You’ve just bought a brand new surfboard – it’s everything you wanted! The design is sleek and it’s great to ride. However, you now don’t need your old one.
What do you do? You sell it! Luckily, somebody online snaps it up at exactly the price you wanted.
Great! But wait, how do you send them the surfboard? How do you mail something as big as a surfboard – and without it getting damaged?
Well, we’ve got the answers for you!
Our guide below will tell you exactly how you can go about packing up your surfboard so that you can ship it out wherever it needs to be sent, as well as the factors that are going to come into play when it comes to cost.
Read on!
How To Pack A Surfboard For Shipping
Shipping your surfboard will be easy with the following tips on how to pack it up. Learn how to properly load it and protect it.
Before we begin, you must note that surfboards can be awkward to handle, as they’re quite large, strangely shaped objects.
So make sure that you’re capable of handling it when packing it up. If you think you’re going to need help, get somebody to help hold it as you package it.
For successfully packing up your surfboard for shipping, you’ll need the following items and tools:
- A box that’s big and strong enough – corrugated cardboard, or even fiberglass
- A marker pen
- Packing tape
- Bubble wrap
- A hex wrench
Got all those? Now you’re ready to begin!
Detach The Fin
First, you want to detach the fin that’s on your surfboard. This will make it much easier to pack, as well as much less likely to be damaged while in transit.
If you don’t know, the fin is the bit that goes on the bottom of the board and sticks out. Some surfboards have just one fin, while others have as many as three fins.
Three fins is quickly becoming normal among the surfboard community, so you may have that number!
Take your hex wrench in your dominant hand, and use it to undo the screws that are holding your fins in place on the bottom of your board.
Once they’re unscrewed, carefully put them somewhere and keep an eye on them. Then gently (very gently!) remove each fin from the board. Put them over with their screws.
Assess The Condition
Now that you’ve got all the bits of the board neatly everywhere – the board and its fins – have a careful look over them. Is there any damage? Any dents?
Hopefully you looked it over when you were listing it for sale where you probably had to describe its condition. If not, though, you’ll want to take note of its state now.
This way, if the board is damaged while being delivered, you know it isn’t your fault – and won’t have to pay your buyer extra money!
Look thoroughly over the top of the board, then turn it over and inspect the bottom. Finally, inspect each fin and their screws.
Will they be able to put them back on just as they were?
If there are any dents or damages, make notes of them all and put a copy of your note into the box before you send it off. The buyer will appreciate it!
Wrapping The Board
This is probably the most important part.
This is especially true if you’ve found that the board has no damage on it already – you don’t want any dents done while it’s being shipped!
Take your large roll of bubble wrap and wrap it around the board. Be sure to cover its length and width, making sure that every inch of it is covered.
Now do it again! You want at least two layers of bubble wrap around the board. You can do more if you want, but too much will stop it from fitting into the box.
For extra good measure, wrap the bubble wrapped board in a plastic sheet too. This will offer an extra level of protection when it’s being delivered.
To make sure that the bubble wrap and the plastic sheet are going to stay wrapped around the board, you’ll need to tape them.
You can use your packing tape for this, or lots and lots of Sellotape. Wrap it all around the bubble wrap and plastic sheet, securing them very tightly around the board.
Then take your fins and screws and wrap them up too. Just bubble wrap should be enough, since they’re smaller, but you can use a sheet on top of that.
Make sure to put all the screws in with the wrapped fins.
You can put them in some folded up paper, and tape it over, to make it easier for the buyer to find the screws.
Once you’ve done that, put it inside the bubble wrap that’s holding the fins.
Putting The Surfboard In The Box
Now that your board is snugly wrapped up, you need to put it in the box. But wait! You need to do a few things to your box first.
Whether you’re using a corrugated cardboard box or a special fiberglass carrier box, you need to make sure that it’s the right size.
It’s going to be a large box – boards are very long! Take your box, and line some of its inside walls with more packing tape.
This should make it really sturdy and non-slip like inside, meaning that the board should definitely not move around much inside when it’s being transported.
That could damage it, so you want to be careful. Now you want to put some foam blocks inside as well, which the board will sit on.
You want your board to be sitting on, essentially, a cushion so that it won’t get knocked about or roughed up.
Styrofoam blocks will be a great addition, but you can use scrunched up old pieces of paper for extra measure. The more the better! As long as the board can fit inside.
Once that “cushion” is put in place, lift the wrapped up board and slide it into the box.
It should rest on the padding that you’ve put into the box, even though it already has the padding of its bubble wrap and plastic sheet.
Now that the board is in, you want to get your bubble wrapped fins and screws too.
Take them and slot them into the box, being sure to place them at the top so that they are visible and easy to get out.
There should be more than enough room on top of the board because all the cushioning is below it.
Seal The Box Up
Now you want to seal your box up. Packing tape will be great for this. Wrap it around the ends of the box, sealing up the opening flaps.
Make sure that the tape is long enough to really hold it tight – wrap it all around the length of the box if you need to. The more you put on, the more likely it is that it’ll stay shut.
Label The Box
Now you want to label the box! Take your marker pen and write the address of the buyer in large, clear letters. This should include their name as well!
For added security, put your own name and address somewhere else on the front of the box – with “Return Address” written clearly above it.
That way, if they want to return the board for whatever reason, they’ll know exactly where to send it.
You may want to take a photo of the box for good measure, to prove that you have packed it and got it ready for sending.
When you send it at the mail office, you should get a receipt that will prove this too.
How Much Does It Cost To Ship A Surfboard?
Now you want to take the package to your local mail office, who can send it off to wherever it needs to go. This will come at a price, and that depends on a few things.
The large size of the package will be a big factor in the cost of your postage. Sadly, surfboards are very large and long, and so the package is unavoidably big.
This should have come into it when you sold it, though, so hopefully you included an estimated shipping cost when you listed it for sale – and the buyer has paid the shipping cost themselves!
The weight of the package also comes into affecting the cost. The heavier it is, the more it costs to post. Additionally, you can get different speeds of mail.
If you want it to arrive as quickly as possible, because the buyer really wants it, then it’s going to cost you more.
If you’re okay with it taking a little longer, though, then the mailing should be cheaper.
Final Thoughts
And there you have it! If you need to ship a surfboard, this guide should tell you just how to pack it up and make sure that it won’t be damaged or dented while it’s being transported.
Make sure that you follow the steps carefully, and it should make it much easier.
Padding and tape are your friends, so you should use plenty of each to give the board as much protection as possible!
And when you’re done? Take it to the mail office, but keep in mind our information all about mail fees.
