Wondering what people feel is the most durable construction?
As well as working well and lasting well I want to avoid all those annoying impact dings from knees or bumping against hard stuff.
I've got/had all sorts of boards with all sorts of construction. They all work well in the water. None are particularly resilient when touched against the garage wall or hit a rail on the steps to the beach.
Select to expand quoteMickMc said..
Starboard starlite most durable I've owned.
I have a kite foilboard with carbon inegra construction. It is very tough. It's small and lives in a thick bag so it never gets banged against anything hard so it never gets impact dings.
Do you think the carbon inegra construction is more resistant to those little impact dings?
Select to expand quoteGorgo said..MickMc said..
Starboard starlite most durable I've owned.
I have a kite foilboard with carbon inegra construction. It is very tough. It's small and lives in a thick bag so it never gets banged against anything hard so it never gets impact dings.
Do you think the carbon inegra construction is more resistant to those little impact dings?
Jimmy Lewis/kinetic factory 
Select to expand quoteGorgo said..MickMc said..
Starboard starlite most durable I've owned.
I have a kite foilboard with carbon inegra construction. It is very tough. It's small and lives in a thick bag so it never gets banged against anything hard so it never gets impact dings.
Do you think the carbon inegra construction is more resistant to those little impact dings?
Depends which shapers carbon inegra construction, and I don't know them all! I can say that a year of surfing the latest starboard starlite construction board there wasn't a mark on it. Not even a chip on the rails (which are carbon and not painted). No knee dents and I like to paddle out on my knees often. No depressed deck in the standing area. This was the toughest board I've had, and I've had heaps! No connection to the company and currently don't own a Starboard.
The most durable construction consists of 3 parts:
[1] the board skin
Quality full (even on the rails) PVC glass sandwiches, hands down.
Carbon PVC sandwich will be a bit less impact resistant than glass (carbon is brittle), but structurally stronger (board snapped in two).
Some green alternatives to PVC may be great too, such as cork. But it must be thick, at least 3mm.
[2] the inserts
Fin boxes, leash plugs, handles must be reinforced by strong, waterproof closed-cell foam (PVC), maybe with some wood or carbon pillars/stringers
[3] the rider
A rider that takes care of its board (never leave it in the sun, in a bag with sand, etc...) and looks for small problems after each session (pinholes, cracks, dents, pad starting to unglue...) and fix them before they become big problems will have a huge effect of the board durability.
