At Sawyer SUP we build one of a kind works of art using many techniques to suit your needs. Our boards begin life through computer aided modeling and design though concept to template and are born through applied empirical knowledge in the construction phase. If you had X-ray vision, you would see the inside of a Sawyer Hollow Wooden SUP looks similar to an airplane wing. We mill planks to ¼ inch and horizontally laminate the pieces to create the deck and bottom patterns. The patterns serve as function with select placement of wider soft/light woods intermixed with thin slices of hard/stiff woods we create stiffness and channels in the bottom. This creates a board that is strong in all the right places. In addition the hardwood sands at a lesser rate than the softwood creating channels to improve flow across the bottom of the board. This makes Sawyer SUPs very efficient and fast on the water.
At Sawyer SUP we’ve experimented with various popular hollow wooden construction techniques to reduce weight while highlighting the performance characteristics of wood. We’ve come up with a construction methods using foam ribs to replace plywood and reduce weight and glue. The greater surface gluing area of a wide foam rib provides greater strength than a thin wood rib. The foam ribs are equivalent in overall footprint (foam vs. plywood) to plywood rib board, which meets our sustainability goals and reduces weight to meet our performance goals. The driving force has been to meet our client’s needs to evolve and produce Stand Up Paddleboards that are lighter, but maintain the unmatched performance, feel, longevity, and beauty that a wood board creates. These boards have weights similiar to well made epoxy foam boards. The first boards of this type rolled out summer 2012 and we’ve produced many boards that are performing from sea to shining sea.
We’ve modified our designs to introduce a new fleet for 2014, check Sawyer Wooden SUP on Facebook for the building photos. The latest creations are using a fiberglass/carbon fiber bathtub on the inside for strength, light weight and longevity. We are constructing a frame that is removed prior to glassing to achieve a continuous and clean lamination on the inside and once the glass is placed we permanently install the ribs to define the deck, bottom and rail shape. We work with bottom contours from shallow V tails to concave midsections. Our displacement hull designs have been refined with a concave deck to reduce leg strain and improve grip and feel. Noses are domed to shed water, maximize waterline, add volume and increase stiffness. Each Sawyer is designed to optimize the waterline, rocker, plan shape, flex, fin, and volume to provide for the ultimate paddling experience.
Our expertise with epoxy enables Sawyer SUP to maximize strength and minimize weight. We laminate our SUPs with fiberglass and epoxy with the most appropriate properties for our application of the finest quality and made in the United States. The interior deck structures are laminated in 4 or 6 oz glass (depending upon the board purpose and location). The exterior of the board is laminated with 4 epoxy coats and 7-9 coats of polyurethane for complete water proofness and UV resistance. We went so far as to build an oven to bake each board to create a secondary cure process for the epoxy which additionally increases the strength without adding more weight. The natural wood colors and grain texture jump off the board particularly under the glassy finish. The glassy finish is created by sanding the board up to 2000 grit and then polishing the board with 4 progressively lighter compounds until it is perfectly polished for a scratch resistant mirror finish and UV protection. Sawyer paddle boards are built to take a fair amount of abuse, these boards weigh in from 26 to 45 lbs for 14′ boards.
On superlight boards for expert paddlers we will use lighter weight glass, carbon fiber or no glass and finish with UV protected epoxy and they are to be treated with the same care as a race board and minimize laps. These boards can weigh in as low as 23 lbs and these boards need extra TLC. They use lighter glass, thin resin coating, and a thin crosslinked linear polyurethane finish for durability and UV protection.
We at Sawyer take great pride in using our own boards and evolving to produce boards with magical properties and inspire a deeper appreciation for nature, paddling, and camaraderie. Throughout the evolution of wooden SUP product we’ve also sourced improved vents, deckpads, glass, resin, and wood that you won’t find elsewhere.
We continue to source more materials locally, of the finest quality, and strive to use US made materials only.