Standup Paddleboards

S

Shad

Life of the Party
Hi, All!

Christmas is coming, and my oldest daughter asked me for a standup paddleboard. I see that they vary tremendously in price (like most things), and I'm trying to figure out what I should get her. This would be her first paddleboard, and she's probably not going to be using it very frequently or in any extreme capacity, so she probably doesn't need a Cadillac model, but I want to make sure to get her something functional and that will last for at least a few years of light to moderate use.

Any suggestions on what to look for and/or good places to start?
 
We bought ROC inflatable SUP's for our daughters several years ago. They have worked out great. They get a lot of use on lakes.

One hot day our daughters did not deflate one of them enough and it blew a seam. My wife called ROC and explained what happened. They requested a picture. The next day ROC sent us a brand new one. No costs for the replacement board nor shipping.

ROC SUPs can be expensive on their site but frequently go on sale. We bought them through Walmart at more than half off.

From an email to my wife:

"There are 10' ones that are 33" wide and 10.5' ones 33" or 36" wide. ROC has them on sale on their website $799 on sale for 10% off. Walmart has the same ones on sale for between $189 and $249"
 
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I currently fish a lot from my Lifetime Horizon paddleboard ($400 new, found mine for about half that secondhand). The material is polyethylene, so it’s a hard board (think rotomolded kayak). Been about 3 years, no issues. Heavy (44lbs) but indestructible. Wide, stable, tracks well.

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Prior to this board I fished from an amazon.com inflatable board, sold by many different “companies” but they all seem the same besides the graphics. It was fine, but I grew tired of inflating/deflating, and the oysters tore pinholes all over the bottom that required monthly patching.

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Zak said:
We bought a Tommy Bahama inflatable SUP from Costco for my daughter and it has been pretty great. We've had it one season so far.
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I’d second going with Costco. If there’s ever an issue you can return it. We have had 3 different brands from Costco (1st one was returned). Also, I’d go with inflatable for the storage and transportation advantages…inflatables are much higher quality than they were 10 years ago.
 
I have (2) older Hyperlite boards, they have been dinged up and thrown around for years and work like new(stored at lake place). My neighbor's daughter uses and inflatable when she visits and says it great.
Choose the length according to what she wants to use it for and go from there. Most of the inflatables now are pretty legit when it comes to durability.
 
My wife and I have three boards. Two hard, one inflatable. Most casual SUP people go the inflatable route. We paddle alot and prefer the hard boards. Better performance hands down. Less hassle, but then we have racks on all vehicles for transport.
Start modest, inflatable, but if she really takes to it go hard boards.
We use the inflatable for travel, like Baja.
 
Thanks, all! Lots of great suggestions. Looks like I need to ask the daughter some questions about what length/width she wants. She'll need an inflatable, because her car is far from ideal for roof transport. I think the vast majority of her use will be on lakes, so there shouldn't be much concern about shredding it on oyster beds/etc.

@MarshRat has me wishing I were about 1500 miles south right now with all those big redfish. Must be close to time to visit my sister's family in Florida... but Christmas first I suppose.
 
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