How much does a resin surfboard cost?
- History :
The first traces of surfing activity date back to the Inca period between -3000 and
-1000 BC in Peru.
From the 15th century onwards, tales told by the great navigators of the time evoke Hawaiian tribal chiefs gliding on tree trunks carved from solid wood.
The spread of surfing on the American and Australian continents dates back to the early 20th century, between 1905 and 1910. Surfboards were still made of wood and carved from solid.
In the early '50s, the history of modern surfing began, with worldwide interest in the activity.
From 1960 onwards, wooden surfboards were replaced by composite surfboards.
This new manufacturing process dramatically lowered surfboard prices. Manufacturing times were dramatically reduced, enabling the production of high quality, high-performance surfboards.
The composite materials used to make a surfboard are still processed by hand.
- Cheap surfboards thanks to digital shaping:
Over the past twenty years, with the advent of digital shaping, the vast majority of surfboards have been shaped using this technique. The core of a surfboard is made of polyurethane or polystyrene foam. Until the advent of digital technology, the foam blocks that make up the shape of a surfboard were worked by hand. With electric planes, wooden templates, saws, sandpaper... Of course, it was still time-consuming. It was magical handwork, but it could also be imperfect. Not quite perfect symmetry, for example.
Digital shaping has made a major contribution to the availability of inexpensive boards. The shaper's manual work is replaced by a computerized milling machine. Once the shape has been entered into the computer by the shaper and/or a computer specialist, the shape of the surfboard is machined by the robot .
One of the major advantages of a digital shape overa cheap surfboard is the perfect symmetry induced by the digital shape. What's more, a digital shape is infinitely replicable...
Last but not least, when you buy a digitally shapped surfboard, if you sell it or break it and regret it... Well, just go back to the brand and recommend the same surfboard. You'll get exactly the same sensations. Strictly the same surfboard.
- Cheap surfboards, solid surfboards, lightweight surfboards, thanks to epoxy resin :
There are 2 main types of construction for quality surfboards.
- Polyester resin surfboards:
Polyester resin is an inexpensive resin that can be applied to fiberglass. It has the advantage of being easy to use for glazing a surfboard. It dries quickly and sands easily.
Polyester resin requires the use of polyurethane foam. Otherwise, with polystyrene foam, the foam melts due to the solvents incorporated in the polyester resin.
This type of resin and foam has historically been an excellent manufacturing process for making a high-end surfboard, a quality surfboard.
On the other hand, since foam is very dense and quite heavy, if you want a lightweight surfboard, you need to make a very light laminate (the board's envelope made of resin-soaked fiberglass). And so, once the board is finished, it's going to be sensitive to small farts and dents of all kinds. What's more, polyurethane foam blocks are expensive, imported from Asia or Australia, and manufactured in molds with dimensions close to the board's final shape.
So it's all a bit impractical, and not in keeping with the production of a lightweight, strong, inexpensive surfboard.
- Epoxy resin surfboards:
Epoxy resin is applied in the same way as polyester resin, on fiberglass, right onto the foam pad.
Epoxy resin is more complex to work with, as it dries more slowly, takes longer to sand and requires a low level of humidity in the air to achieve optimum drying strength.
But when the right processing criteria are met, it will be significantly stronger than polyester resin. This makes it possible to work with polystyrene foam blocks. These foam blocks are very light and fairly inexpensive, even when you choose the highest densities for a quality surfboard.
Working with epoxy, with a production process and top-of-the-range materials, we've managed to produce a surfboard that's cheap out of the box, strong and light.
- Cheap surfboards, with a focus on short circuits:
Since the beginning of surfing, American brands have dominated the world surfing market.
But with the advent of the Internet, more confidential and recent brands are succeeding in establishing themselves on the market with quality surfboards, inexpensive surfboards, sold without intermediaries.
In fact, there are two main types of quality surfboard distribution.
-conventional distribution through a distribution network :
A-The surfboard brand manufactures its surfboards on its home continent, or outsources production to a different country or continent.
B- The brand finds an importer of surfboards on continents other than the continent of origin. The importer takes a margin on the surfboards, corresponding to import costs, overheads, salaries, transport...
C- The importer finds surfboard distributors in the various countries of the continent he imports from. Each distributor, in each country, takes a margin on the surfboards, corresponding to import costs, overheads, salaries, transport...
D- The distributor finds resellers (stores) in the various countries of the continent to which he imports. The distributor takes a margin corresponding to import costs, overheads, salaries, transport, etc.
E- The retailer, store, website, marketplace... finally offers these same surfboards for sale.
It's easy to see that, even if these cheap surfboards have passed through a circuit with four intermediaries (all of whom need to apply a multiplier), the selling price of the surfboard skyrockets when it's offered to the surfer at the end of the distribution chain.
-direct distribution of surfboards from the workshop to the surfer:
Distribution without intermediaries.
The brand conceives, designs, tests and produces its own surfboards.
It puts them on line via its own online sales site. Internationally.
No intermediaries, importers, distributors or resellers.
This is obviously one of the keys to offering cheap surfboards, without neglecting the fact of offering quality surfboards.
CONCLUSION
At Prism Surfboards we've clearly taken all the right steps to offer you quality surfboards, high-performance surfboards, cheap surfboards.
1-Materials :
We prefer materials with the best compromise between weight, strength and price. Quality Epoxy resin and high-density Eps foam.
Implementation is rigorously controlled, with respected drying times, vacuum packing after covering and perfect finishes.
These materials also make for a very lightweight board.
2- The shape :
We opted for digital shaping to offer inexpensive boards of perfect quality.
The obvious advantage is that we can mass-produce our boards and keep costs down. To achieve perfect regularity and symmetry in the shapes of our Prism Surfboards.
3- Fins and accessories :
To offer a top-of-the-range surfboard, a quality surfboard, you need quality daggerboards.
In fact, an unknown assembly, without a patent, is likely to result in mediocre fins. And fins are crucial to the drive and dynamics of a quality surfboard. A top-of-the-range surfboard with mediocre fins will lose enormously in performance and dynamics.
What's more, over the long term, you may find it hard to find replacement daggerboards in the event of breakage, for example. What's more, these second-rate daggerboards are often fragile.
We've chosen to equip all our Prism Surfboards with FCS daggerboards and gearboxes.
It's the world's most famous standard. Many of the world's top surfboard brands offer fcs heads and fins.
In addition to using perfect materials and finish, FCS fins are strong and provide incredible surfing dynamics. If you travel with your Prism Surfboards and lose or break a fin, you'll find replacement parts anywhere in the world.
4 - Distribution:
At Prism Surfboards, we've obviously opted for a modern distribution method to offer quality surfboards at low prices: the short circuit, directly from the workshop to the surfer. Exclusively via our website: Prism-surfboards.com
The gap to get a cheap surfboard is huge by cutting out all the middlemen, while offering quality surfboards, solid surfboards, lightweight surfboards.