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I was talking to a friend out in the water today, and got into a discussion about SUP design and construction. There are alot of surfers who are understandably upset about the movement away from the local shaper towards "popout" epoxy surfboards. But the reality of the situation comes down to economics, and I found out some more information on the subject this afternoon.
First of all, although it is a new sport, 15 years of research and development in Hawaii have proven certain shapes, bottom contours, and rockers that work for SUP. While it would be nice to be able to have hand-shaped boards, which can be made to perform better due to design characteristics such as hard tucked rails, is it cost-effective?
The answer is definitively no. The reason is simple. Most shapers can order EPS blanks for around $300, and then pay $100 shipping to get them. Then they will need epoxy resin and cloth, which is much safer to use now days due to heavier VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) that drop to the floor quickly after glassing. The total cost of materials to build a standard 10-12 foot SUP would be around $500, plus $100 shipping. Because SUP boards are much larger than a traditional surfboard (2X larger), they take longer to shape, and a shaper I spoke with today estimated 12 hours or more. Surfboard shaping is a skill that takes years to develop, and any well-respected surfboard shaper should get at least $20/hour to shape a board. Add another couple of hours for glassing, and you are looking at close to $300 labor. Now the surfboard business has to make a cut, and even at 10%, add another $100, so maybe $1000 wholesale? Assuming a 35% margin at the retail level, retail would be around $1500, which is the average price for a brand new SUP.
Most surfboard builders are not going to put that much work into building a SUP board when it would take years of trial and error to finally build one that is the same quality and performance as one of the production boards that are on the market today. So instead they buy a 1 million dollar CNC machine, find some shapes that have been proven to work, scan them into a computer and duplicate them perfectly. All for less than or the same price as it would cost to build a custom. The result is a better product with less inconsistency, and the backing of a company that stands by their product.
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