Im getting ready for a trip to Costa Rica in May, was trying to figure out what would be the right board bag to take on this trip. The plan is to take two boards with me, one would be my 5'8 RNF, the Dimensions are 5'8 19.63 2.32. Other one is a 6'2 thruster, the dimensions are 6'2 18.25 2.25. Should I go with a larger shortboard traveling bag or should i go with fish travel bag.
i use a 7' travel bag and both my boards are under 6'4" its just nice to have that extra space for the padding in the nose and tail.
Check out http://www.midnightproducts.net/id10.html for some ideas on what you might want in a board bag. They make a quality product. Made in USA, too. Then is all comes down to the tricks of board packing.
Like that site; good one. What rodndtube said about packing, yessuh. Plenty of good advice on this forum for board travel. Pipe wrap from Home Depot for every rail. Painter's blue tape secures the pipe wrap without goo'ing up your boards. Nose & tail cover pads. Couple layers of cardboard and or packing bubble wrap to cover the deck of the top board. This is for when the baggage monkeys heave the 60 lb suitcase on top of your board bag & the 60-lb'er lands corner-first on the deck of your board. Use extra pipe wrap as more cushioning against baggage monkey bombing runs. Lock up with a couple TSA padlocks; not great, but better than nothing at all. Spend a couple bucks to seriously gird your sticks against airline handling hell; nothing blows like arriving at your destination & you can't surf because of the chunks that are missing from your boards. Oh. Don't put your leases & fins in the board bag. TSA & baggage monkey sale items.
rodndtube is right, it's all about how you pack. Yeah, TSA will go through your schitt, but generally doesn't "destroy" much....usually, the airlines is the main culprit of destroying your precious cargo. I have a Balin 8' Double Board "Coffin", with transport wheels. Man, they really built those things...you'd have to thrust a sword through it to cause any damage. I only wish I had a shorter one for my short boards (like 6' or less). I have to bend the bag's nose over and wrap it with tie-down straps. I'd be interested if someone had something like that available (hint hint)
