.

 

It's a double edged sword.

you can knock off a couple hundred by getting a custom shape from a lesser known shaper. This does not apply to "name" shapers like Frye and Christenson. Tyler Warren charges up the wazoo.

surf shops need to mark up their goods to pay for overhead. Buy your wetsuits online and have your boards shaped by locals, and eventually the shops will fail to survive.

capitalism is a tough business

 

mostly true, however shops mostly survive on selling t shirts, flipflops and baggies, not new boards and wetsuites

 

Sounds to me like SIMA's Smith is a dumbass. Those prices are way too low. Thats literally what those BS indo/china popouts cost, not a new handshaped board.

 

Sounds like you have an axe to grind

 

Prices are set to what the market will tolerate or bear.
If you refuse to pay for a top makers brand name, buy a Firewire. I think those are shit boards, myself. Have I surf on one?? Yes I have; and Im seriously under impressed.
Having said that, in surfing, I don't buy according to price; I buy what I like. In cars, price will influence me. So, I'm not in an expensive german car, etc., even though I know they are way better quality than most jap or gringo cars.
Para el gusto se hicieron los colores. (For taste, colors were made)

 

Oh that's just because you love poly Barry! Own a couple FW's and love them both. Only complaint is the glassing on the LFT's, not so awesome.

 

Support your local builder.

As previously stated, there's a lot of random stuff that goes into a surfing board like razor blades, tape, acetone, rent, electricity, etc.

With the Clark crash in '05, the major peddlers seemingly pulled a fast one and started charging (based off my fading memory cells) an additional $200-$300 for boards.

Blanks are now a bit more expensive at $40-$80 more than their Clark replacements.

Whatever. The moral of the story is support the little guy, because like headhigh said: you're paying for a name.

Another hidden cost for you is transportation.

 

I've been tempted to glass on a CI logo next boart I make, so I can take it to a fancy surfshop and put it on consignment after I've ridden it to death, and still get $350 for it.

 

Hey...I AM a poly-whore!!
I admit it!!!

 

But if, imho, all my local builders truly suck.......I will order from far far far away for a mo' betta board. Cost be damned.

 

Do you want have a conversation or do you want us all to agree with you about how surfboard shapers are evil money grabbers? I know a few shapers and they aint rich by any stretch of the imagination.

OK lets see here: You cite surf industry info from an NBC news article... from 8 years ago. That information is outdated and irrelevant.

Yes, inflation happens, but there are stronger market forces at play. Example: GPUs for computers. Does inflation explain why a GPU now costs 4 times as much as it did in 2010?

Finally, talking in the third person is the most fuckwit jackass thing you can do.

Peace

 

#fuckwit

 

every shaper i know barely is getting by.