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Wicked Quiver Tours the WRV Board Factory
July, 2003
This past summer, the staff of the Wave Riding Vehicles board factory were nice enough to give Wicked Quiver a tour of their facility. In business since 1967, WRV is the largest surfboard manufacturing company under one label on the East Coast. Their factory is located just outside of North Carolina’s surfing mecca, the Outer Banks. The tour enabled me to walk through the entire WRV board-making process.
| Blanks |
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At the WRV factory, all boards start out as a blank of Clark Foam shipped in from Southern California. The blanks are made of closed cell polyurethane foam. On the day of my tour, WRV was in-between Clark Foam shipments, but there was still a huge cache of cured blanks with an assortment of sizes, weights, rockers, glue colors and stringer combinations. A cured blank is a blank that has been allowed to harden before it’s shaped. When the cured blank is shaped, it will support a specific glass job very well without caving in and delaminating. |
| Shaping |
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The shaping rooms are very basic—8x15 in size with flourescent sidelights. In most cases, the shaping process starts out with a custom order. The shaper will learn of a board's specifications from its order card and choose an appropriate sized blank to begin shaping.
I was able to watch veteran WRV shaper and 4-time ASP-East Long Board Title Winner, Jesse Fernandez working his shaping magic. In a stern voice, Jesse said, "Just don’t ask me to pose!” It was his only request of me as I stood there photographing him. I think he was smiling behind his make when he said it. |
| Air brushing |
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After the blank is shaped, it's painted with a water-based white paint for added protection. Over time, the sun's ultraviolet rays can have a deteriorating effect on the blank turning it brown. If you desire color on your board, then you can have it custom airbrushed to your specifications. WRV has some extremely talented airbrush artists available to paint anything from flames on the deck to a fade on the rails.
WRV pointed out that when it comes to airbrushed designs, it's important for them to follow the industry trends. Colors are the most important thing for those surfers who don't know what they want and will buy on impulse. |
| Glassing - laminate coat |
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Once shaped and painted, the board is covered with fiberglass cloth and three layers of resin. This process, called glassing, makes the board waterproof and gives it its strength.
The first layer of resin is the laminate coat. Fiberglass cloth is cut and laid across the bottom of the board. Resin is then poured over the cloth and smoothed out to ensure that the cloth is evenly saturated.
The process is repeated on the deck of the board. The deck will have a heavier weave of fiberglass cloth than the bottom, because the top of the board must support the surfer's weight. |
| Glassing - hot coat |
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The second layer in the glassing process is the hotcoat. This involves an application of a resin that's been blended with a wax surface agent. This mixture helps the board's surface harden and allow for sandpaper work. The hotcoat covers the initial glass-resin layer and is used to fill in any bumps or holes in the board.
After the hotcoat has dried, the board is moved to the sanding room, where it is sanded back to its original shape using a 220-grit sandpaper.
Short high performance boards will be sprayed with a clear lacquer, allowed to dry, and set aside to cure, while most long and midlength boards will remain in the glassing area to be glossed and polished. |
| Glassing - gloss coat |
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Before longboards and midlengths can receive a slick, shiny polished finish, they must be glossed. In the dust-free gloss room, a thin coat of resin is painted over the sanded board, top and bottom, leaving a thin seam around the rail of the board.
After the gloss coat has dried, the board is moved to the polishing room where it's wet sanded. Wet sanding with a sand paper between 400 to 800-grit will give the board a polish finish. A polish compound is then buffed into the board to achieve a high shine. Wet sanding is the dirtiest and least favorite job in the factory, but is an essential step in glassing. |
| Curing |
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After the glassing process, the board may "feel" hard, but it won't reach its true strength for at least three weeks. WRV allows their boards to cure for two to three weeks in a warm room. When fully cured, the boards are loaded up for delivery. |
| Delivery |
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WRV sells its boards all over the world. If an order is from a dealer on the east coast, the boards are loaded into the WRV box truck for direct delivery. The WRV box truck delivers boards up and down the coast with Long Island, NY being the exception. Highway restrictions on vehicle size limit the routes available to Long Island. It's virtually impossible to get there easily and efficiently in a box truck. The WRV crew will resort to loading up a van and attaching a trailer for deliveries in that area.
Once the boards are in the shops, they are bought by surfers with diverse backgrounds and skill levels. As Patrick from WRV put it, "It's the logo, man, everybody loves the logo".
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