Al Merrick Double Helix

dang man, ive never heard of that happening to a board after a day of surfing. IT couldve been a knockoff board that slipped into the shop.

 

yeah thats weird as ****. if youre not happy with what they send you just call up CI and yell at them cause thats a load of bs. A company like CI definately doesnt want to be criticized thats for sure.

 

This year I have heard so many horror stories about poorly glassed CIs.

 

yeah man my fishcuit cracked along the stringer the first day. it was a 2 inch crack. and the "surf shop" (farias) i bought it from wouldnt do sh!t for me..they said that i must have been duck diving to hard, which doesnt make to much sense cuz the waves were maybe waist high at the max and i didnt do to muck duck diving. im glad to hear that your getting something done with your board

 

first of all, totally cut ties with that shop. a good shop should have your back in a dispute. second for your next board, USE A LOCAL SHAPER. The big mass-producing board companies have an interest in quantity not quality and if you have an issue with a board from your local guy, you drive to his shop and talk about it with him.

 

I have yet to see a local shaper that can shape a shortboard that will perform to any ability. Al Merrick makes boards for some of the best surfers in the world, i doubt that the "Local Shapers" have anyone other than kooks shreddin there boards. If i went to a local shaper do you honestly think they can shape me a 6'0" x 17.5" x 2" without breaking the board in half while shaping it or makin the tail 3in thick come on.

 

Yeah that's what a good shop should do. Next time I'd try a local guy though. There's nothing quite like having a board tuned to your exact dimensions.

 

Again with this local shaper stuff come on man!!

 

plus with a local guy, you don't have to wait to ship it to across country. just drive it to his shop. Probably saves like 6 days.

I should point out the obvious that you probably wouldn't even have that type of construction defects from a local craftsman (as opposed to a machine and Nyguen the Glasser).

 

Lets be honest there aren't many "local shapers" around NJ that can compete with the quality coming from most Ca. shapers. The only few i can think of are AJW, and WRV. Both are not from NJ but at least the east coast. AJW does not even shape on the east coast that often anymore.

I would PREFER to buy local, but I am not going to sacrifice performance.

 

bullsh$t. if anything the quality is BETTER from a local person who takes the time to do ALL facets of board construction right. Ever here of Brian Wynn?

 

When was the last time someone one a WQS event or a WCT event on a Brian Wynn surfboard?

 

Lax, I'm sure that the local shops you go to know the shapers in your area.

 

As much as I love locally shaped boards or at least the idea of it, my best board before the one I hand shaped myself came from California. Before that board, a buddy and I each had a local board done and they were exremely fragil and I couldn't get a call back on how best to deal with the damage. Ended up fixing it myself as best I could, rode and enjoyed the board for a year before outgrowing it. It takes years to learn all the facits of shaping and glassing. A board can look beautiful when you pick it up but just fall apart whether it is from a local shaper or not. Unfortunately when there is not enough support for a small guy in the beginning, giving him the time to earn his stripes, his shaping just dries up. I was happy to support the local shaper I bought from and was willing to deal with the issues just to give him a chance to learn more, become better and hopefully be one of the best around someday. That said his boards were and are light years ahead of my hand made hack jobs .

 

granted a new guy is probably going to have issues but an established guy (like Wynn) who has been around a while has demonstrated his ability since if he built junk he'd be out of business.

 

I have had quite a few boards shaped by small shapers, and they held their own. I didnt mean to say any small time shaper cant compete with a large output shaper, because there are plenty of small shapers like wynn, wooster, erie, etc. that shape reallly realy good board. Just not many in NJ.

Although, i have heard lots of good things about Wynn boards and should probably consider making one of his boards my next purchase. He could mostly likely dial into small NJ coast waves like no one else.

 

ever hear of graham preston?> best boards i ever rode....theres no way a local shaper is gonna be less quality than a shelf board...even if its lost or CI...if anything its gonna be just as good or better....btw theres a used 4'11 x17x2 sittin in right coast shaped by graham go check it out...