About Our Company

Wooden surfboards are as “green” as you can get. Surf Tip #492 from Surfer magazine… “The greenest surfboards are actually yellow. Because they’re old.” A wooden surfboard can last you a lifetime with proper care. If you surf often, a foam-core surfboard may last you only a couple years. After that, foam surfboards show signs of wear and often take on water over time. Essentially, a foam surfboard starts to deteriorate the day you start using it. In contrast, a wooden surfboard that’s built properly, is tougher and will last longer than your typical foam surfboard. This makes wooden surfboard cheaper in the long run. The life expectancy of foam boards is measured in hours and a wooden surfboard is measured in years. Furthermore, foam-core surfboards only get their strength through the stringer and fiberglass cloth which sometimes gets sanded too thin compromising the strength of the surfboard. Unfortunately, you won’t know your surfboard was sanded too thin until it’s too late and snaps in the whitewater. Our hollow wooden surfboards are strong and rigid even without fiberglass. This allows us to create stronger, longer lasting surfboards.

It’s Not Just Our Boards… Our Shirts Start With Better Materials As Well.
Polyester made from recycled plastic and Organic, US-grown coton.

Out of the water, wooden surfboards are only slightly heavier than a similarly shaped foam surfboards. However, since they are hollow, our surfboards are more buoyant. This will allow you to surf a thinner and smaller surfboard reducing its overall weight. Keep in mind that a wooden short-board may not out perform a light weight foam board however, once you get one of these beauties on the water, the difference is well worth it. As beautiful as these surfboards are to look at, the beauty is truly in the ride.

“It’s an amazing feeling of pride the first time you get a Hollow Wooden Surfboard on the water.”

With our build method, these surfboards are built from thin wood strips laminated over a skeletal frame. There are no veneers or foam in these surfboards. These Hollow Wooden Surfboards are glassed inside and out using fiber glass cloth with epoxy resin to produce a lightweight and durable surfboard that can last you a lifetime.

Our surfboards are custom made to order since so much time and work goes into each board we build. For that we don’t carry an inventory of surfboards. When odering a custom hollow wooden surfboard from Mahalo Boards, we recommend that you be as involved as possible with the build from start to finish. Turn around time can vary depending on your needs and our availability. Contact us today to learn more.

WHY WOOD?
Wood as a material goes back to the very origins of surfing. Hollow wood boards are a pleasure to surf, have environmental credentials and are beautiful on the eye. Surfing a wood board is better for the environment and offers a wave-riding tool that is made out of natural material. Wood boards look beautiful and every board is unique since each piece of wood has its own distinct grain. They last longer, don’t get pressure dings, and are a pleasure to ride.

ECO-FRIENDLY?
Hollow wooden surfboards are built with fast growing, eco-friendly, renewable materials that can be broken down easily if discarded. We build our boards using Paulownia and Cedar.Paulownia is an extremely fast growing tree that has received a great deal of interest for its environmental properties and has been put forward as a potential solution to the global deforestation problem which lies at the heart of the climate change debate. Cedar, according to a Life Cycle Assessment or LCA (also known as life cycle analysis, Eco-balance, and cradle-to-grave analysis) quantifies environmental impacts of materials in a side-by-side comparison found cedar to be at the top of it’s list. Additionally, according to the Western Red Cedar Lumber Association, “it is the ultimate green building material.” Western Red Cedar requires significantly less energy to produce than many other trees, and has the benefit of being biodegradable.
Wooden surfboards also last much longer than traditional polyurethane foam core surfboards covered with highly toxic polyester resin. Foam surfboard are therefor discarded sooner and are not easily broken down in our landfills.
We also use epoxy resins to build our surfboards that are superior to polyester resins because epoxy resin is stronger, more durable, and significantly less toxic. Unfortunately, polyester resin remains the industry standard because it is very inexpensive and board builders are already familiar with using it. Epoxy resins are also more expensive and use slightly different construction techniques that are less familiar to builders. For all these reasons listed above, we believe that your surfboards are more eco-friendly than any other surfboard manufacturer.

DO THEY GO?
Hollow wooden surfboards are about having fun and enjoying the ride. Once you’ve tried a wooden board, you’ll discover that wooden surfboards ride with more energy and carry more momentum down the wave. These boards are slightly heavier, but this is hardly noticeable on the water. Riders of wooden surfboards report added buoyancy, more paddle power, better forward momentum on the wave face, and a unique glide-like feeling. A well-constructed wooden board feels nothing like you’ve ever experienced on foam. There’s nothing like sitting on a wooden board and looking at the grain knowing you’re on a handcrafted one-of-a-kind, work of art.

WILL THEY BREAK?
I can’t say they’ll never break, since the ocean’s force can destroy just about anything. Although I can’t quantify it, I would venture to say that they are significantly less likely to break than foam-core surfboards.

WHAT ABOUT DINGS?
It would take a violent force to damage a wooden surfboard. If you drop it on the ground, or your leash snaps causing it to smash against rocks, it might crack the glass and expose the wood. This will need to be touched up to prevent water from getting into the hollow core of the board. If the wood is somehow punctured or cracked and water leaks in, it is possible for it to be fixed professionally, so contact us to discuss the damage. An added advantage of wood construction over foam, is the density of the material so you will not find pressure dents on wooden surfboards due to the strength of the wood. Also, the epoxy resin we use is stronger and more ding resistant than the polyester resin used to make polyurethane foam core surfboards. Pressure dents are a common problem with foam-core surfboards which will affect the proformace of the surfboard over time.