ok so surfboard warehouse has some pretty cheap boards, I went online on their page and the chat thing came up, it's 100 bucks postage to west oz which seems ok,,, anyway the person I was talking too reckons they are opening a store in Perth in Osbourne park in three four weeks...
Im going to go in no doubt ,,, and yes we should all use local shapers and I still do BUT ........
1) anyone had a board from there
2) how did it go compared to others
3) what's the build like
4) is the shape as good as others??
5) did it last ?
look I know they are poppies etc etc but for 4-500 bucks a board they look as good construction as the firwewires and the like so please any feedback is thoroughly appreciated...
dont say their rubbish unless you have had one please
theres guys on here happily paying $600 for mick fanning soft boards so lets look at this subjectively please
I had a 5'10 Tajen that was on Sale for $399 ($520 with postage).
Its kinda Hypto'ish, but chunky railed up front with a beak nose.
Construction seemed ok, its full carbon wrap. I was interested in it from the video they're throwing it off a bridge & taking it on a flight without a board bag. Only issue was one rear quad fcs plug was too tight & I had to file it a bit.
It went ok but I prefer a couple of other boards I have that I ride in similar conditions. I found the shape didn't drive well off the bottom turn coz of the rail. It was the board I swapped the other day.
Couple of other shapes look ok from the pictures but I'd only buy another one if I was checking it out at that store thats opening & prices were the same as Qld. They actually already have a warehouse here that you can pick up from, but they only have SUPs atm.
I needed a cheap rehab board after an injury brought a 6'8" Delta 42 lt surprised me how well it went considering, build was OK and is like any other glass board I have had for wear and tear.
Cant say the other shapes have much appeal to me.
Like Ifocus, I think their shapes are more aimed at the gutless puss they surf on the east coast and a lot hold little appeal for over here.
Having said that, I have bought three off them.
First was a 6'10" Fountain of Youth. That is a sensational board and easily the most versatile board I have ever owned. Knee to waist high peelers at snapper is what I bought it for. It has surfed 6-8' waves in Vicco and 6' Yals. Holds in, paddles well, surprisingly loose. Just a wicked board. It also has a 6/6/6 Oz glass job so it is tough as nails. A lot of their boards do have soft glass jobs, but that isn't a criticism.
I bought a surf SUP off them and it seems to go well, but since it is the only SUP I have used I don't have a big breadth of experience to make a judgement on.
I also have a 7'6" mini-mal that I have left in Queensland to stop Qantas killing my boards. It goes so well that I have thought about bringing it over here or buying one for here. It also has the triple six glass job.
All my customs get that glass job so I am happy with the build quality and strength. I have had worse quality glass jobs from custom manufacturers (ssshhh don't tell the wife).
i have bought all my TSBW boards on sale. The fountain of youth was $400 with a cover and Leggie. The mal was $600. Great value.
Despite all this, 8 of my last ten boards have been customs.
Every board off the rack is a pop pop out and what I don't understand is why brands like DhD and Pyzel charge so bloody much when there is still a profit to be made at TSBW price point. Frequently I can get a custom cheaper than the name brand pop outs that are designed to wear out.
Oh. And when I bought the Fountain of Youth I bought it with a ding in the rail from the shop. I noticed it when I was waxing up to surf it. So I surfed it and rang them after the surf. They wanted to see it. It was obviously an old ding and after inspection they gave me a brand new board.
THAT is fantastic customer service!
I've almost got the soulstice as a summer mal a couple of times when it's on sale. Only thing stopping me was not being able to check it out in the flesh. Having a shop here would be good. Reckon people will still always buy customs regardless
Gents thank you for all the info and feedback, summarising what everyone has said is obviously same shapes leave a bit to be desired but there are a few that are good and hold their own
Thank you for the info on strength ,!ive had a couple customs in the last two years that just didn't last as long as one may hope, 6,6, glass job sounds decent.
so apparently the shop is going to be Osbourne park, based on what you gents have said I'll definitely get in there an likely pick one up.
my last mal cost me 13-1400 bucks without fins and yeah it's a comp board but I can't afford a back up at that price,,, 5-700 bucks I'd be happy to part with for a backup...
they have that villain shape similar to the vanguard/Omni/sci-fi not different but there $500
my biggest hesitation is in regards to most peoples concerns where I want to physically hold and feel a board prior to buying it especially in the case of off the rack ones..
the two shapers i get my boards from are awesome awesome and I will still get my proper big wave boards and ripper boards from them...
it it would be nice to have a decentish off the rack board that goes well but your not scared about leaving it in the car through spring and autumn when you can sneak an after work surf in.
Theres no way I'd leave a 1000 buck FireWire with 300 buck set of quads and $50 leash and 50 tail pad in the car during work (1400 bucks total)
some of the short boards are 400-500 on sale and an eBay set of semi decent fins for $50 would go in them so I think affordable and something that when you surf you may actually get more waves/barrels cause your not pooing yourself about snapping a 1500 buck board...
Im keen to find out more when they open,, old mate on messenger on their web page said he doesn't know what stock etc etc they will have straight away but I'm pretty sure with all the other warehouses you should be able to place an order and get one over at same price if they don't have your desired size/colour whatever.
Please feel free to chuck up any more info or opinions
Why dont you buy second hand there's hundreds for sale in top condition by good shapers and cheaper than warehouse crap.
Hey razz I surf one of those villains for around perth
picked it up over east $400 with a bag, leggier and tail pad and can't complain about it at all, good board solid as a rock as well
Select to expand quoteRicardo1709 said..
Why dont you buy second hand there's hundreds for sale in top condition by good shapers and cheaper than warehouse crap.
The 2nd hand market in WA is nothing like the east coast, there are a couple of local shapers that I know have made heaps of certain models but you never see them resale.
Bought a second hand 9"2" Vintage Log mal on Gumtree Perth, which came from Surfboard Warehouse .
The board was in as new condition when i bought it and within a very short time the the glass on the rails has split.
This has caused the board to de-laminate on the deck and water log it.
The Fin box has been has been smashed to pieces (after hitting the reef) resulting in me having to glass the fin in.
After one wipeout the leggie ripped through the glass and foam on the nose for about 300mm.
Crapiest board i have ever bought.
Should have made one myself for less money
Would have loved to have bought a locally made second hand board but as IFocus says ," The 2nd hand market in WA is nothing like the east coast".
Buy at own Risk
I have 2 Tajens. I bought the first one and liked it so much I bought the next size down. If you compare them in their respective sizes to hyptos they have less volume compared to the same length hyptos but are wider and thinner. Both the hyptos and the tajen pack a lot of foam into their board shape though. I've never bought a hypto as I need plenty of foam and the hyptos always felt like a barge under the arm in the longer sizes. Also didn't like the amount of deck denting I would see on any used ones (GSI made). Mate had a custom poly that underwhelmed him which also gave me pause.
Unlike Mick's experience I have found no problem with them driving off the bottom. I have swapped boards with a mate out in the water and he said he'd prefer it a thruster so it's a case of one guys magic board is another's worst dog ever scenario.
If you like to really weight your front foot and make sure you move your feet around then your impression could be all good.
I don't ride any of my boards as thrusters due to a bad back and so have to set them up as loose as possible in the fin dept. So I ride them with twins/twin + trailer or quad fins. Switchblade quads from Outer islands. Webber flex twins from Soar fins or Modii twins from Sanctum. The trailers in the photos i dont tend to use.
If you look at footage from guys riding the Tajen and also Craig Anderson riding Hyptos you'll notice how forward they ride them but step back on the tail to jam them in pocket. If you relate to doing that then the tajen should work for you.
I haven't had any issues with mine. Still look new. Full carbon with the white paint to minimize heat dramas and a Goldilocks weight is a plus.
The tajen is considerably lighter than other models I felt up when they are in similar dimensions/foam volumes so putting them under your arm is a must.
Yeah go ahead and support them and be comfortable you are helping screw Australian shapers and adding to the downfall of the surfing industry,sleep well.
Select to expand quoteMacaha said..
Yeah go ahead and support them and be comfortable you are helping screw Australian shapers and adding to the downfall of the surfing industry,sleep well.
Whoa whoa whoa, Macaha I have my del Rossos my oceanlines, my yahoo boards .... I have a delightful quiver of Aussie made boards.
I also own a few firewires paticularly Tommos ones, the vanguards (3 procured so far ) not made here but by an Aussie shaper so interesting case study, my Steve del rossos amazing boards made in Aus come off a shaping machine hand finished
than you got al bean down south doing phenomenal boards
ross at soul, Dave at katana , and again yahoo gets another mention cause they are legit boards for west oz
It is hard however to part with money I don't have sometimes when I need a back up board, I'd love to have 5 mctavish and McCoy's but at up to 15-1800 bucks new it's not the sort of cash I have sitting around to buy extra boards with.
Than we are not blessed on the west coast with a solid second hand market, I see boards come up for sale over there which are vintage singles and twinned and Malibu's for under 3-400 bucks that people would be asking 6-800 for over here.......
Are all mactavishes shaped in Aus
did js industries kill the industry by machine shaping and ghost signing or was that Rusty's fault?
what about the rip curl boards, where do softboards fit in, does anyone even know what Kai Lenny needs a foil for, where does sunova sit into this with bert burger being an evolutionary designer and shaper...
What about in the 70,s and late 80,s when ghost shaping became the done thing before machines even ever cut a blank, could Larry bertleman keep up with orders without ghost shapers,,, what other guys are pumping out dozens of different manufacturers boards off one machine and cad drawing.
( I know there's two machines in this country which pump out a dozen different labelled boards from each one.....)
If you are a shaper and make a good board believe me people will always buy it.
gerry Lopez could do one board a week hand shaped and turn over 500k easy a year.......
Before surfing had corporations running the show I understand, I'm happy to hear any input from people who make boards for a living on the above comments........
I can't even get a sniff on my secondhand boards selling for cheaper than these pop outs. And they'd last ten times longer.
Select to expand quoteMacaha said..
Yeah go ahead and support them and be comfortable you are helping screw Australian shapers and adding to the downfall of the surfing industry,sleep well.
Same old argument. Understand your just stirring the pot 
but wot the hell I'll play. Other than FireWire I have never actually bought anything other than locally made but would say locally made has not always guaranteed quality. Also For what the cost I reckon firewire are pretty average. Yet crew still seem to talk em up and for some reason they seem to be excempt from this type of comment. Wouldn't buy another. But to pay 500 bucks for a board I will only surf occasionally, well that's worth it, even if it doesn't have longevity. It's not a board I'd bother buying locally anywAy. It's only for grovelling on. Not gonna fork out 1200 bucks for it.
Not many people can afford a mctavish and for that matter even local shapers your looking at 1200 plus for a longboard.
Its a case of buy no board at all or buy one you can afford.
pretty sure the SB wharehouse owners are Australian and employ Australians so don't understand that reasoning , sure the boards are made overseas
but so is your wetsuit , boardies , rashy and everything else. Plus they would still employ more Australians than quite a few local shapers
everyones jobs including mine are being outsourced overseas no one is immune ,
and legion my guess is the dimensions of your boards are far from that which would suit an average surfer and that's why they are not shifting
Hay Razzonator
I got a 6.2 delta as a back up board for a trip to the banyaks a month ago ,ended up using it for the hole trip,5 to 6 foot , held together fine accept where i hit the reef but nothing a bit of ductape couldn't cover ,used it as a quad ,great to paddle, minor pressure dings under the back foot but they all do that and got it on special for $349..board only $500 with cover, tail pad, upgraded fins and leggy.
Interesting convo.
I sit in the Razz camp.
A reasonable collection of Al Bean's, and a couple of factory jobs for grovelling...
Works for me.
Everyone focuses on the boards when talking about OS stuff.
Supply and demand.
If it wasn't for the surf accessory and clothing side of the "industry" surfing would be anywhere near as popular or accepted and mainstream as it is today.
They are the ones that embraced outsourcing to OS and sold the surfing "lifestyle" to anyone they could.
Board production is just a drop in the bucket compared to revenue from clothing etc...hence surfshops are primarily clothing and lifestyle shops nowadays.
Select to expand quoteRazzonater said..Macaha said..
Yeah go ahead and support them and be comfortable you are helping screw Australian shapers and adding to the downfall of the surfing industry,sleep well.
Whoa whoa whoa, Macaha I have my del Rossos my oceanlines, my yahoo boards .... I have a delightful quiver of Aussie made boards.
I also own a few firewires paticularly Tommos ones, the vanguards (3 procured so far ) not made here but by an Aussie shaper so interesting case study, my Steve del rossos amazing boards made in Aus come off a shaping machine hand finished
than you got al bean down south doing phenomenal boards
ross at soul, Dave at katana , and again yahoo gets another mention cause they are legit boards for west oz
It is hard however to part with money I don't have sometimes when I need a back up board, I'd love to have 5 mctavish and McCoy's but at up to 15-1800 bucks new it's not the sort of cash I have sitting around to buy extra boards with.
Than we are not blessed on the west coast with a solid second hand market, I see boards come up for sale over there which are vintage singles and twinned and Malibu's for under 3-400 bucks that people would be asking 6-800 for over here.......
Are all mactavishes shaped in Aus
did js industries kill the industry by machine shaping and ghost signing or was that Rusty's fault?
what about the rip curl boards, where do softboards fit in, does anyone even know what Kai Lenny needs a foil for, where does sunova sit into this with bert burger being an evolutionary designer and shaper...
What about in the 70,s and late 80,s when ghost shaping became the done thing before machines even ever cut a blank, could Larry bertleman keep up with orders without ghost shapers,,, what other guys are pumping out dozens of different manufacturers boards off one machine and cad drawing.
( I know there's two machines in this country which pump out a dozen different labelled boards from each one.....)
If you are a shaper and make a good board believe me people will always buy it.
gerry Lopez could do one board a week hand shaped and turn over 500k easy a year.......
Before surfing had corporations running the show I understand, I'm happy to hear any input from people who make boards for a living on the above comments........
hey Raz
I get we can never stop the global rampage of these imports boards but as we saw in the last 15 years when city beach undercut us by selling jacks boards below cost to get the WA market and wiped out a lot of us here ,then star was clearing big brand boards below to combat them it drove prices down further.
I found that we needed to design and shape custom boards that are more cutting edge and give better customer support to the loyal local surfers and keep them riding our boards .
personally i employ local surfers and and hope our small remaining industry will continue for years to come 
Select to expand quotekatana said..Razzonater said..Macaha said..
Yeah go ahead and support them and be comfortable you are helping screw Australian shapers and adding to the downfall of the surfing industry,sleep well.
Whoa whoa whoa, Macaha I have my del Rossos my oceanlines, my yahoo boards .... I have a delightful quiver of Aussie made boards.
I also own a few firewires paticularly Tommos ones, the vanguards (3 procured so far ) not made here but by an Aussie shaper so interesting case study, my Steve del rossos amazing boards made in Aus come off a shaping machine hand finished
than you got al bean down south doing phenomenal boards
ross at soul, Dave at katana , and again yahoo gets another mention cause they are legit boards for west oz
It is hard however to part with money I don't have sometimes when I need a back up board, I'd love to have 5 mctavish and McCoy's but at up to 15-1800 bucks new it's not the sort of cash I have sitting around to buy extra boards with.
Than we are not blessed on the west coast with a solid second hand market, I see boards come up for sale over there which are vintage singles and twinned and Malibu's for under 3-400 bucks that people would be asking 6-800 for over here.......
Are all mactavishes shaped in Aus
did js industries kill the industry by machine shaping and ghost signing or was that Rusty's fault?
what about the rip curl boards, where do softboards fit in, does anyone even know what Kai Lenny needs a foil for, where does sunova sit into this with bert burger being an evolutionary designer and shaper...
What about in the 70,s and late 80,s when ghost shaping became the done thing before machines even ever cut a blank, could Larry bertleman keep up with orders without ghost shapers,,, what other guys are pumping out dozens of different manufacturers boards off one machine and cad drawing.
( I know there's two machines in this country which pump out a dozen different labelled boards from each one.....)
If you are a shaper and make a good board believe me people will always buy it.
gerry Lopez could do one board a week hand shaped and turn over 500k easy a year.......
Before surfing had corporations running the show I understand, I'm happy to hear any input from people who make boards for a living on the above comments........
hey Raz
I get we can never stop the global rampage of these imports boards but as we saw in the last 15 years when city beach undercut us by selling jacks boards below cost to get the WA market and wiped out a lot of us here ,then star was clearing big brand boards below to combat them it drove prices down further.
I found that we needed to design and shape custom boards that are more cutting edge and give better customer support to the loyal local surfers and keep them riding our boards .
personally i employ local surfers and and hope our small remaining industry will continue for years to come
Well said Dave. To me surfboard wharehouse is only for a groveller that the family can use that you don't need to care about or look after. For a real board for real waves I'd come to someone like yourself and get a custom
Select to expand quoteCtngoodvibes said..katana said..Razzonater said..Macaha said..
Yeah go ahead and support them and be comfortable you are helping screw Australian shapers and adding to the downfall of the surfing industry,sleep well.
Whoa whoa whoa, Macaha I have my del Rossos my oceanlines, my yahoo boards .... I have a delightful quiver of Aussie made boards.
I also own a few firewires paticularly Tommos ones, the vanguards (3 procured so far ) not made here but by an Aussie shaper so interesting case study, my Steve del rossos amazing boards made in Aus come off a shaping machine hand finished
than you got al bean down south doing phenomenal boards
ross at soul, Dave at katana , and again yahoo gets another mention cause they are legit boards for west oz
It is hard however to part with money I don't have sometimes when I need a back up board, I'd love to have 5 mctavish and McCoy's but at up to 15-1800 bucks new it's not the sort of cash I have sitting around to buy extra boards with.
Than we are not blessed on the west coast with a solid second hand market, I see boards come up for sale over there which are vintage singles and twinned and Malibu's for under 3-400 bucks that people would be asking 6-800 for over here.......
Are all mactavishes shaped in Aus
did js industries kill the industry by machine shaping and ghost signing or was that Rusty's fault?
what about the rip curl boards, where do softboards fit in, does anyone even know what Kai Lenny needs a foil for, where does sunova sit into this with bert burger being an evolutionary designer and shaper...
What about in the 70,s and late 80,s when ghost shaping became the done thing before machines even ever cut a blank, could Larry bertleman keep up with orders without ghost shapers,,, what other guys are pumping out dozens of different manufacturers boards off one machine and cad drawing.
( I know there's two machines in this country which pump out a dozen different labelled boards from each one.....)
If you are a shaper and make a good board believe me people will always buy it.
gerry Lopez could do one board a week hand shaped and turn over 500k easy a year.......
Before surfing had corporations running the show I understand, I'm happy to hear any input from people who make boards for a living on the above comments........
hey Raz
I get we can never stop the global rampage of these imports boards but as we saw in the last 15 years when city beach undercut us by selling jacks boards below cost to get the WA market and wiped out a lot of us here ,then star was clearing big brand boards below to combat them it drove prices down further.
I found that we needed to design and shape custom boards that are more cutting edge and give better customer support to the loyal local surfers and keep them riding our boards .
personally i employ local surfers and and hope our small remaining industry will continue for years to come
Well said Dave. To me surfboard wharehouse is only for a groveller that the family can use that you don't need to care about or look after. For a real board for real waves I'd come to someone like yourself and get a custom
Good for grovellers? That's all they do in Queensland for the greater part of the year.
I've got a TSBW mal - picked it up dirt cheap second hand.
After playing around with different fins (I've spent more on fins than what the board cost), and listening to those that had the same board, it's now one of my favourites to surf.
That said, it's got more dings than any other board I own. Pretty much dings by looking at it the wrong way. The glass isn't crazed around/in the dings and I don't know enough about board construction to comment on whether it's a 'soft' blank, 'soft' glass, or both.
I couldn't see myself walking in and buying a new TSBW board, but at the right price used, I could be tempted... but it would have to be dirt cheap again.
It is what it is, if you are short on dollars, just starting out or want a board family and friends can have a bash on well may be they are the go and they do make some nice shapes, however nothing is better than going to your shaper talking crap, asking about board designs and the smell of resin oh the smell. Not much froth or soul in SBW but a lot in your local board makers factory.
Select to expand quoteMacaha said..
however nothing is better than going to your shaper talking crap,
Yep shapers are a species a world apart from the rest of us, artisans thinking in a different space 
Bought a 165cm (5'4) softtop from kmart on Sunday for $50 & rode it on Monday. Flexes a bit when I stand up, kinda making you stall for a moment & then it straightens out & catapults off. Really weird feeling lol
Was fun for about 30 mins & then I swapped it for my hypto rip...Will be great for my 9 year old niece staying with us over summer : )
Select to expand quoteMickPC said..
Bought a 165cm (5'4) softtop from kmart on Sunday for $50 & rode it on Monday. Flexes a bit when I stand up, kinda making you stall for a moment & then it straightens out & catapults off. Really weird feeling lol
Was fun for about 30 mins & then I swapped it for my hypto rip...Will be great for my 9 year old niece staying with us over summer : )
No issue with soft tops mate they don't have a impacted on local manufacturers.
Select to expand quoteMacaha said..
It is what it is, if you are short on dollars, just starting out or want a board family and friends can have a bash on well may be they are the go and they do make some nice shapes, however nothing is better than going to your shaper talking crap, asking about board designs and the smell of resin oh the smell. Not much froth or soul in SBW but a lot in your local board makers factory.
Macaha,
Have you read Tom Wegener's book/PhD thesis 'Surf board artisans: for the love'?
if not, you should.
