I'm ready for a new board. I've heard that Local Shappers can get you a better price then buying some of the name brands (CI, Lost, firewire, ect.). But I don't know where to find one lol. I live in New Jersey and ussually surf LBI, or Seaside Heights. Does anyone know of anyone in the area who does quality work? about how much do you think it would cost me?
Expect to pay about $400 and up for a board. There may be cheaper ones around, but that's what I paid for mine so I'm going with that. Just be totally honest with the shaper you're dealing with and you'll be set. Here's the guy I used who is out of Brigantine http://www.gruvshapes.com Awesome guy and really knowledgeable when it came to building boards. I'll post up a pic later. Also, do a search for "local shaper" and that should provide you with other guys that could take of it for you.
i don;t know jersey, but yes, hand shaped flyer-esque board usually costs me $450, an "actual" flyer is at least $650.
I get boards form a shaper who "use" to be local I pay about $450 for a PU board, about $525 for EPS, but unfortunately I have to pay for shipping unless I get lucky and there is already boards coming out to the East Coast andmine gets put in the box with other boards. But I pay the shipping because i know what I am getting everytime. Go to a local shaper and be honest on your ability and what you want your board to do, if you have an old board you liked but want to make some changes then take it with you to show him what it does and doesnt do well. Oh and the most important thing, bring a sixer - the shaper will appreciate it, and you never know he may be building your boards for the next 15 to 20 years. Good Luck!
Wynn, Gallery, Greenlight, Heritage, Mahady, the guy above...they're all in Jersey and that is probably only a small number of them...I'm not even sure who is up north...you can google any of them and get their info. Depending on the type of board your looking for, fin set-up, glassing schedule, etc. anywhere from $400+ and up...determine what you want and then call them all to see your wait time, cost, etc. P
http://www.mahadysurfboards.com/boards.html Check out Tom Mahady. I've dropped his name like 10 times on these forums but he made me an epic longboard at a killer price. Super cool dude and very easy to deal with kept constant contact throughout the process and texted me a picture of my board during each stage. Can't get anymore involved and custom than that!
Off topic...did you ever ask why the EPS boards are 75$ more...the EPS blanks arent more expensive than poly and if hes making his own blanks they're actually cheaper. The 2 quarts of epoxy resin per board might cost $10 bucks more than same amt of poly. I guess time is money and it takes longer to shape and glass EPS/Epoxy?
There are guys on this forum who can probably shape you a board. I've been buying boards on the cheap from a local shaper in Babylon NY called Faktion. He mostly shapes knockoffs of the popular templates like Dumpster Diver, Rocket, Pod, Scorcher, etc. Been real happy with them so far. Not sure if he's got a website but google Faktion and Stay Above the Weather!!
My opinion...its not the blank. Epoxy is typically not production friendly (Kwik kick aside) from what I undersand. Elongated flip times, more potential contamination issues (a dual operation requires different sets of brushes, buckets, clean-up, temperatures issues, etc.), possible allergic reaction, usually your shaper/glasser isn't going to do a one off of epoxy = more time, and to be honest, it just doesn't take color (tints) all that well or polish out without some freaking serious work! But man...do I love epoxy and its derivatives (Resin-X)...personally, I'll use epoxy or RX on all my stuff. Poly just doesn't hold up...and the flex is totally different...
Alex Velit is out of Southern Monmouth County. He's a good shaper, cool dude, and his prices are reasonable. www.av-surfboards.com
theres a dude chaize or something that has a lot of his boards in lightly salted in asbury. looked like some good experimental shapes with a nice gloss finish i got a custom shaped board from rich price desings rpd down in florida. its solid
tom mahady customs yoo my name is James and I surf Long branch and Deal. I was in the same place looking for a local shaper and in the process of shapig my own board as well. I was in the shop picking up resign, cloth and supplies to finish it up and say a couple really sweet customs, the one that caught me eye was a 6'2 shortboard. I got the shapers number, Tom Mahady is the guys name, and got in contact with him. He was super cool about it, shaped my board in 3 weeks for 600 bucks and it is exactly what I wanted. I just took it out this morning for its first test run, it's a sweet board. I definitely recommend him as a shaper, he's local and lives close to you if your surf seaside, he's in Wall. Find him on faceboon he has pictures of my board posted. This is the blog site where you can see the pictures of my board www.mahadysurfboards.blogspot.com Mine is the 5'11 18 1/2 X 2 1/8 with a 5 fi set up good stuff
Contact Gene wahl of Essence surfboards. Makes amazing contemporary boards for all different styles. Has a few great summer time boards too. He has a lot of local knowledge of New Jersey and Knows what boards will work here. http://essencesurf.com/
If you are a shaper that deals in volume, good EPS blanks and epoxy resin can run you $50 or so more than PU/PE. If you buy crap blanks and resin sure you can make an EPS/epoxy board for the same cost as PU/PE. But put crap in and you get crap out. Your shaper should only be using closed cell EPS and you can't make that blank yourself. Add to that more work time and more overhead costs for EPS/epoxy and you should be paying $75 to $100 more. More important than getting a cheap board is making sure your shaper uses good materials.
You said it, brother... In fact, it does not hurt to ask what blank, resin and cloth options you have as a customer. Like rDJ said, quality materials cost more. You get what you pay for.
Rick hit it on the head, crap in crap out. I use top quality US blanks, closed cell eps, the best epoxy and poly resins, top quality fiberglass, Future finboxes and fins but most important my skills as a board builder and knowledge of the East Coast waves. With a local shaper you get a quality product with heart and soul in the board that's made for Jersey waves. rICK 'rdj' is a good friend of mine that uses top quality products for his boards and just like me has very high standards for his boards. There is a lot of really good East coast shapers that have great designs that work really well, just cause we are not well known as the big guys YET, doesn't mean our boards should be cheaper. I'll put my boards up against any West Coast or China pop out crap any day Tom www.mahadysurfboards.blogspot.com www.mahadysurfboards.com
I wasnt advocating crappy materials, i was just curious about $75 more for EPS. The last EPS blank i bought was a Marko foam and I paid $60 for it so it seemed about the same as a US Blanks Poly blank. I have no idea whether Marko is closed or open cell but the board is holding up great after a year of decent use. The guys i know who are hotwiring EPS blanks from billet foam are building boards that hold up really well. Is this stuff all open cell foam? I dont know, but their boards seem really well built. With regard to resin...in small volumes, Resin Research cost about $60/gallon, vs. $40 for poly so that sounded to me like $10 more per board. I think the guy who mentioned the longer flip times was on point. I'm sorry if i offended any board makers by asking a question about price.
i think, & i may be speaking out of turn here as i am not a shaper, that your question may have come off w/ a slightly accusatory tone. so many people try to nickel & dime their way to a cheaper board, not even trying to understand the costs involved, in both materials & labor. not saying that you did that, mind. i'm simply expressing my experiences w/ most folks behavior. so many people get caught up in the concept of "get it cheap" that they lose sight of the quality aspect of board building. i see it all the time in the guys who boast about how surfer 1 got his latest board for $400 from shaper x, then his buddy tells him he got ripped off, b/c he got his board for $350 from shaper y. then surfer 1 goes back to shaper x & *****es about the "high" cost of his board, never pausing to consider the fact that, 6mos after he got his board, surfer 2 is in need of a new board b/c his board has fallen apart underneath him.
You wouldn't believe how often some kid who is in high school or barely out of school and hasn't worked a day in his life tries to haggle board pricing with me. And the usual conversation is, I want a board that I can use in knee high mushy slop but that will also work in overhead bombs and it should paddle easy like a longboard and I want epoxy so its stronger and lasts longer. Then I tell him my epoxy price and he proceeds to tell me that's too much money cause he can buy a PU/PE Lost or CI for only a few bucks more. I'm not trying to imply that this is what the original poster meant. But, you would be surprised how often this happens.
