I just purchased my first SUP. A Naish Nalu GT 10.6, 2015.

The board is only one week old and now has a large crack down the front rail. I am not sure if I have hit something without knowing, or this is a manufacture fault.

Would any SUP pros mind taking a look and offering some advice please? I've taken a video of the damage here:

Thank you.
Jason

Sad to see such a beautiful board with damage like that..

Damage in the surf is a freaky thing and sometimes luck has something to do with if you get damage or not..

I've been very lucky so far.. touch wood..

At least if it's not a warranty issue damage like that [in that area] can be repaired repaired without looking like an obvious ding repair..

I'm no pro but that looks to me like a compretion crack. I don't think you hit anything, that clean straight line crack along the rail seems more like something heavy was layied on top of that board and cause the fiberglass to crack in that point. Since the board is only days out of the box there is a good chance it could have happened during transit and not been visible to you until it took further stress when it got used on the water. I have seen it on brand new surfboard out of the box. Really bad luck man, it's a tough call to get it under warranty that kind of damage.

I also had a Naish Nalu 10.6" only 1 month old, I was surfing in deep water and the board split after riding small wave.

I loved riding the board but I question the quality of manufacturing to split in the conditions I was surfing in.

I'm now in the market for a stronger built board, any recommendation?

AC

Chris1973 said..
I think from what i have seen so far that Jimmy Lewis boards are some of the most durable overall and the Hanalei 10'8 comes very close to nalu 10'6 dimensions and surfs great. My next board for sure.

I have had a Nalu GT 2014 for a year.....hardly a scratch. JL are probably about the best going construction wise....have one and another ordered. Btw if you are into nose riding the Hanalei isn't supposed to be that easy at that...so much rocker in the nose that it pushes water a bit. But I have seen vids of it being Noseridden very well so depends on the surfer.

That is bad luck to have that happen 1st surf. Naish are a top brand and back up their product, that is part of what you pay for.

Just to add my 2c to this conversation I have a naish nalu 10 6 for a couple of years and am super happy with construction quality. It often ends up on the bottom of a stack of boards on my roof racks and has shown no sign of compression from this mis treatment.

Cheers chris

I've seen a bit of damage like this on a couple of boards when people use heavy duty ratchet tie downs and put way to much pressure on them

Hi all,

Thanks a lot for the brilliant feedback. Much appreciated.

In answer to the questions;

Has it been ran over or stacked? No not at all. It's been tied to the roof racks without any stacking. I used a brand new board straps with a thicker tie, that I also purchased from the retailer when I picked up the board. Supposedly they are great tie downs for SUP's. I live straight across the road from the beach so it's had very little transit or exposure to risk.

I took it to the retailer and they said it was damage from sand. I let them know it had only been in very small surf once and the rest of the time flat water, but they said sometimes you can catch a small wave, nose dive and it just happens. I decided to go with a 3rd party repairer and get a second opinion, they have said it defiantly looks like a manufacture problem. They can open it up and take some photos of the internals, but in their opinion it's too clean to be a surf hit.

Naish have also made contact and asked for more details and photos, but communicated that it doesn't look like a manufacture fault, but they are happy to look at more photos and go from there. The cut in the board is straight and clean with no compression, it does seem odd and for the first week in the water and very light flat water paddling/surf.

Thanks a lot for the advice and hopefully there's a good outcome. Appreciated and will keep updating the thread.

Cheers
Jason