Has anyone bought a surfboard hard case/coffin in Aus?
Scottie, Santa Monica 'surfcase' $349 US or the nautilus $449 takes 3 boards up to 6'4
One off expense they should have a long life span seems a reasonable price .
At 23 pounds empty the surfcase wont get thrown around a lot with 3 boards in it. $349 is actually quite cheap then you compare it to other plastic molded products, your board will be safe but your wallet will take a beating at the check-in.
10 .5 kgs empty ...shit that's a lot
what weight do your triple bags weigh empty and how much do yours cost crustty ?
Depends on what style, the lightest which I call the jetstar special is 6'3" and comes in at !.7 ish kg, it's a cheap cover for cheap flights, I do a bag that can be altered by putting different size borders on to take between 1 and 4 boards a 7'0" comes in just under 3kg with all the boarders zipped on to take 4 boards, a bit of the weight in this cover is 3x16ft zips.
A stock standard triple 7'0" is around 2.5kg, none of my covers have dividers, that's what towels and t-shirts are for.
I made a cover last year for a guy that wanted a bullet proof one 7'0", triple, 15mm foam , 10 on the sides with 10mm inserts around the sides making 20mm, 14oz canvas and a skid pad on one side around the tail, needed a steam roller to get it small enough to post. He was very happy with it, 5 kg give or take.
Trying some really good light weight material that is used in top end yachts, bright white reflects heat, like a light weight tonneau material, wipes clean easily but very expensive, so that's never going to work.
Sorry rambling on, but it's what i know. :-)
Depends on what style, the lightest which I call the jetstar special is 6'3" and comes in at !.7 ish kg, it's a cheap cover for cheap flights, I do a bag that can be altered by putting different size borders on to take between 1 and 4 boards a 7'0" comes in just under 3kg with all the boarders zipped on to take 4 boards, a bit of the weight in this cover is 3x16ft zips.
A stock standard triple 7'0" is around 2.5kg, none of my covers have dividers, that's what towels and t-shirts are for.
I made a cover last year for a guy that wanted a bullet proof one 7'0", triple, 15mm foam , 10 on the sides with 10mm inserts around the sides making 20mm, 14oz canvas and a skid pad on one side around the tail, needed a steam roller to get it small enough to post. He was very happy with it, 5 kg give or take.
Trying some really good light weight material that is used in top end yachts, bright white reflects heat, like a light weight tonneau material, wipes clean easily but very expensive, so that's never going to work.
Sorry rambling on, but it's what i know. :-)
That bulletproof one sounds like the go. I have a surfaids coffin that has done 17 years of hard service with only a couple of patches and recently a new zip. The day it dies will be a sad one indeed.
For some reason the last couple of times I have travelled the airlines have given my boards a solid beating.
Been thinking about getting something more rugged like you described. So sick of the rails getting crushed in transit.
I have one of those old American circa late 90,s hard plastic covers, splits in the middle for packing, can put 2 long boards with fins or 3 without. very tough and if packed right impossible to damage boards, (could hit it with a hammer ), very heavy though which makes flying baggage weight issues and awkward to put anywhere (on cars, packed away for storage etc) , good if you were going to freight boards anywhere with TNT or the like.
Reecen aren't you the bloke I sent some secondhand ones up to byrning spears? The bullet proof one was so stiff that I could hardly bend it enough to get under the feet of the sewing machine.
I've never had a ding of any sort on an airline, probably more luck . I did my trade with an airline and did a stint as a handler and the important thing is to have good handles that are easy to find.
I use what I call a sock, basically just a soft lightweight shell , you use single covers on all your boards, shove in the shell and tighten the straps on the outside to pull them all together, easy to pack and you have a cover for each board when you get there and the shell is compact to store.
reecen wrote:That bulletproof one sounds like the go. I have a surfaids coffin that has done 17 years of hard service with only a couple of patches and recently a new zip. The day it dies will be a sad one indeed.
For some reason the last couple of times I have travelled the airlines have given my boards a solid beating.
Been thinking about getting something more rugged like you described. So sick of the rails getting crushed in transit.
Those foam pool noodles cut and tapped onto rails help protect them, get them cheap at department stores.
crust, yep that was me. those single covers are good, I had a brand new 7'2" that was packed in your single cover that was damaged recently. There wasn't any real ding damage from knocks sustained but instead right wear your back foot goes it look about a 2'1/2" bar has been placed across the board and had a car drive over it. there is an obvious compression in the deck and the force was enough to fracture the glass on the channels on the other side of the board.
Wasn't to happy with that treatment.
Other then that I have had long boards, fishes, and standard shorties all damaged lately, and they have been in all sorts of bags from coffins to singles. I always leave the shoulder straps on my board bags in the hope that it makes life easier for the handlers?
I like that lightweight shell idea. What kind of weight is the shell?
Bout a kilo reecen , maybe a bit over. I'll get one off one of my mates and weigh it download some pis onto flickr, sorry not real good.
I am going to make another one shortly out of lighter material as really it is only 2 straps to tighten all the boards together and an adjustable shoulder strap so it works for all different size boards. The cover itself is just to hide how many boards you have and stuff a bit of crap into. https://www.flickr.com/photos/127916937@N05/sets/72157648731996996/
I like that idea crustt will have to get in touch with you before next winter kicks off. I like the idea of being able to fold it back on itself. Hate it when your boards are a couple of inches longer then your coffin and you have to split them out.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/127916937@N05/15547743505/
That last link didn't work to well so I have tried to post some pics of it, but they aren't real good.
The best things about this bag is ease of packing boards, having all your boards in covers when you get to your destination, I found it real good on boats as the only person who gives a shit about your boards is you, so it's nice to have a little padding, and its easy to pack away till you need it to go home.
Weight is 13.5 kgs ..shit put some boards in that's excess baggage every flight
reecen wrote:That bulletproof one sounds like the go. I have a surfaids coffin that has done 17 years of hard service with only a couple of patches and recently a new zip. The day it dies will be a sad one indeed.
For some reason the last couple of times I have travelled the airlines have given my boards a solid beating.
Been thinking about getting something more rugged like you described. So sick of the rails getting crushed in transit.
Don't know if this would help you but I bought a few metres of that black rubber they insulate pipes with and cut one side of it so it fits around the entire length of my rails, I then glad wrap it so no tape sticks to the board then shove a $5 super soft pillow at each end of the board bag to protect the nose and tail and I have never had a problem
A pool noodle with a slit in it also works well for safeguarding those rails.
$700 ....and only takes a 6'5 ....hmmm....
crustt what do your 'bulletproof' bags to take up to a 7'0 cost roughly ?
In response to some comments above. Yes the weight is 13kg. However we advise all our happy customers this can be notified in advance to the airline if you are going to go over. Most airlines carry up to 23kg now. If you are carrying 2 boards as we normally do(this is with fins) weight is 19Kg. Or up to 3 boards (without fins) hits about 22.5Kg and 4 boards 26Kg. If you have upgrading capabilities such as air miles or business then you are allowed 32Kg. The cases have been designed within the parameters of the airlines allowances and can carry up to 6'6 not 6'4 as stated above, I can get a 6'6 in it and so have a few of my customers. They are protection for your prized possessions when traveling with three boards. They are worth the long term investment. The Adventure case is not only a surf board case it is also a roof top box similar to a Thule, it can carry fishing rods, skis, snow boards etc. We have actually had a customer purchase one for his international model yacht racing ! They are easily secured with U bolts by Rhino rack for $20 and two of the latches are pad-lockable.. Two cases have been on the van now for 12 months and up and down the motorway at 140Kph, so tried and tested in all weathers. If you see the van ask to have a look.
If you check out our instagram nautilus_aus or website www.nautiluscase.com.au you can see a few on there and also our waterproof photography hard cases. Happy to demo to anyone who is interested. Cheers
udo wrote:$700 ....and only takes a 6'5 ....hmmm....
crustt what do your 'bulletproof' bags to take up to a 7'0 cost roughly ?
Sorry udo I missed this, $125 for a single, 175 for a double, 195 for a triple, plus postage which is between $20 and $45 depend on which side of the country your on.
I reckon you could develop that hard case a bit to turn it into a swag type sleeping capsule, they have to loose some of the weight for it to become popular.
Sandy ..read above
I gather Nautilus cases have ceased trading since posting in 2016?
Does anybody know if they are still making there hard cases under a different name maybe?
Nautilus Australia wrote:In response to some comments above. Yes the weight is 13kg. However we advise all our happy customers this can be notified in advance to the airline if you are going to go over. Most airlines carry up to 23kg now. If you are carrying 2 boards as we normally do(this is with fins) weight is 19Kg. Or up to 3 boards (without fins) hits about 22.5Kg and 4 boards 26Kg. If you have upgrading capabilities such as air miles or business then you are allowed 32Kg. The cases have been designed within the parameters of the airlines allowances and can carry up to 6'6 not 6'4 as stated above, I can get a 6'6 in it and so have a few of my customers. They are protection for your prized possessions when traveling with three boards. They are worth the long term investment. The Adventure case is not only a surf board case it is also a roof top box similar to a Thule, it can carry fishing rods, skis, snow boards etc. We have actually had a customer purchase one for his international model yacht racing ! They are easily secured with U bolts by Rhino rack for $20 and two of the latches are pad-lockable.. Two cases have been on the van now for 12 months and up and down the motorway at 140Kph, so tried and tested in all weathers. If you see the van ask to have a look.
If you check out our instagram nautilus_aus or website www.nautiluscase.com.au you can see a few on there and also our waterproof photography hard cases. Happy to demo to anyone who is interested. Cheers
It seems that a few companies have tried the hardcase thing and failed. I met a guy in Indo years back that was doing some work for a company called crypt cases. He showed me some photos of the design in development and the cases had wheels, handles and could extend out or in for different sizes. Looked the goods and had a few long term surf industry types involved. Don't think it even got out of development phase - just checked their Insta and last post was from 2018.
Sounds like a the hard case is a hard sell.
Does anyone know where I can purchase a hard case/coffin for surfboards in Australia? I'm aware of a couple of companies in the US who make them (Santa Monica, Nautilus etc) but can't find them over here. They're already pricey to begin with and shipping from the US makes them extortionate. I've heard they're the only way of guaranteeing your boards arrive in one piece after being chucked onto a plane by baggage handlers/gorillas.