Protect your stick on your travels

11/19/2012

Uber-light travel boardbag insert

Nothing sucks coconuts than unpacking your boardbags as you arrive on your surf holiday, only to find that the airline baggage handlers have worked their magic on your boards. Cracked rails, bust nose, dings through your deck....you name it, they can do it. Doesn't matter if you have a fancy-ass coffin bag, and even go the extra mile to put a bit more padding round each board inside it....these ou's are tenacious, they'll still work out a way of ruining your board...and your holiday.

I normally use air-conditioning tubing around my rails, and then high density foam for the top and bottom deck, all held in place with masking tape. It works, but it's a major shclep. As well as adding a bit of extra weight.

When I was missioning about to find foam for my surf racks in the garage I came across Sondor, and decided to see if they might also be able to help out with creating a lightweight board cover. Something super light, yet strong, that was made to size and I could just pop a board into, and then into the coffin bag.

Gary from Sondor came up with a sweet solution. Hardly weighs 300g, and strong as. Turns out it's quite a mission for his guys to cut the foam and glue it all together, which means extra labour costs - so he suggests that surfers just measure up their boards and work out how much foam they'll need - then just give him a yell to order, and then make it up themselves.

Pretty easy summer project - here goes:

measure the length of your board, and width at it's widest point. Add about 10cm to both height/width respectively just to give you a bit off leeway to work with, and to account for the 3cm wide foam you'll be using on the rail edge on either side (6cm in total). That will be the size of the rectangle of foam you need for the top/bottom deck. Order 2 that size so you have both decks sorted. Ask for SPx45 10mm foam for the decks.
stick some sheets of newspaper together, take a koki and draw an outline round your board. Remember to hold the paper up against the bottom deck as you draw to make sure an accurate outline. Then measure the length of the total outline. This is how much you'll need for the edges (rail protectors). Again, get yourself a few more cm just in case. Ask for SPx33 30mm for the rails.
as their foam comes in specific sheet sizes - you might find that 1 sheet is enough for you to cut out both top and bottom deck - so just check first to see what the cheapest way to buy it is, versus getting them to cut you 2 of the specific size you need, as a cutting charge applies.
Once you have your foam, use your newspaper template to cut it out with a craft knife
Use normal contact adhesive to glue (eg Genkem). The yellowy colour glue, not the clear one
It helps to give the cover more stability if you have the lid being only part of the top deck. Just remember not to make the glued part of your top deck further than the widest point of your board - else you can't slide it in!
Get some velcro at Builders warehouse or Little Angel in Newton Park (next to Spar in 4th ave) to stick on the top deck lid
you're good to go - now just book your ticket to Bali!!
PS don't forget - this cover isn't to be used by itself, but is meant to go inside your coffin bag as extra protection

Check out Sondor for all your foam needs. www.sondor.co.za . Map and contact deets at the end of the article.