Packaging advise

Do a search, there was a whole thread on this a few months ago.

I started that thread and ultimately got three boards, five sails, and three masts to NZ without any damage.

I found bubble wrap to be of limited value. The stuff I bought was very flimsy and easy to pop. When I next pack boards I will use only corrugated cardboard. I got it from the local storage place and it was vey cheap. Layer it on, join with good quality duct tape, and go extra thick on the rails. It's corrugated on one side and smooth on the other, this allows it to wrap round the rails really well.

For the sails, I rolled in a metre or so of cardboard around the sail and tied it tight with string. The sails were then bundles in twos and wrapped tightly with builder's film and plenty of duct tape. I also heavily bubble wrapped the ends.

Leenis you can get all that good stuff at the windsurfing shop if they have got a delivery recently. They only throw out most of it.
That way you get shaped padding designed for shipping boards and sails an masts.

Unless of course the reason for you doing interstate stuff is there are no shops around....

Here's a cross section of what I ended up with. As i said next time I would not use bubble wrap - possibly just a layer of builder's film instead to tape the card to. I would use extra card instead.



This ultimately only just squeezed into a high quality board bag. Seeing as you do not have a bag then the pool noodle or extra packaging would be advisable on the rails. Perhaps multiple layers of card and duct tape (half a dozen) will do just as well and you could wrap that around more of the rail as I think pool noodle has a fairly small diameter and may not reach around far enough. Try storage or removals suppliers for the card. Laminating over the card with duct tape really toughens it up too, adding impact resistance. It's got to be good quality stuff though. I found Bear brand at Bunnings for 5 dollars per roll which I though was good. The cheap stuff just doesn't stick.

I think I eventually ended up four or five layers thick on the nose and tail, laminated card and duct tape - felt like a boxing glove on each end.




Also, if you can find some tough cardboard boxes cut them up into broad sheets to go on the bottom and deck of the board as extra armour plating for those areas. You're only doing this once so there's no need to skimp on the thickness of your packaging.

Both my booms had passed their use-by dates so I left them behind and bought new in NZ. One of these was couriered from Dunedin and had been heavily packed with bubble wrap around the arms and card around the head. Pretty hard to break a boom though.

Here is how I packed the masts and sails: