Chris G
Posts:29
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| 11/03/2010 6:24 PM |
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About 2 or 3 years back I bought a new Mistral Synchro 115 Litre board. Aprox 6 months ago I noticed the deck between the foot straps was spongy. It wasn't too bad so I drilled some holes and injected polyurethane. This has similar properties to polystyrene and normally does a good job if you catch a delamination early. I then closed the holes with epoxy and made a new non slip.
It lasted about 6 months when the deck became spongy again. I have now removed the offending piece of deck and am about to replace it with new S glass and epoxy on a polyurethane base. All good so far. Here is the interesting bit.
After removing a largish piece of deck and feathering the edges I noticed there was NO CARBON although it quite clearly states on the deck "Carbon sandwich". Maybe the builder had the carbon sandwich for lunch because its not in the board. After noticing this I checked the rest of the board very carefully. If I wanted to have a good quality deck, I would have to remove the entire thing! Mistral may have some excuse and say the carbon is only on the bottom or some other obscure part of the board.
I wouldn't believe this. I think the deck is so weak because the design called for carbon and for some reason it was not built that way. Either the Cobra factory or Mistral or both is pulling the wool over my eyes. I think it stinks.
Chris G |
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WAggles
Posts:356
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| 12/03/2010 2:34 PM |
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what can i say if you bought a jp or a starboard it would be unlikely to happen and the board is covered wityh a very good warranty makes one think !! |
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Chris G
Posts:29
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| 12/03/2010 3:10 PM |
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| I wonder if there is such a thing as a warranty against being unethical? |
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Naish
Posts:217
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| 12/03/2010 3:34 PM |
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I think you confused with the words "Guarantee" and "Warranty" LOL!
~R |
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Chris G
Posts:29
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| 12/03/2010 6:06 PM |
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www.boardlady.com/truth.htm Have a look at this link. It seems Mistral is an old hand at lying to their customers about what their boards are made of. |
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Rudolph
Posts:21
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| 12/03/2010 10:11 PM |
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This made me think of the Waterproof gps [R 2800] I bought from a very popular windsurfing shop in the Tableview area. It clearly stated on the box waterproof.
The first time the GPS touched water it got water ingress. This expensive GPS is now sitting in my cupboard because I am too scared to use it. When I took it back to the shop he told me they cant replace it because there was too many complaints already. I never took it further because luckily their is plenty of windsurfing shops I can choose from. I will import windsurfing gear before that shop sees me again.
Since Tableview is not big.,I just want to confirm that this shop is not SUNTRAX. My first windsurfing gear I bought was from SUNTRAX and always had good customers service from SUNTRAX. |
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krizz
Posts:7
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| 15/03/2010 10:24 AM |
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@Rudolph,
Waterproof is not watercrashproof -- take a look at this:
http://www.aquapac.net/
A nice aquapac armband case will let you enjoy that GPS again.
@Chris -- don't stamp your foot down that hard between the straps when gybing ;-) |
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Chris G
Posts:29
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| 15/03/2010 1:59 PM |
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Mmm... I already worry about breaking my kit in the sea. Should I be worried about sailing on flat water too?
Seriously, one of the guys at MAC has managed to stomp 4 decks into a state of disrepair. Granted he is a big guy and I am not to small myself. This brings up the question:
Are they making boards to weak in the never ending quest for less weight?
or Should only ballerinas be allowed to windsurf? |
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James
Posts:69
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| 15/03/2010 4:32 PM |
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Yes, it's interesting that windsurfing kit manufacturers don't seem to market the durability aspect in much of their kit. It's all about performance. Occasionally they will mention a sail or boom being able to deal with tough conditions but won't say much more about it.
Ironically, it makes sense that the majority of the market should be more interested in durability if it could be gained for a small sacrifice in performance because for most of us the limitation is probably our own skill rather than the kit. However, I don't know if it would work... imagine the tag lines
Jump almost as high as your mate, carve almost as tight, all on a board that will last twice as long!
Seriously, though, it would be nice to see some of the mags like windsurfer and boards do some durability testing as well... maybe some sort of accelerated wear test that simulates 50 double forwards landing flat by Dave White or someone of similar stature. |
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Rudolph
Posts:21
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| 15/03/2010 4:50 PM |
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Hi Chris
I did not crash with the GPS. I did use a cary case which this guy gave my wife when she initially bought the GPS. When I returned it, he told me they already returned a lot of these gps 's and I can only return it when it breaks completely. At present the screen still has water inside.
So should I now windsurf with the gps and look through the water bubbles until I manage to break it? The matter of the fact is, I am just disappointed with the way this guy dealt with this complaint. Like I said it doesn't really matter. I will just not buy from him again. The other reason I also just noted this is that it irritates me that he always notes in this kind of forum discussions how good his gear is and all other gear is bad. |
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Chris G
Posts:29
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| 15/03/2010 9:16 PM |
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I wonder if freestyle boards are built much stronger than any other board? I have seen some of those freestyle guys do really freaky moves. They have a complete disregard for the laws of physics. If the freestyle boards were anything like my syncro it would be toast in half a session!
As regards James' point about skill levels, I know my kit is capable of far more than I am doing right now. Ben vd Steen was racing at MAC recently and I know if I swapped kit with him, he would still lap me around a slalom course. The next time I buy kit I am not only going to look at performance but also at durability. Its more fun sailing than repairing, for sure. |
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Donovan01
Posts:21
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| 16/03/2010 4:31 PM |
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Chris bad news about the board.....but I see it is 2 or 3 years old.
I know there has been a lot of fair bit of drama with soft decks on larger (race) type boards across ALL brands (WAGGY!).
You don't often see this with wave boards - the reason is simple.....the strength comes from 3 factors:
1. Construction - most of these boards come from Cobra or similar in Thailand and are composites of varying lay ups of wood, pvc, carbon kevlar and such. Pretty much equal there - all brands will specify which of these they want and for any two of the same lay up, the result is pretty even. Having said this, seen a few boards inside and the results can be scary!
2. Weight/strength trade off - simple enough - fast race boards are light don't last if raced often and properly - the decks go soft in the area between the pads, get used to it...especially on bigger boards - for the reason in 3, which is also why it is rare these days to see a wave board with a soft deck.
3. The deck geometry - for any given lay up, a deck dome with a tight arc will be stronger than a flat arc because the foam provides very little support due to its low density - most of the strength is engineered between the arc curve and the chosen lay up - obviously gets worse on the bigger boards as they are flatter and the guys usually use a very light lay up on these to keep the weight down.
Tough but true - I would never expect my race boards to last 3 seasons in 100% condition, but I've got plenty of wave boards still in service across many brands, most of which have been well beaten in all kinds of jumps - not one soft deck.
The lay ups could be stronger, but then (in my opinion anyway) we will go backwards because of the weight.
Rudolph, WRT the GPS - Garmin 305 or similar - no probs and crashed it at 30+ knots and more plenty of times. Eugene had some water hassle but they replaced it no probs. Have a pouch but this is for the phone, the GPS does not need it.
Good luck boys. |
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WAggles
Posts:356
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| 17/03/2010 2:03 PM |
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thought this was about a soft mistral deck rudolph !!!! seem to recall the importer speaking to rudolph himself if that is your real name? about this if the gps a locosys gt11 is in the pouch it will not get wetand is far safer to protect your investment, it is correct the importer was not prepared to do anything robbie care to comment ? whilst it states waterproof care should alwasy betaken when taking electronic equipment in water when you crash water is forced in to buttons and failure occurs it is a grey area with the likes of garmen, locosys ,oregan ,ect. which i meet with all ther time and i cant please everyone even if i try sorry ruddolph !! waggy
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WAggles
Posts:356
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| 17/03/2010 2:07 PM |
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funny i have a 305 and it has water in the face but never stops going maybe im not going fast enough  |
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Chris G
Posts:29
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| 19/03/2010 3:51 PM |
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Hi Donovan
I appreciate your theory about your race boards lasting 3 seasons. It is obvious from the results posted else where on this site that you are a very serious sailor. I think your boards go through much more use than mine do. I am a typical Sunday sailor. Normally I get to sail once a week. Very sad, but true.
Now lets see how long my board has actually lasted.
3 years x 52 weekends = 156. 156 Days because I only get to sail one day a week.
I have 4 boards
Kona for light winds
Synchro for moderate winds
Beast 84 for 20 kts plus
Beast 68 for 35 kts plus
In autumn, winter and spring there are many light wind days so the Kona probably gets used the most.
In summer the beast 84 gets used the most.
If the Synchro is used, it is normaly for the early part of the day.
For the sake of simplicity lets say the Synchro is used a quarter of the time.
156 / 4 = 39.
39 Days. That's just not acceptable. |
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