I’m at a point with my business where it would make sense to contract someone either overseas or in other parts of the states to build my shapes for me. Specifically SUP. Does anyone in Swaylocks land have any experience with this and can offer advice?
I don’t know where you are located, but consider these things; Licensing agreements in the Surf Industry never seem to work out in the long run. Have heard of several over the years that had to be withdrawn. An alternative is to keep it under your own watchful eye by contracting with a CNC cutting service and glass shop. Flip your files to a cutting service. Have a glass shop pick up your cut blanks and scrub them and then glass and finish to your specs. If the finished boards are to be shipped out of state or out of country you should be able to arrange for the glass shop to handle that for you as well. Of course every phase of such a process is gonna cost. Best bet is to find a factory that can do all of the above for you. There are factories in Calif. and Hawaii that have In-house CNC, glassing, packing and shipping services. If you are looking for a way to get the boards built and shipped from a location that is closer to their ultimate destination; that’s the way to go. If you are looking to make money on licensing and franchise fees; good luck.
Thanks McDing. I’m in Santa Cruz. And you nailed it – what I’d like to do is have a cutting center cut my boards and then have a glass shop scrub and finish to my specs. And closer to their ultimate destination. Ideally, I’d have this set up on the east coast and in SoCal but also as far away as Australia.
Kirk
There are several fatory/shops in Oceanside/Carlsbad that could do the deal. Call Marty at Arctic. He knows every body in Oceanside/Carlsbad Airport Surf Ghetto. They have a Machine, but I don’t know who does their glassing. They also have experience shipping all over the world. I think I saw a post by Barry Snider in which he stated that there are no less than twelve CNC machines in that neighborhood. Brad Basham’s Factory is up the road in San Clemente. On the East Coast I would start searching in the Melbourne Beach area. I think “Surf Source” manufactures. Check their website. Does Haut still have his Machine? I used to live in Santa Cruz. I’m thinking about using someone in SC instead of Orange County.
Technically any shop that does CI boards does it.
Boards are cut, dropped off scrubbed, and delivered finished to local shops. Some go into the big warehouse in SB but its a good Method.
Thanks McDing. Yes, Doug and Rich Novak are running a machine at NHS.
Thanks Acqua for the info.
Kirk
So is NHS still in Seabright? Thanks for the info. You do a nice job on those SUP’s. I wish you the best in your endeavor. Lowel.
Yes, they are in Seabright. Thanks again.
Kirk
East Coast Surfboard Factory in New Jersey is opening in January, 2014
Full service contract board building and shipping (delivery to Mid Atlantic shops). CNC machine, epoxy and poly glasswork.
Guy named Marty Bennett runs it, 43 years of building boards in factories from NJ, FL, and Hawaii.
Website us under construction but here’s a link: www.ecsurfboardfactory.com
Seems like I always wind up doing business with somebody operating out of a defunct cannery or chicken ranch. I was living in Live Oak when NHS moved from Soquel over to Seabright. He’s had a few headaches dealing with the city and residences. People buy a house in a old industrial neighborhood and expect business to just roll up and go away. When I was ten years old I made a trip with my Dad to the former Stokley-Van Camp Cannery in Seabright with a load of Bartlett Pears in his 1947 West Coaster International and double trailer rig. Had all the pancakes I could eat at the “Hungry Trucker” cafe up on 17 on the way back to the Sac. Valley.