After 50 years of surfing, today I came up with a silly idea today. My new Sunova Ghost has beautiful wood grain on the bottom and the top in front of the deck pad. It looks great anytime, but when it gets wet in the ocean, the wood grain shows up twice as much, which I like. The board does not have a gloss finish, so this cool effect only happens when it's wet.
I started wondering about putting marine wax on the bottom, rails, and exposed deck area to get that nice sheen all the time (I realize this is kind of silly, but you know most of us are in love with our boards
). I am not concerned with the nose being slippery since I often surf over very shallow coral (12"-18" of water) that is covered with vana (spiky sea urchins) so I always wear booties that keep out the vana spikes if I accidentally kick the bottom, and they give good traction wherever I step on the board.
Any thoughts?
Don't do it!
You will slow your board down, and make the hull stick to water.
Glossy is slow.
I personally sand my glossy boards with 600 grit until the water flows as sheets on them (if I do not plan to resell them, e.g. my customs).
The improvement is noticeable, especially on the transition to planing on takeoffs.
"I purchased an old Hifly 265 poly board that I used a couple of times and really enjoyed. I noticed that the board had a few small gouges on the bottom so I thought that I would sand them down using wet/dry 600 grit as you suggested. I then mistakenly waxed the bottom and had horrible performance on the water."
must read: www.boardlady.com/fast.htm
Agreed
and also if your polish is silicone it will make any future repairs a major drama. even with a ton of cleaning it screws with paint application BADLY
And while we are on the subject of mistakes, don't use water-based acrylic varnishes on boards, even the ones designed for marine/bathroom use.
How do I know? well... :-)
There ya go OJ ya just gotta keep surfing so it stays wet and shiny but watch out for little pricks
Soz couldn't help myself
BTW I'm pretty sure Sunova use a car based clear coat finish to help with UV and general protection so I'd probs check in with them before I hit it with any wet and dry sand paper or other products
^^^^ every board company does and every single one has enough film thickness to be sanded with 800 wet
why would sunova use a gloss coat if it was a noticeable difference, someone do a before and after report back.
What about shiny rail/helicopter tape?
Select to expand quoteslsurf said..
why would sunova use a gloss coat if it was a noticeable difference, someone do a before and after report back.
Because most buyers will prioritize looks over efficiency.
Because casual longboard style surfing does not really need a fast board, on the contrary.
Because the gain is small. Pros have all a sanded finish, aka a "pro" finish.
Your average rider may not notice the difference.
PS: the experiments have been done by the military and naval architects for decades.
^^^^ agreed
and it's all been done a lot in windsurf etc racing for decades. There's plenty of before n after
I'm looking at two of my custom speed boards right now, they come in now and then just for refinish to keep the speed up .. and it's worth it as one has the Aussie record. I spent a day getting a perfect square water exit on rails with 800gr. It matters to that guy
Virtually nothing in your mass produced board is optimal as is price point, training very unskilled Asian labour, materials limitations etc etc.
the last thing on the mind of Mr Boardcompany is if a gloss finish is better or worse (except in racing stuff sometimes)
Thanks Mark and Colas. I was hoping you guys would jump in with your expertise. When I was little (65 years ago), we used to wax the hulls of our waterski boats because we didn't know any better. I had heard that fine sanding was fastest, which is why I wanted to ask for advice.
It looks like the solution is to stay on my board in the ocean as much as possible to keep it shiny (surfing waves would be a nice side benefit)
