Myths about Inflatable Paddle Boards
COMMON CLAIMS, MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS REGARDING INFLATABLE PADDLE BOARDS
A quick look behind some of the more outlandish and incorrect claims that we’ve come across from some of the inflatable paddle board manufacturers.
‘Military Grade’ materials
This bizarre phrase popped up a while ago and several manufacturers still persist with it when describing the materials used on their inflatable paddle boards. We haven’t been able to ascertain any military uses of PVC which would give any useful meaning to this phrase. Inflatable/RIB style Military assault craft are built with Hypalon-coated neoprene, an entirely different breed of material. Talking of which…
The best inflatable boards are made of Hypalon!!
FACT: There are NO inflatable paddle boards made of Hypalon. Hypalon is well known in marine circles for being preferable to PVC when it comes to inflatable dinghies and RIBs, primarily because it lasts much longer. But it is not used in inflatable paddle boards, for a variety of very good reasons. Firstly, it’s about three times as heavy as PVC. Secondly, it doesn’t bond to PVC, and as all the commercially-manufactured dropstitch material (the core of every inflatable paddle board) is PVC, it’s simply not feasible to laminate hypalon onto the PVC core. Finally, it’s vastly more expensive. So even if you could overcome the manufacturing issues, you’d end up with a heavier, more expensive board. Not a great outcome!
Nevertheless, quite a few retailers (and even some unscrupulous importers!) do claim that their inflatable paddle boards are made from hypalon. But they’re not. No inflatable paddle boards are made of Hypalon. And because of the cost and weight issues (plus the fact that Hypalon is not even made any more!), there never will be.
“Our inflatables are the same as our solid boards!”
Many brands fall into the trap of trying to make their inflatable boards mirror their solid boards, normally fairly early on in their experience with inflatable boards. It’s a nice idea, but actually it’s nonsense in practice. There are two fundamental differences between solid boards and inflatable boards – firstly, inflatable boards are the same thickness throughout their entire length, unlike any solid boards, and secondly, the rocker line is not constant, even on the very very stiffest of inflatables. When you move around on an inflatable, you do affect the rocker line. For these reasons (and several other more technical ones), if you build an inflatable board to the same plan shape and rocker line as a solid board, it will still perform very differently. The best inflatable shapes are actually very different to solid boards, in both plan shape and rocker line; their shape has been designed to work with the way inflatables behave on the water. Any idea that only one set of R & D needs to be done to produce both solid and inflatable boards is sadly misguided.
“Industry Standard”
Many brands use this phrase, usually in the context of ‘our side panels are twice as thick as the industry standard’, or similar. However, the simple fact is that there is absolutely no ‘industry standard’ in inflatable paddle board manufacture. Instead, there is a complete spectrum, from incredibly good to incredibly bad, in all aspects of construction, material and fittings.
“Craftsmanship Construction”
Inflatable board manufacture is generally extremely low-tech (see ‘the manufacturers’ on the home page). One or two brands are produced to a very high quality level, but the vast majority are literally cut out by hand, and glued together on the floor or on basic tables. This includes pretty much all the smaller, lower-production run brands, but also some of the bigger-name brands too.
How to tell whether a board is made well? Again, it comes back to the numbers. If the boards can be inflated to high pressures, then clearly the manufacturing must be up to the job. (Building a board that can cope with high pressures is all about accurate and exact manufacturing, with great attention to detail). If it can’t be taken to 20psi+, then it’s low-tech, end of story…
Stiffening Systems
Quite a few brands claim to have some sort of stiffening system or pad built into the deck of their board. However, quite obviously, anything that is built into a board that can be rolled up, by definition can’t actually add any stiffness at all – end of story!
RSS stiffening system from Red Paddle Co
The only genuine stiffening systems are those where a rod or batten is inserted into a pocket along the rail of the board. Red Paddle Co were the first to come up with this, and have now successfully patented their RSS (Rail Stiffening System) system, which has been in wThe Advanced Elements Stiffyidespread use for several years now, and has proven very successful in dramatically increasing the performance of their race and surfing orientated boards. Red claim it increases board stiffness by over 40%. Advanced Elements in the US have a boardcalled ‘The Stiffy’ which has a system whereby aluminium rods are held into place along indents along the rail of the board, which they also claim to have patented. However, we’ve yet to meet anyone who’s seen or tried one of their boards, and the Stiffy planshape looks extremely rectangular and not orientated towards high performance. It will be interesting to see what other brands can come up with, as this is very much a holy grail in terms of inflatable board performance improvement. Hobie have introduced some deck stiffening panels, which apparently do increase their stiffness slightly, and we’ll let you know more about them once we’ve had more opportunity to put them through their paces.
Big Warranties
A board with a 3 year warranty must be tougher than a board with a 1 year warranty, right? Actually, no, it doesn’t necessarily work like that. It’s easier to offer a 3 year warranty with a low pressure, low performance board, because as long as it’s never pumped up too hard or used too strenuously, it’s not actually ever going to be under very much load! Obviously, yes, it’s good, and fair play to brands doing it. But it’s not quite as clear-cut as it might seem, in terms of what it’s saying. It’s only really relevant in terms of direct comparison with other products of equal performance. If you’re looking for a low pressure, low performance, low cost inflatable paddleboard, then definitely go for the one with the longer warranty. But if you actually want performance, and intend to use the board a lot, then just go for the better board every time. The ironic truth is that if you buy a cheap low performance board, you actually won’t end up using it very much, so it will almost certainly last the warranty period!
Having said that – if a brand is offering a long warranty on a high pressure inflatable, then that really tells you something about their confidence in their manufacturing. That will be a safe bet, for sure.
Board Weights
With solid boards, a lighter board is generally a better performer, quicker to accelerate and more responsive underfoot. The weight saving has (hopefully!) been achieved by using carbon or better grades of epoxy or glass, which usually means that the board is more expensive.
So people are conditioned to think that lighter is better when it comes to boards – and that you pay more for lighter weight. However, when it comes to inflatables, weight cannot be viewed in the same way. Because there is only one way to make an inflatable board lighter, and that is to have a thinner skin, or less dropstitch threads. End of story. So a lighter inflatable board will always be less tough and more prone to damage, or less stiff. When it comes to PVC you cannot get lighter-but-better material, it doesn’t exist. And using dropstitch with a lower thread count clearly, unambiguously, results in a lower quality board.
As for the performance gains from the weight saving, these are less quantifiable as actually there is more performance to be gained from having increasing stiffness than in shedding weight. If your board is light but floppy, you lose far more power from your stroke than any gains from being on a lighter board. And increasing stiffness is very much dependent on the robustness and structural integrity of the board. So in general, unless the design and internal construction is spectacularly good, a lighter board usually often considerably less stiff. End result – less performance!
So the message is, don’t expect longevity or robustness from a lightweight inflatable. The only way weight can be saved is by reducing quantity and quality of material.