Do the Dimensions on the Bottom of Your Surfboard Match the Actual Dimensions?

This is a fun one!  In a previous life when I would look at the dimensions on the bottom of a board I would think for sure this board must match the numbers.  Then one day, my buddy Mitch was talking about a SUP he got from a very well known shaper and something felt off so he took his calipers and measured the thickness and it was a whole 1 inch thicker than he had asked for and what was written on the board.  This was before I started shaping boards, but it made me start to question why this number would be wildly different.  Fast forward many years and I have my own surfboard repair business and as part of this, I take measurements off of every board that comes into the shop.  If I have learned one thing it is that the numbers on the bottom of the board are false more often than they are true.

Just the other day a friend brought in a board he had ordered to take to Indo and he wanted me to template it in case he broke it while he was traveling and wanted to have something similar made when he got home.  When I initially picked up the board I was amazed at how thick it was and then I looked at the bottom it stated it was 2 ¾ thick.  I got out the calipers and it is 3 ⅛!  Again, my mind was blown.  I understand being off by 1/16 or maybe even an eighth if I’m being generous, but 3/8 or a whole inch!?!  WTF?

I have a few guesses why this may be true so let’s explore them…

I know a lot of shapers who smoke a fat doobie before getting to work so maybe they aren’t quite exacting with their “measurements” at the end of the process and they write what they think the board is rather than what it actually is.

Or…

Perhaps the shaper just accidentally writes the wrong numbers, I guess it could happen!

Or…

When someone orders a surfboard they ask for specific dimensions and these are generally written on a piece of paper and referenced during the shaping of the board. What happens if the shaper gets to the end of the process and the actual numbers don’t match the numbers on the order sheet? Based on what I am seeing, it appears that the shaper writes the numbers from the order sheet no matter what the board actually measures.  Interesting.  Have I ever done this?  No comment…

In the end, does it really matter?  Some might say yes because they will use the numbers that are currently on the bottom of their board as a reference to order a new board.  Then they are surprised when the new board doesn’t feel exactly like they thought it would. Maybe the numbers on that board aren’t even accurate!  We’ll never know!  And don’t even get me started on the liters listed on the bottom of boards…there will be separate article for that one.

Cheers from Raptorcorn