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Bay Area shapers?

G

grundy

Legend (inyourownmind)
Dec 16, 2005
543
121
43
Who is building custom boards these days in Pacifica or San Francisco? Anyone?

I'm finishing up yet another ding repair on my wife's much beloved and beaten to death 4'10" 26L Sweet Potato. She's been waiting for the new Sweet Potato model, but they aren't even coming close to building a board in her size. So, I'm looking for someone who can take her old board as a starting point, discuss the pros and cons of the current board, and build her something new. Anyone have a recommendation?
 
Woke AF

Woke AF

Tom Curren status
Jul 29, 2009
11,521
7,882
113
Southern Tip, Norcal
I would recommend James Mitchell. He owned Sunset Shapers which was on Noriega but moved on several years ago. Spoke with him a couple of weeks ago and he said he recently dusted off his tools and started shaping again. Don't know if he would be interested though.
There is a backyard shaper near Judah that advertises on Craiglist. He does copies of popular boards for cheap. Quality? Skilled?
 
G

grundy

Legend (inyourownmind)
Dec 16, 2005
543
121
43
Woke AF said:
I would recommend James Mitchell. ... Don't know if he would be interested though.
Click to expand...
Well his insta points to a dead web site, so that's not looking too promising. I'll try reaching out to him on insta anyway.

Anyone have experience with Calee?
 
D

doc_flavonoid

Michael Peterson status
Dec 27, 2019
1,796
3,312
113
not sf but not too far

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trifish

trifish

Billy Hamilton status
Sep 23, 2009
1,373
3,878
113
Shred City
Could check with Vernor also. Sonlight in Pacifica used to handle customs from him. Might be able to catch him when he is up from Santa Cruz and get a custom sorted out there. I know he makes some grovel type boards some guys love.
 
J

j_mac

Legend (inyourownmind)
Aug 16, 2020
421
1,585
93
Farther south ... Route One Surfboards (shortboard emphasis) (surfboard guide has reviewed some of his boards) and Boyton Boards (more of alternative crafts/fish/midlengths) are in the Monterey area

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C

chilly1

Nep status
Jan 4, 2010
737
1,111
93
Shawn Roades, Neptune Surfboards, NorCal Surf Shop. Your shaper will be the best, that I can think of, and the most experienced surfer/shapers and in tune with the spots, you can find here.

Ran into Verner the other day and he may be the busiest shaper around here, said he's been doing 8 boards a day for years and is about to hire more help which will allow him to meet his demand of 12 a day. I was a little surprised with the volume and he confirmed that like 90% are shipped out away from Santa Cruz
 
T

takeitonthehead

Mar 25, 2009
127
66
28
chilly1 said:
I was a little surprised with the volume
Click to expand...
It's simply because Vernor's boards are the cheapest customs you can get easily around here, and also the fact that he sells them through Sonlight, which caters to lots of beginners means he gets a lot of first-time custom orders.

Woke AF said:
There is a backyard shaper near Judah that advertises on Craiglist.
Click to expand...
Sam Bass aka @judahdunesurfboards, in Pacifica. I'd call him an up-and-comer with a lot of potential, really good at making resin swirls on PU/PE and has some interesting templates and a good handful of happy customers. Not so familiar with EPS, if you're into that sort of thing. He also does glassing for a few of the other labels around here, for example Calee (with whom he shares a shop). I've chatted with him, super friendly and very large guy who charges hard.

Also there's JZ (@jzsurfboards) in Pacifica, SF (@sfsurfboards), and Gras (@grassurfboards026) still posts new boards occasionally as well. I think this guy @wadashapes works for JZ but also sells his own. Doc Lausch (surf prescriptions) posts about bringing boards up to Aqua so often that he might as well be an honorary bay area shaper :-D
 
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B

Bob Dobbalina

Miki Dora status
Feb 23, 2016
4,361
4,771
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Not sure why one would limit themselves to SF & Pacifica when Santa Cruz is so close and more quality craftsmen per capita than anywhere within 6 hours. +1 fpr the earlier recs.

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Ebert makes some cool stubby simmons looking type things that might hit the sweet potato spot.
 
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ehiunno

ehiunno

OTF status
Dec 27, 2019
340
642
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takeitonthehead said:
It's simply because Vernor's boards are the cheapest customs you can get easily around here, and also the fact that he sells them through Sonlight, which caters to lots of beginners means he gets a lot of first-time custom orders.
Click to expand...
I think this is an accurate take. I've had a few Vernors when I lived out there and they worked but the custom experience didn't leave me that excited to go back. His biggest draw was always price, responsiveness and quick turn around. Then he started raising prices and getting more orders and the build time got longer and I failed to see much reason to order from him. Now everyone else has raised prices too so he's kind of a good deal again lol.

He told me he ships a lot of mini-simmons and grovel boards to Virginia Beach which makes sense. People seem to really like his mini-simmons.

I do still think his I-beam construction where he routes out a channel for carbon in the tail is really cool.
 
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G

grundy

Legend (inyourownmind)
Dec 16, 2005
543
121
43
thanks all, lots of good options here. I'll let y'all know what she decides and how it goes.
 
G

grundy

Legend (inyourownmind)
Dec 16, 2005
543
121
43
takeitonthehead said:
It's simply because Vernor's boards are the cheapest customs you can get easily around here, and also the fact that he sells them through Sonlight, which caters to lots of beginners means he gets a lot of first-time custom orders.
Click to expand...
That explains a few things. I've seen so many ovesized Vernor mini-sims that I just assumed they were cheap popouts. They seem to have replaced that Walden Compact Disc board that I used to see in similar abundance.
 
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