? & !

What if water gets inside?
Suck it out, patch it up, go surf. See "dry out" in the build guide.

Initially I expected that the first ding would mean the end of the board. But surprisingly that's not the typical outcome. Half of my own boards have had water inside at some point, and they're all still structurally sound after drying them out.

Still the potential is there for the kind of structural failure you'd expect. I've heard of two cases. Here's an account of the worst one.

Are they super light?
They're not heavy. They're maybe 10% to 30% heavier than conventional boards - mostly because of the choices or mistakes I make while glassing. There's room to experiment there, but let's not get anorexic about it.
The weights are fine.
How long does it take you to build one.
Four weeks in low gear, eight days in high.
Can you send me free stickers?
Make your own, kid.
Do you surf?
What?!
Can we a get a board for an art piece / prop / merchandise display?
You're breaking my heart.
Are the boards floaty, drivy, responsive, with good release? In other words, how's the flex?
Like El Guapo's piñatas, each board is filled with a plethora of performance surprises. But you cannot force open the petals of the flower of performance.
Is this a business, or just a hobby?
This is cardboard surfboards. It's what we're doing. Bottom line is boards and surfing.
[snooty voice] You know Tom Morey did the cardboard surfboard thing in 1966.
Yes! So cool. See it here. It was for a commercial for International Paper Company, "Where good ideas grow on trees." [snort]

[snootier voice] But did you know George Ward started making paper racing canoes in 1867?

[snootiest voice] Oh yeah? Did you know Pharaoh paddled the Nile on a papyrus SUP in 1,332 BC?

Many people have come up with cardboard surfcraft concepts over the last few decades. I've heard it several times: "Hey I had an idea like that in the '70s." "A buddy of mine was working on something like that - wonder if he ever finished it." "We made some little racing sailboats kinda like that in Ventura years ago." I believe them.

But maybe it took the rise of Internet and the demise of Clark Foam to usher in the second coming of the age of paper. Check out these parallel developments since 2006:

  • BigShow1960's cardboard wakeboard from about the same time I was coming up with my deal.
  • Scott Mac Donough's cardboard, made pretty much like Tom Morey's '66 boards, but from legitimately scavanged material, glued and shaped on a New York rooftop. (And then -- crazy coincidence -- he flies across the country to surf it at the same jetty in Newport where I paddled out on my first board!)
  • Signal Snowboards' project to make a paper surfboard on a standard shaping machine, starting with a paper honeycomb blank. (Also channeling Morey: this is a promo for a packaging company.)
Are you going to make up any more fake FAQ questions?
No that's it for now.

* & †

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aloha