I am a kayaker who paddle-boarded a few times on vacation, really enjoyed it, and now would like to pick up a cheap used board to see how much I want to get into the sport.
I know zip about boards. I found a board on CL for not much money. It has some damage. Can this be repaired?
Also this board is for touring, 12.6 long and 30 wide. I have pretty good balance but only weigh 135. Is this going to be too big for me? I’m fine with trying out something and then re-selling later when I’ve refined my idea of what I need, but don’t want something that I can’t learn well on due to size, etc. Thanks for any advice.
There is more than just the length and width of the board to determine weight limit. Best to look up the make and model and see what they say for a weight range. That said, at your weight chances are it will hold just fine.
Make sure you dry it well before putting on a fiberglass patch. Putting in somewhere dry and position board so that the hole is at the bottom most point so water can slowly filter through the board and drain out. Usually takes at least a couple of weeks minimum to be fully dry.
Thanks. I actually just watched a video about SUP repair that said the same thing - make sure it’s dry and then fill with epoxy. I could do that.
The owner is asking only about 1/4 of the original price so that’s attractive. But, the board is high volume and rated for up to 300 lbs since it’s meant for touring, but it gets very good reviews. I guess what I don’t know is this: are paddle boards like kayaks in that too much size/volume will make the activity measurably less enjoyable? Or can a smaller person use a bigger board without issues?
For a first board, much better to have more volume than less for more stability. Not much to lose to figure it out when the price is at 1/4.
The hole should be filled and leveled first with epoxy and filler mix. Then sanded and glassed over. If you omit the glass the epoxy/filler can be brittle on its own and may be more like separate from the surrounding glassed area if you happen to bang the board on something. The overlaid of glass over the hole onto the existing glass provides more structural integrity to the damaged area.
Great, thank you very much for the input, Sing. I’m going to try to buy it unless it looks much worse than the pictures show. When I tried the paddle board on vacation I really enjoyed it, and it seems like a nice change of pace from a sit-in kayak in warm weather. And a good workout.
A couple of things to think about. I’m not sure where you live, or where you intend to paddle. Is this going to be flat water on lakes or are you going to paddle on the ocean / coastal areas? Right now where I live there are a ton of racing / flat water fitness boards for sale. The SUP racing fad sort of peaked so on craigs list these kind of boards are listed at much lower prices than they were a few years ago, and the listings are up forever. This means it’s a buyer’s market. Check around a bit in your area and watch the ads. I don’t think you need to buy a board you need to repair to get a good price. From my experience if someone is selling a damaged board at a low price, it usually means they have checked out how much it would cost to fix it and have decided to dump it. My suspicion is that the board is waterlogged and may have other damage. You don’t really know what you are looking at or how to do the repair so I would be cautious and pay a couple of hundred buck more for a nice used sleek flat water paddling board that you are going to enjoy. I fix my waveskis, surfboards and paddle boards all the time, it’s not hard, but you do need some experience in looking for damage. SUPs are notorious for having damage under the deck pads that is not obvious to a new paddler. The kind of damage on that board was caused by someone who is not very skilled paddler and likely there are other issues.
Thanks. As it turns out the seller has been super-flaky and I haven’t seen the board. (I don’t get this - you’d think if someone puts something on CL they want to actually sell it). In my area there are very few used boards for sale right now, but it’s winter and I’m patient do I’ll just keep looking.
Flaky seller on craigslist, that might increase my suspicion the board was stolen, or found by the roadside after it had blown off of a vehicle. You never know though, I bought a $1200 waveski on CL from a woman who sounded really flaky on the phone for $300, with a quality paddle, and travel bag. Turns out she was getting divorced and had a court order to sell his stuff for whatever she could get for it and give him the proceeds.
Well, if I can’t get him to agree to a time to show it to me, then it’s a non-issue where it came from. I’ve gotten great deals on CL buying stuff from people who didn’t care that much and just wanted to get it out of their garage. I’m sure something else will turn up! It does irk me, though, when someone says “Sure, I’ll show it to you on Saturday,” and then ghosts me. Oh well!
Take two on my search for an inexpensive paddle board.
What about an inflatable Body Glove Performer? I realize that fiberglass boards perform better, but I also realized that, when I go somewhere with the paddle board, I am also likely to have 2 kayaks on the car, and therefore an inflatable would be much easier to transport at the same time. This inflatable has good reviews. Opinions on its suitability for a newbie?
I checked into paddle boards a month ago. Sought the advice of an ACA L5 coach who also teaches SUP. His shop sells both fiberglass and inflatables (NRS, Focus, Matuli and Michael Dorsey Designs). Some are in the $700 range.
Had planned to drive down to see them and attend the Quiet Adventure Symposium tomorrow, but we’ve been hit with heavy lake effect snow, high winds and travel warnings.
