This has got to be the largest debate amongst social media SUP communities. Is there an answer to the question of which is better – a hard vs inflatable SUP? Yes – but it’s not universal! Buckle up, this is going to be a long one.
Hard vs Inflatable SUPs – Basic Differences
Before trying to answer which is better – hard vs inflatable SUPs – let’s just clarify what we mean by hard boards and inflatable boards.
Hard boards, or solid boards, or rigid boards, are built with a foam core wrapped in a composite material. This could be anything from a super fancy hollow-core-carbon-fiber-sandwich composite layups for the highest performance racing boards to a combination of fiberglass and thermoplastic resins to build a high density, durable board for a rental company. There are wooden boards build with a hollow rib design, and even rotomolded plastic boards.
Inflatable boards, or iSUPs, use a double-wall fabric material with two layers of polyester fabric connected with thousands and thousands of yarns at a set length. This is called a drop-stich material or core. All inflatable SUPs have some variation of a drop-stitch core otherwise they would inflate in a round shape like a hot dog. The outer part of an iSUP is made with one or many layers of PVC or TPU material (PVC being the most common), and at least one more layer of PVC or TPU for the edge, or rail of the board to seal it up. There are all kinds of variations of core and skin materials and designs, and that is very important to keep in mind.
Hard vs Inflatable SUP Shaping
Hard paddle boards generally start with a solid foam core that is carved into the final shape of the board either by hand or by machine. This shaping process allows the maker to do all sorts of things to the board. Adjusting thickness, height, outline, profile, rocker, at any point throughout the board. This lets the shaper make a board that is optimized for very specific circumstances.
Inflatable boards are more limited in shaping options. You can shape the outline pretty much however you like, adjust the rocker profile, and even play with certain techniques of cutting and reassembling parts of the board to create different hull shapes, but it is very limited compared to hard boards. iSUPs can still be designed for highly-specialized uses, but not to the same degree.
Hard vs Inflatable SUPs – Performance Similarities
This is the bulk of the argument most people try to make about hard vs inflatable SUPs. Which boards perform better – hard or inflatable? Well, it comes down to how you are defining performance and for what type of user.
The huge majority of paddleboarders are recreationalists – paddling short distances with little care for technique or speed. The remaining minority of paddlers do focus on things like speed, efficiency, surfing, and other niche topics.
Because inflatable boards are made with a softer material that is inflated, they do have more flex on the water than a hard board (though hard boards do flex on the water as well).
There’s no question that a poorly made inflatable board is going to provide sub-par performance on the water, even for recreational paddlers.
However – this does not apply to all inflatable paddleboards!
Cheaply made products in any industry tend to perform poorly. They use cheaper parts, cheaper builds, have looser tolerances, and generally kind of suck. The same goes for paddle boards – both inflatable and hard. There are some really bad inflatable boards and some really bad hard boards available for sale these days. So it’s important to compare quality products to quality products.
For the majority of paddlers – all recreational paddlers, and even many advanced paddlers – there is no on water performance difference between a quality hard board and a quality inflatable SUP of the same shape and size.
“But how can that be?” you ask. “I started on an inflatable and upgraded to a hard board and its waaay better!” That may very well be true. Did you upgrade from a quality inflatable of the same size and shape? Or did you upgrade from a low-quality inflatable that was a different size and shape? What activity were you using the board for?
Hard vs Inflatable SUPs – Performance Differences
But, there are a few instances where performance is clearly better between a hard board and an inflatable.
High performance surfing – All SUPs, regardless of construction, can be straight-line surfed with a beginner skill level. However, once you start to advance your SUP surfing skills, hard boards become the obvious performance winner. The ability to make a thinner board, more rigid, and with very specific shaping parameters is critical for high-performance surfing.
Elite-level racing and Downwind racing – The narrowest board on the water is going to be the fastest. Hard racing boards have the ability to be shaped with dugout decks that allow elite paddlers to use race boards 23, 22, 21, 20, even 19.5″ wide. Inflatables have a few different design restrictions that prevent them from being effective at widths narrower than 24″. Elite-level racers will benefit from these narrower boards. Almost all racers not in this upper echelon, who regularly paddle on 23-26″ wide race boards would actually be just as fast on high quality racing iSUPs the same width. Rumor has it that USA SUP may be including a fully-competitive Inflatable category at the USA SUP National Championships next year.
Downwind paddling and racing is very similar to surfing in that you are riding the faces of the waves and bumps driving you forward faster. The ability to have very specific tail shapes on these boards gives them a noticeable advantage over inflatable boards.
Whitewater SUP – Whitewater SUP is dominated by inflatable paddle boards for a very good reason – they are way more durable! iSUPs can take a beating and keep going where hard boards would ding, dent, crack, and break. These inflatable boards also allow for more volume in a shorter board, helping keep them moving over and through whitewater features.
Hard vs Inflatable SUPs -Durability, Repair, Storage and Transportation
Inflatable paddle boards are the clear winner when it comes to durability and repairability. The inflated PVC material can flex and bend during an impact where a hard board will dent, crack, or break. Hard boards can be very temperamental – particularly lightweight, expensive, boards – even setting a hard board down on the ground on the wrong spot can cause damage. Heavier paddlers, and even lighter paddlers falling on the board, can put pressure dings and dents in the board that can lead to delamination.
Both hard and inflatable boards are susceptible to damage from heat and UV radiation. Hard boards must be properly vented to allow for gas expansion inside the board, otherwise the outer skin can delaminate from the inner foam core. Inflatables, particularly cheaper constructions, are susceptible to heat softening glues used to build them. Both constructions can be ruined by long-term UV exposure.
Repairing either board can be very easy or very difficult depending on what is wrong with it. If you plan to buy a hard board, I suggest you also get a repair kit with laminating epoxy, fiberglass, silica foam, and other essentials right away. Because it is so easy to damage a hard board, you’ll likely find yourself needing to repair it sooner rather than later. It can be as simple as squeezing some SolaRez onto a small crack and waiting five minutes, or it could involve completely replacing a delaminated section of fiberglass or carbon fiber.
Inflatable boards are typically damaged in one of two ways: a puncture or a seam failure. Punctures are easily fixed with the repair kits that come with almost every iSUP sold. If you’ve glued two things together before, you can repair a puncture, but you do need to let the adhesive cure (generally 8-12 hours) before using it. Seam failures can be a death blow or a simple fix. It will depend on the severity of the failure and location. With the advent of heat-welded constructions, quality iSUPs have very few seam failures, even in extreme environments.
Hands-down it is easier to less expensive to store and transport an inflatable SUP than it is a hard paddleboard. iSUPs easily roll into a storage backpack that can fit in the trunk of almost any car (if you drive a car expensive enough to have a trunk too small to fit an iSUP, I have no sympathy for you). Hard boards require a large dedicated space for storage, and require specialty equipment for your car to transport them safely. A quality roof rack system for your SUP can cost $500-$1000 or more!
Once you are at the water, hard boards can be faster to set up and get on the water, however that is not always the case. Electric SUP pumps can inflate a typical all-around board in less than five minutes. That’s hardly enough time to put on sunscreen and take off your shoes – so there isn’t a lot of actual time savings with a hard board (unless you don’t plan on wearing sunscreen – but please do, cancer sucks).
Hard vs Inflatable SUPs – Availability, Pricing, and Warranties
This one is simple. Inflatables are more easily available to paddlers because they can be easily shipped via standard parcel services like UPS, FedEx, and DHL. They store in relatively small bags and complete kits (with bag, fin, pump, and paddle) typically only weigh around 35 pounds.
Hard boards are less available to paddlers because they take longer to make, are harder to ship, and shipping to the end user is expensive (often $200-500 depending on size) and are only shipped to your closest shipping node, not to your door.
An entry-level quality hard board typically starts around $800 for the board only. Maybe you’ll get a fin or leash, but very few come with a paddle. There are cheaper hard boards out there – typically made of rotomolded plastic. These boards are extremely heavy and almost universally small and poorly shaped.
An entry-level quality inflatable typically starts around $700 for an entire kit including the paddle, leash, and fin. There are cheaper iSUPs out there – even some for under $200 – but like we said at the beginning, these are low quality options that don’t hold up and are not recommended.
High-end, high-performance hard SUPs can reach up to $3500 (plus shipping). High-eng, high-performance inflatable SUPs max out around $1800 (with free shipping).
Hard board typically have zero warranty once used. Any claims of manufacturing defects must be made immediately upon receipt, and even if there is an actual manufacturing issue that arises later, it’s likely not to be covered after the board has touched water. This is because hard boards are extremely delicate and easily damaged, even during careful, normal use.
Inflatable SUPs typically carry at least a 2-year manufacturing warranty, but many high-quality brands offer 5+ years of warranty support. A few even warranty their boards against defects for the typical lifespan of the board (aka a “lifetime” warranty). A quality inflatable board will generally last for 7-10 years of normal use with normal maintenance before the materials themselves begin to break down from UV exposure. Hard boards with the same amount of UV exposure will also begin to break down in this time frame. Both types of boards can have useful lives well beyond that point with high attention to care.
Hard vs Inflatable SUPs – Which is Better?
Like I said, there is an answer – it’s just not universal 😁
90%+ of paddlers will be equally served by a hard board or inflatable SUP of good quality. The real answer comes down to cost, availability, transportation, storage, and whether or not you have a strong feeling one way or the other.
The last 10% of paddlers (honestly, probably not even that many) will be able to get a performance boost from a hard board – mostly elite racers and advanced surfers.
With the advancement of inflatable technology that gap narrows every year. There are some fantastic racing iSUPs (like the Hydrus Elysium Air and Red Paddle Co Elite) that easily hold their own against carbon fiber racing boards of the same size, and even some new inflatable surf SUPs (Honu Bondi) that are eking into that intermediate and advanced skill category.