I get 100-150 hours out of a surfboard then it breaks. They usually get a little crack somewhere, take on some water, the foam degrades and boof, a ginormous crack appears.
It gets a bit tiresome replacing $1000+ boards every other year. It works out at about $10 and hour of use. The cost is a relatively minor issue. I just don't want to be forced to replace a board when I am still enjoying riding it.
I have gone through several production boards from major kiteboard manufacturers. I do like to boost big and I have no intention of stopping. Almost all my landings are super smooth but the odd kiteloop landing comes down with a bang.
Repairs are not really an option. It's a nuisance getting the board fixed and the initial cracks are often too small to find. After a major structural repair the board usually only lasts 10 hours or so until it breaks again.
The options as I see them are:
- move to a mutant built with twintip technology. (my TTs have hundreds of hours of extreme abuse and are still like new).
- get a local shaper to clone my favourite boards. He can make the boards much cheaper and use better quality foams that are more durable and easier to repair.