Like some of you I am not happy with the ongoing Wuhan Loss of Income period we a going through.
So I am asking a board WHAT IF question,
re getting a Sup made locally ...
as to availability of 100% local made components, process products and build in your country . Can it be done ? And at what local cost ?
Would be an interesting little fact find, how much to buy everything local, local labour to finish, add mark up that covers overhead costs etc.. have always had a lot of respect for the guys that do it locally, IMO they are usually elite at what they do and that is how they have survived.
Not saying boards that come out of other countries are all bad just that in my experience a locally made product is something special.
Absolutely ! local legend Dale Chapman has been producing top quality locally crafted boards of all shapes and sizes on the gold coast for years . dcpaddleboards.com.au/
ocean merchants in cottesloe perth quality made sup,s I have no affiliation with them .They used to be indian ocean sups worth checking out .
cheers
Select to expand quoteBighugg said..
as to availability of 100% local made components, process products and build in your country . Can it be done ? And at what local cost ?
It can be done in France, as we have still a bit of chemical industry, so we have locally produced high quality resins (Sicomin) and glass and carbon cloth. Gong even make its Chinese factories use biosourced French Sicomin resins and German carbon cloths for its pro line. The foam blanks are an issue, but Gong co-created a Portugese factory which produced blanks while obeying all the EU stringent worker safety environment regulations, so it can be done. Gong is now building a new big factory center near its HQ, so there is still hope.
The issue for France is finding a factory willing to produce a high number of boards. It is easy to produce boards on a small scale (~ten boards a week), plenty of small manufacturers exist, with some quite innovative such as
Notox www.sicomin.com/case-studies/sicomin-and-notox-surfboards
Black Local infusion: blacklocal.com/construction/
For instance, it is easier to weather bad spells if you have not a lot of regular employees, as co-founders can take pay cuts in small structures.
But it is impossible to find a factory in France willing to tackle the challenge of making a huge number of boards. Gong has contacted more than a hundred... I guess the various French governments, like most other EU ones but unlike Germany, considered that manufacturing things was a thing of the past and should be left to China, so there is no help for them. They even left the last French mask-producing factory die last year...
Yes there are a lot of associated factors and ingredients that go into a board. I suppose another question is would people be prepared to pay the Price of 100% local production boards ?
Select to expand quoteBighugg said..
Yes there are a lot of associated factors and ingredients that go into a board. I suppose another question is would people be prepared to pay the Price of 100% local production boards ?
Spot on and I would like to know what that figure would be. If it was within reason and top quality I would for sure. If it's just not possible then so be it.
Select to expand quoteBighugg said..
Yes there are a lot of associated factors and ingredients that go into a board. I suppose another question is would people be prepared to pay the Price of 100% local production boards ?
Many different ingredients go into a board as it been done by the big brands. BUT If you are building SUP board as surfboard is with a bit more stuff on the deck to reinforce it, the traditional laminating build should coast a bit more than a longboard. Marko and US blanks ( and probably others foam blowers) are doing EPS plugs at are affordable prices.
Select to expand quoteSouwester said..
Spot on and I would like to know what that figure would be. If it was within reason and top quality I would for sure. If it's just not possible then so be it.
In France, it is about 2.5 times the price of a similar production board made in China.
Makes sense Colas, the cheaper end of production boards out of China about 1k so a local made would be 2.5-3k?
If I could I would!
Yes, for a full PVC 8'4" glass sandwich board, direct sale (no shop margin), Gong is 770 euros and a Black Local 1880 for a production model, but with still a few non-local materials (blanks, I don't know about the glass, but their resin and PVC is from UK, so basically local).
A couple of years ago I bought a full carbon custom race board designed, shaped and glassed by Dale Chapman on the Gold Coast and it was cheaper than brand name production boards at the time. Build quality is great, Dale is an awesome guy to deal with and listened to what I was asking for and designed the board to suit. I still have the board and it doesn't have a single ding in after 3-4 years.
I could build a epoxy balsa EPS sandwich construction SUP for $2200ish sell price,but probably not as a viable business
Whatever you do make sure it is not "Made in China" Preferably Australia, then anywhere but China.
Select to expand quoteBighugg said..
Like some of you I am not happy with the ongoing Wuhan Loss of Income period we a going through.
So I am asking a board WHAT IF question,
re getting a Sup made locally ...
as to availability of 100% local made components, process products and build in your country . Can it be done ? And at what local cost ?
As far as components go contact Peter @pietersurfboards via instagram he is located around Newcastle I believe.
He gets all his fins,,fin boxes and plugs made here in Australia, makes quality surfboards not sup's but knows where to source raw materials which are produced here.
Select to expand quoteChuckee said..
Whatever you do make sure it is not "Made in China" Preferably Australia, then anywhere but China.
Absolutely agree and not only boards. Our government has sadly let us down over the years, letting China buy companies and driving our housing And manufacturing market through the roof. Say NO to China buying
What started out as a reasonably interesting thread appears to have turned quite racist, unfortunately.
