The Process
A large part of what makes surfing so culturally significant is the craftsmanship behind the equipment. Surfboard building is a gritty, yet rewarding process where ideas, raw materials and hard work come together to make a functional art piece. Many great surfers are unaware of the board building process and how much labor and skill it involves. I wrote this piece to paint a better picture of the board building processes and how my boards are specifically made.
From start to finish, most boards involve hours of hard labor and a range of different techniques. The process of creating a surfboard generally includes shaping, routing fin inserts, installing fin systems, laminating, hotcoating, installing the leash plug and sanding. These are just the high-level processes, and each step has its own micro level tricks and nuances involved. All said and done, building a surfboard requires an average of 10-15 hours of skilled labor.
The process of building boards sits at the crossroads of art and science. The forces of physics act on a board to determine how it functions in the water. The outline, rail shape, concaves and weight of a board are a few of these important factors. Chemistry comes into play when choosing/creating the materials and composites that are used to build a surfboard. If you’ve ever glassed a board, you know how critical it is to mix the correct ratio of catalyst to resin… especially if you’ve added too much catalyst to your mixture before and created a ticking time bomb. Surfboards also serve as an excellent canvas for artistic expression. There are several methods to add color to a board including resin tints, colored foam, airbrush and paint splatters. There is also an art to the “finish” of the board, with texture gradients ranging from sanded matte to polished.
All Big Carl Surfboards are made start to finish at Clearwater Glassing in the heart of Orange County. Each team member specializes in their job and works in harmony to create the highest quality finished products. From laminators to sanders, there are 7-10 highly skilled craftsmen working at the shop with over 100 years of combined board building experience. The specialization of labor creates a type of assembly line and is a testament to the quality of the end products. All Big Carl surfboards are built by real local surfers who take extreme pride in their work.
Watching my boards get built under one roof allows me to monitor and control quality at every step of the process. I shape each surfboard with care and a keen attention to detail. Although my custom boards are made through the production line described above, I build each board I make for myself from start to finish. This gives me an idea of which details in each step are critical to creating the highest quality product.
“The process of building boards sits at the crossroads of art and science.”
Like many industries, surfboards have seen a trend in outsourcing production to other countries in pursuit of cheaper labor and materials. While this can lower the cost of production, it often involves cutting corners on quality and losing the connected experience of creating a locally made product. All Big Carl Surfboards are made start to finish under one roof with the highest quality materials. Each board order supports local craftsman that take pride in making boards in the USA. I am very thankful to have customers who are willing to go the extra mile to support my brand’s mission: making the highest quality boards by the best local craftsmen.
