I'm sure it's been discussed, I'm buying new board and the carbon version is about another 800 bucks, at about 1.3 kg lighter what are the other benefits ?
I windsurf and justify spending more for canon rigging as it stiffer so you feel the rig better and it lighter but on the down side not as good at dealing with impact as Ali .
I Can see that maybe this stiffness for a sup may give better feeling through the board but how much advantage is that riding a wave or paddling for one ?
Any thoughts towards justifying me spending another 800 would be much appreciated :-)
Hi skipd,
I bought two (very different ) carbon boards new and Im really happy to have drained my wallet for the reasons being the boards feel lighter to paddle, means you can last longer, more responsive and a better feel under foot. I like the strong but still flexible feel of carbon and apparently it will last a while! I think I would have regretted buying other construction but Im stoked with my boards and glad I paid the extra :)
Hi Windara, did you have other standard eps construction boards before the carbon, if so how much better are the carbon, can I ask what brand type dimensions carbon boards you are riding :-)
Yeh I demoed a bunch of boards, if fact I cant remember how many ha!... thanks to the local shop. I have a 2014 Naish 14' carbon GX glide for flat water and ocean down winders and a 2014 starboard 8'3 brushed carbon WP for the surf. I really like the weight advantages and lighter feel. The small board is really nice to throw around. But that's just my thoughts. I think the key is to demo as much as you can.
IMO.. these light weight boards have one or two advantages .. and three of four disadvantages.
I'm with DJ on this one. I demoed a full carbon custom and although it was great on the wave, it flipped about in the wind and didn't really make much of a difference paddling for a wave. Another con was the fact that the black (unpainted) finish was no good in direct sunlight and dinged very easy.
I have yet to be sold on the added cost vs benefits.
That was
One of my concerns about it being effected by the wind, not having demo one in wind or at all I can't say
Also, one of these disadvantages is once some water come in this light board even through a small crack, there is money value loss on this past feather weight becoming a standard weight board.
The only true disadvantage of a carbon board is that you will sell everything else once to surf the lightweight one.
I have two boards exactly the same. One is made with bamboo construction and one is brushed carbon. These are identical models with the same fin set up. The carbon one is 6 pounds lighter and costs 500 dollars more.
Both boards surf well. The carbon one surfs waves sportier. It's easier to throw around and up faster on the entry. The big plus? When I'm done, it is SO much easier to carry back up the stairs. Who said that money can't buy happiness?
They perform better on the wave (less swing weight so easier to turn) but they bounce around more in the chop and the wind under the nose slows them down more when taking the drop. A heavier object in motion has more forward momentum. Pros and cons. If you don't have to carry it too far to the surf I wouldn't spend the extra money.
Thanks for the feedback peeps, not sure about the water in rationale , I don't water getting in any of my boards ? Intersting points for and against, the weight seeming to be the biggest pro. As I am coming from a 9,6 32 wide board to hopefully a pocket rocket the weight difference is quite a lot. I demoed the Candy (pink) pocket rocket this week and had a blast on it,. I guess I am yet to be sold on the carbon, If I had money to burn I would prob get one , but for the budget conscious not sure if the carbon represents enough advantage to justify the extra $.
I like to build my EGlass boards at around 900 grams per foot and thats including deckgrip and fins EG: 8'0 =7.2kg.
The construction I use is very tough no rail dings from paddles although you do get a bit of deck denting.
I can build lighter but you get more deck dents .
I like the feel of EGlass as it has a little bit of movement thru the board, its a bit hard to describe it as flex, but it does feel more comfortable to me.
So what weights are you talking about?
carbon is nice when you want to have a board easier to throw around for tight, radical turns, or to control the flex of very thin longboards. I would advise to get light carbon boards only the your 'contest' boards for small waves (the ones you take when you want to push your limit), and use non-carbon for your boards for cool riding or challenging conditions where some weight can be helpful.
What Kami says is that carbon is not lighter than glass fiber: you get a lighter board because carbon is stronger so you can use less materials, very often a lighter foam blank, less dense thus quicker to gobble up water when a crack develop somewhere. The typical scenario is you have a very hot board (carbon heats quickly on the beach), and when you put it in the water, it cools a lot and sucks air big time... and water if the crack is in contact with water. And once the water is in the blank, you wont get all of it out. Cracks develop easily unseen near the handle, even after some days in $2500+ boards.
Note that there are boards where carbon is added on top of a standard construction, thus yielding carbon boards heavier than normal boards, but stiffer and more responsive. I tried a 10'10" thin longboard SUP and the feeling was incredible, no energy lost.
And on the other hand, impact resistance is given more by a sandwich construction, so non-carbon sandwich boards can make good light boards too.
Personally I like a lot the feeling of non-sandwich full carbon boards, but they need to be well reinforced, especially in the rails, otherwise they wont stay light long. My favorite construction now is a sandwich deck to prevent heel dents and a more "direct drive" feeling, kevlar rails for impact resistance, and non-sandwich in the hull for smoother chop handling. Carbon is nice, especially if used on the internal skin of the sandich, with glass on the external skin for better impact resistance and heat prevention.
Standard construction in any board is great and will do the job, just don't get on a carbon board because then you will realise what you are missing out on.
Same thing goes with cheaper inflatables, soft tops etc. they will all do what you want them to fine until you try something slightly better and then you will need to upgrade.
Two solutions buy what you are comfortable with spending now and don't tease yourself with anything else or throw he money out there and look at it as an investment because you know down the track you will probably end up there.
Select to expand quoteskipd said..
That was
One of my concerns about it being effected by the wind, not having demo one in wind or at all I can't say
wind????? if its gets over 12 knots, I go kiteboarding :)
Colas, as always your posts are interesting and informative, there are so many different constructions , it seems. As I am pretty keen on the pocket rocket by Starboard the choice is fairly straight forward as I am only choosing between 4 different types, the candy being the lightest next to the carbon , and cheapest and it's pink :-/ (the porta rican girls liked the one I demoed the other day !!) . Yes I agree over 12 knots and I could almost be windsurfing ,, yes I am a little hesitant to demo Carbon just on case it is to good. But really in the end I don't think at my skill level and experiance it is going to really have much advantage getting carbon, plus I can use the $ saved for a trip to Indo :-)
Thanks for all your input , it's definitely good to here from people riding carbon boards .
blah blah blah still no weights posted up.
How can you tell the value of that extra grand for a carbon board if you guys won't post board weights.
does a 10% reduction in board weight = an extra $500 to $1000 cost
Select to expand quoteboardbumps said..
blah blah blah still no weights posted up.
How can you tell the value of that extra grand for a carbon board if you guys won't post board weights.
does a 10% reduction in board weight = an extra $500 to $1000 cost
Overall weight is not everything.
- reduced weight at the extremities (the nose mostly) is much more important than overall weight
- added stiffness help a lot to keep speed in turns
Recently I "upgraded" 2 of my boards from a 100% carbon construction to a stiffer carbon+sanwdwich+kevlar with a denser foam blank (foam beads more tightly bond together). The difference in riding is noticeable, the new boards feels much faster and energetic... although being heavier! (0.9 kg more for the 6'8", 2kg more for the 8'2"). The heavier boards are less nimble to correct slight mistakes on takeoff, and I have to anticipate a bit more the board reactions in turns, but the stiffness gains are much more worthwhile than the weight gains from my experience as a non-competitive rider (weight gains may be more important for better riders than me for contests)
This means that carbon can add a lot to the performance of the board, even without weight gains.
Select to expand quoteskipd said..
As I am pretty keen on the pocket rocket by Starboard the choice is fairly straight forward as I am only choosing between 4 different types,
From what I know of the starboard line, the brushed carbon construction seems really worth it, both because the other constructions does not seem so great (from my local repairman input), and because the brushed carbon line has both sandwich and (some) carbon, so are both tougher and lighter than the other constructions of the brand.
But is it worth a trip to Indo? ... maybe not :-)
Select to expand quoteboardbumps said...
I like to build my EGlass boards at around 900 grams per foot and thats including deckgrip and fins EG: 8'0 =7.2kg.
The construction I use is very tough no rail dings from paddles although you do get a bit of deck denting.
I can build lighter but you get more deck dents .
I like the feel of EGlass as it has a little bit of movement thru the board, its a bit hard to describe it as flex, but it does feel more comfortable to me.
So what weights are you talking about?
Don't worry about it - just keep building your boards the way you do! 
I recently had the pleasure of borrowing a 8'8 maverick you made for another big guy...it ripped!
Select to expand quoteboardbumps said...
blah blah blah still no weights posted up.
How can you tell the value of that extra grand for a carbon board if you guys won't post board weights.
does a 10% reduction in board weight = an extra $500 to $1000 cost
Weight differences on Starboard website. It's about 1.64kg for about $750, candy about 1750$ and carbon about 2500$ I think,
Say hello to my new stick, $1200 for the package
that is a good price. new? who thru?
i question the carbon also. HOW do you repair those things?
Riding in Perth, well not sure where you ride but my main two spots are mettams and trigg, and you have heaps of boundies sticking up and shallow sections of sand or rock, destined to have damage at some stage...
Select to expand quoteCAUTION said..
i question the carbon also. HOW do you repair those things?
Carbon is just like fiberglass, you can repair carbon with fiberglass just fine.
Of course you can also buy a small patch of carbon cloth for your repairs if you want stronger repairs.
Be careful when sanding carbon, it is much less resistant to abrasion, and you sand through it like butter if not careful. You can see it as you can cut it much more easily than glass with scissors.
2012 - 13 model from Gumtree (online classifieds )
Has the windsurf option which could be a bit of fun as I also windsurf .
It is the same weight as 2014 blue AST model. (Not that I have put on scales, just spec notes) Seems in excellent condition , anyway it's all theoretical until I get it in the water.
It would have been nice to buy new, as I had trialed same board from shop in north Freo ,but it just came up and seemed like a good deal, the paddle is carbon and the board bag is super heavy duty (custom made in Bali, apparently) so should be good for that Indo trip.
Thanks for the opinions and advice on the carbon v other construction.
Maybe when I add another board to the collection I might go for the carbon option.
Ive tried a fair few boards now, and gotta say that my Carbon starby is way more fun too ride .. It does get blown around a bit more but only in 15knot +
winds ... And can catch waves waaaaaay easier than the wood sandwich model ..Like 2 strokes and I'm away ... It kinda feel s like the carbon just floats better or rides faster or something .. Don't no exactly but i don't think i could go back now .. And can go shorter with the more float too ...
I say find 1 sec on hand and love it !!
Next time maybe, I'll see how this one goes and let you know how I get along with it.
Select to expand quotecolas said..
carbon is nice when you want to have a board easier to throw around for tight, radical turns, or to control the flex of very thin longboards. I would advise to get light carbon boards only the your 'contest' boards for small waves (the ones you take when you want to push your limit), and use non-carbon for your boards for cool riding or challenging conditions where some weight can be helpful.
What Kami says is that carbon is not lighter than glass fiber: you get a lighter board because carbon is stronger so you can use less materials, very often a lighter foam blank, less dense thus quicker to gobble up water when a crack develop somewhere. The typical scenario is you have a very hot board (carbon heats quickly on the beach), and when you put it in the water, it cools a lot and sucks air big time... and water if the crack is in contact with water. And once the water is in the blank, you wont get all of it out. Cracks develop easily unseen near the handle, even after some days in $2500+ boards.
Note that there are boards where carbon is added on top of a standard construction, thus yielding carbon boards heavier than normal boards, but stiffer and more responsive. I tried a 10'10" thin longboard SUP and the feeling was incredible, no energy lost.
And on the other hand, impact resistance is given more by a sandwich construction, so non-carbon sandwich boards can make good light boards too.
Personally I like a lot the feeling of non-sandwich full carbon boards, but they need to be well reinforced, especially in the rails, otherwise they wont stay light long. My favorite construction now is a sandwich deck to prevent heel dents and a more "direct drive" feeling, kevlar rails for impact resistance, and non-sandwich in the hull for smoother chop handling. Carbon is nice, especially if used on the internal skin of the sandich, with glass on the external skin for better impact resistance and heat prevention.
colas... excellent post.... thanks!
Select to expand quoteboardbumps said..
blah blah blah still no weights posted up.
How can you tell the value of that extra grand for a carbon board if you guys won't post board weights.
does a 10% reduction in board weight = an extra $500 to $1000 cost
Ha ha.... I tried to get board weight info for months and gave up...
I was looking for 9'6 Prowave numbers....
I got them myself:
9'6 Prowave with pad... no fins
LTD (carbon)= 7.7 kg ---17.0 lbs ($2,400 US)
HRS = 9.7 kg ---21.4 lbs ($1,479 US)
I opted for the the HRS.... only 4 lbs more...and a lot tougher..... I'll keep the extra $1,000 
Personally I have always said when it came to surf SUPs or for that matter windsurfing boards that carbon was a complete wank unless you were an elite surfer. So when I jumped onto a carbon Starboard board about 12 months ago (which thanks to my local shop I got for an awesome price) I was so surprised that it really did make a difference. The acceleration was instant the feel of the board was far more connected it was just completely different. Now if I was getting a long board SUP personally I would go for a heavier construction cause there is nothing like having a good bit of weight and glide in a longer board, but if I was looking at something sub 10 ft then carbon for my money is the only way to go.
I have two carbon 2013 starbys and they're worth every cent. Faster, quicker, lighter, only thing is they tend to be a bit corky in the water. But gimme that any day if I only have 6kg to carry.
