Grain Surfboards

**cj001f** · 12-16-2006, 11:14 PM

http://www.grainsurfboards.com/

Anybody ever surfed one?

Other hollow wood boards?

**peterslovo** · 12-17-2006, 12:33 PM

Never surfed one, but have friends who have a Grain in their quivers and love them - definitely quiver boards though.

They're shaped about 40 min south of me and make an incredible quality product from what I've heard.

**Superstar Punani** · 12-17-2006, 02:40 PM

$550 for a DIY board? Fuck THAT!

http://www.wetsand.com/product.asp?l...3027&CatId=940

**cedarsurf** · 12-21-2006, 10:55 AM

Hey, This is Mike from Grain Surfboards. Someone just forwarded me this thread and I thought I'd take a chance to explain why our kits are priced the way they are. When you buy a kit from us, you get everything you need to build the board, except tools. We mill all of our Northern White Cedar in house, so when you open a box, the wood is straightened, planed, and book matched ready to be glued up. The kit includes a machine cut keel and frames which defines te boards outline shape, rocker, thickness, etc. These frame pieces simply snap together and are ready to start building around. The kits include all the rail strips you need to build out the rails. These bead and cove strips are milled in our shop, and are ready roll. The kit also includes all of the wood glue (two different types), epoxy, epoxy pumps, fiberglass cloth, fin box, leash plug, vent screw, squeegees, mixing buckets, latex gloves and more. It also comes with a 40 page instruction manual complete with photos that detail the process.

In the end, I guess it's not what comes with the kit that we hope will sell them, it's the satisfaction you get from building something with your own two hands. And the connection you feel when dropping into your first wave. It is a feeling that, in my opinion, doesn't exist when surfing a store bought board.

Anyway, if you have questions, please feel free to contact me at mikel@grainsurfboards.com. Glad to be a part of the discusssion.

**hop** · 12-21-2006, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by cedarsurf

Hey, This is Mike from Grain Surfboards. Someone just forwarded me this thread and I thought I'd take a chance to explain why our kits are priced the way they are. When you buy a kit from us, you get everything you need to build the board, except tools. We mill all of our Northern White Cedar in house, so when you open a box, the wood is straightened, planed, and book matched ready to be glued up. The kit includes a machine cut keel and frames which defines te boards outline shape, rocker, thickness, etc. These frame pieces simply snap together and are ready to start building around. The kits include all the rail strips you need to build out the rails. These bead and cove strips are milled in our shop, and are ready roll. The kit also includes all of the wood glue (two different types), epoxy, epoxy pumps, fiberglass cloth, fin box, leash plug, vent screw, squeegees, mixing buckets, latex gloves and more. It also comes with a 40 page instruction manual complete with photos that detail the process.

In the end, I guess it's not what comes with the kit that we hope will sell them, it's the satisfaction you get from building something with your own two hands. And the connection you feel when dropping into your first wave. It is a feeling that, in my opinion, doesn't exist when surfing a store bought board.

Anyway, if you have questions, please feel free to contact me at mikel@grainsurfboards.com. Glad to be a part of the discusssion.

I dunno about surfboards, but the Pygmy kayak kits contain all of the above and don't cost that much more than the surfboard kits.
Pygmy boat kits cost about half (or less than half) of a new equivalent fiberglass boat.
Shouldn't the surfboard kit be about the same? Unless I'm missing something, it seems like you're paying a lot for the pleasure if building something yourself.

**cedarsurf** · 12-21-2006, 05:09 PM

Those are good questions. Pygmy produces some beautiful kits, but one thing that is different with our's is that we use northern white cedar planks as compared to plywood. We mill all the wood for our kits in house, and this includes straightening, planing, re-sawing, and planing again. We could reduce our cost by redesigning our kits so they could be made from plywood panels, but we think it's important to be using locally grown cedar.

If comparing costs to a store bought board is important, while a kit might be as much as a lightly glassed mass produced foam board, it is less then half the cost of a quaility built high end board such as Tudors, Takayama, Dewey Webers, etc.

With all that said, we are continually trying to streamline our process in order to cut costs and save time while still offering a quality product. We're stoked to be part of the sport and to see where things go down the road.

**hop** · 12-21-2006, 07:05 PM

Originally Posted by cedarsurf

Those are good questions. Pygmy produces some beautiful kits, but one thing that is different with our's is that we use northern white cedar planks as compared to plywood. We mill all the wood for our kits in house, and this includes straightening, planing, re-sawing, and planing again. We could reduce our cost by redesigning our kits so they could be made from plywood panels, but we think it's important to be using locally grown cedar.

If comparing costs to a store bought board is important, while a kit might be as much as a lightly glassed mass produced foam board, it is less then half the cost of a quaility built high end board such as Tudors, Takayama, Dewey Webers, etc.

With all that said, we are continually trying to streamline our process in order to cut costs and save time while still offering a quality product. We're stoked to be part of the sport and to see where things go down the road.

Ok, I can see where the local cedar vs. plywood is worth a bit more, but I still don't see how a kit at $400-$700 is less than half the price of a quality built high end board.
Anyways, more power to you guys for going against the grain. Yuk yuk yuk.

**stayalert** · 12-27-2006, 09:50 AM

having built an adirondack boat from a kit I can tell you that the satisfaction of building it is definately a consideration. Hopefully if/when I'm ready to build a surfboard Grain, Inc. will still be offering options...Cheers

**cj001f** · 12-27-2006, 10:22 AM

Wow - that's a sweet guideboat stayalert! Nice work.

I too have built a kit boat (sea kayak from CLC) and think a surfboard would be fun...

**stayalert** · 12-28-2006, 07:50 AM

Thanks..I think my dad is building a CLC kit right now....good stuff wooden craft...As far as surf and boats goes? I think plastic is my preference....

**Superstar Punani** · 12-29-2006, 12:45 AM

Thanks for the explanation Cedarsurf. I was just sticker-shocked at seeing a $550 price tag for something that takes "approx 60 hours to build". Hell, my going rate starts at $10 (but I am willing to negotiate) and factoring that cost of labor equates to a $1150 board. This puts that at the same ballpark as the store-bought Takayama/Weber/Tudor.

Anyway, good luck with your company. It's always refreshing to see something different.

Hugh Conway · 07-22-2010, 12:24 AM

well, ~4 years later I'm still curious. going to stary building a wherry fish this weak (err, well, the template from treas to sea)

Hugh Conway · 08-23-2010, 11:32 PM

Finished said board - pretty quick project that'd be doable in weeknights after work. Shitty iPhone pic attached

Surfs well - bit of a chunky fish 6'3" 21+" which is nice for lazy end of summer. Board ended up a bit heavy from some choices of mine - not hollowing out as many frames as I could have, could have shaved off some more of the planking and using leftover 6oz to glass it. That said it'd be heavy compared to foam without that. Definitely a headturner/conversation piece which could be a con or a pro.

Fun project if nothing else

**supermodel159** · 08-24-2010, 04:21 PM

Cost of that little woody?

Hugh Conway · 08-25-2010, 12:42 PM

Materials for Rocker Frame (2x4s, 1/4-20 hardware and threaded rod) ~$35
1/4" canoe router bit - $20
Misc sandpaper, brushes, squeegees - $20

Plan/Template from Grainsurf - $20
Luaun and scavended 6mm BS1088 from garage for frame - $5
Sitka Spruce for Board - Free (leftover from boat)
4yds 6oz glass - Free (leftover from boat)
Water Proof Wood Glue to glue planks together - $8
Epoxy to glue planks to frame - Free (leftover from boat)
1/2 gallon Polyester + catalyst - $20
Gloss Coat - $10
Leash Cup + Drain Plug - $12

~$160 or so out of pocket. Probably used another $140 or so in leftover materials from the boat project which otherwise would have been trash

Definitely cheaper than the kit but the kit has 1) Much better materials - like Atlantic White Cedar, Marine Plywood for the frames (Luaun sucks), MAS Epoxy is superior to Poly (but 4x the cost) and 2) They've done a bunch of the time consuming/error prone stuff already like planing the strips (pain in the ass), cutting out the frames (another pita to drill them out for lightweight) and shaping the fins.

Hugh Conway · 08-26-2010, 02:56 PM

slightly less sucky pics

**BKArmada** · 11-04-2010, 07:02 PM

Grain's boards are made in my hometown and they def. have quite the following. I don't surf but would like to, and perhaps sometime down the road, I'll give one of these kits a try.