How much does it cost to make you're own board?

[JET01]

One of the guys in the another thread made a comment that he couldn't afford to buy a board so he'll probably have to make his next one.

Mabye i'm missing something here, but how can you afford to make you're own board, but not buy one. With all the tools and chemicals needed to make a board. Wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy one?

Can anyone give me a rough estimate as to how much it would cost to make a board from scratch. And i mean everything, power tools, fibre-glass, PPE, all the bullshit that goes with making a surfboard in your own garage the safe way. Do you have to pay extra at the tip to get rid of the left over chemicals or can they go in the bin?

There's a shaper on Ebay that charges you a fee to go up to the central coast and do a shaping clinic, where you get to shape you're own board. He'll glass it for an extra cost but you have to go back and pick it up a few weeks later. I've always wanted to do it but the response i got on the phone wasn't the most enthusiastic, and it didn't sound like you'd get the attention you'd require if you'd never picked up a plain in anger before.

I would seriously love to shape my own board one day, but I couldn't imagine forking out hundreds of dollars (not to mention the drive from cronulla to long jetty) to shape an absolute hunk of C@@p...

[crooked]

It would cost me thousands to make my own board coz I would stuff it up

Im happy to pay pros to do quality work for me- like a mechanic or a stripper.

[robzig]

[JET01]

if i had my own garage i'd start shaping tomorrow...

but i've got to learn how to surf first...

[chrisb]

I made my own board when I was at school. But that was in the late 1960's!

Materials I bought were a 9 foot foam blank, a fin (it was pre twin fin days), fibreglass and resin from the Shane surfboard factory at Brookvale. I just used a rough metal file/rasp (borrowed from my father) and sandpaper to shape the board. The only additional expense was paint brushes and acetone. No power tools were used - hand filing and sanding doesn't take an inordinately long time ie. if you have the time you don't really need to use expensive power tools.

I was happy with the result. Even my father who was very sceptical in the beginning was pleasantly surprised.

In those days making your own board was about 30%-50% of the cost of buying a new one.

These days, with mass-produced boards becoming common you may find that the cost of making your own board isn't really worth it unless you really want a customised non-standard variety. Also I'm not sure how easy it is to buy foam blanks and whether the board factories encourage it.

[Jimi]

I have a mate making his own boards for around 250 each.
he never spent money on tools and doesnt do it properly, but the boards work. Although he doesn't bother with concaves (too hard to get right for a novice), so he sticks with flat bottoms. They go better than the concaves he has tried to make.

[robzig]

[Jimi]

I have a mate making his own boards for around 250 each.
he never spent money on tools and doesnt do it properly, but the boards work. Although he doesn't bother with concaves (too hard to get right for a novice), so he sticks with flat bottoms. They go better than the concaves he has tried to make.

That is the thing. You can make a board and think it's the best board ever.....because you made it. But in reality it's a piece of shit that doesn't work.

My boards cost me approx $330. That includes blanks, fins & boxes, decals, resin & glass, keeping my tools up to scratch, labour and freight on supplies etc.

So there ain't much in it to sell boards to people who want the cheapest board they can find. That ain't me but my boards are high performance machine that work at the highest level.

Mate of mine doesnt sell his boards (except at cost price to friends who want one) he doesnt pretend they go really well (although he rips on them), they definatly work for him

[JET01]

Think i might go with the guy on the central coast anyway...

Even if it's a lemon... the experience would be fun... and i'd probably appreciate my other boards alot more after i realise how much went into making them.

[channels]

I attempted a make a board once in the early 90's. After creating a very thick, assymetrical craft with uneven rails and bottom contours, I decided that a custom stick from a decent shaper was an absolute bargain. You should try it at least once, and unless you a great with tools and your hands, you too will be happy to support your local shaper.

[Davros]

Maybe shape it with some borrowed tools and get someone to glass it for you. There's bloke a Cromer who'll glass it for you for 150-200. But then its getting exy but although I think blanks are 90 bucks from Brooky.