1. Ex Machina
Computer Numerical Control
The first step in every new board’s life is the process of being cut out of a raw blank. These raw shapes are based on experience and heritage and serve as the foundation for all steps to come.
Quatro pioneered many technologies over the course of recent windsurfing history. The reintroduction of Twin Fins, the development of Quads, and way back then, in the early Nineties of the last century, the use of CNC machines to produce the utmost accurate shapes.
And that does not only hold true for our Production Board Prototypes, but especially for the Custom Boards that are made right here in Haiku on the island of Maui.
2. Hand Made
Shaping
Despite their digital birth every single board manufactured in our Facotry from here on undergoes an overwhelming number of hand executed steps. This is where we add heart and gut feeling.
Rocker sticks are still used on every custom board to make sure the rocker is exact during the sandwiching process. Also, production boards going through Master Control get their rockers double checked the manual way. The most important tools however remain to be the shaper’s eyes and hands.
For more information about shaping at Quatro and Customs visit Keith Teboul’s shaper page and the Custom World.
SHAPER
CUSTOM WORLD
3. In The Detail
Routing
After structural sandwiching, and before the board get’s laminated, all boxes and inserts are added with greatest precision and utmost dedication. We don’t trust quality control stickers, we believe in a lifetime of commitment.
While we’re constanty upgrading the components we use and the manufacturers we trust, we are entirely open to your ideas and wishes for improvement and personalizing.
4. Onion Skins
Glassing
When the shaping is done, glass layups are added. Great care and cleanliness is applied. When building the layups, be it for a surfboard, a windsurfboard, a stand up paddle board or a kiteboard, we always use the finest materials and the latest techniques and construction concepts to ensure the best blend of ultra light performance and dependable stregth. Carbon is the most obvious suspect in this process.
5. Excellence
Finishing
When all these steps are done finishing touches are applied and the board is prepared for its airbrush or decal decoration.
The last step in the boardmaking process is the texture, and we use the lightest and most slip-proof texture material known to the industry, which is manufactured in Japan, where we fly it over from.
For more information about airbrushes and options please visit our airbrush gallery and get in touch with Pascal if you see one that you like.
6. Letting Go
Sales
At the end of the day, well week, or however long it takes until the new family member is complete, there are a couple of paths that every board may take. Some obviously go straight into bubble wrap and are sent out to a happy new owner who is already sitting at home or at the beach, chewing nails. Some others may have the torture of prototype testing ahead of them, while others again, when deemed of sufficient royal blood, will end up as a master for a new production model. And there are those that will spend a few days sitting proud and loud in our flagship store’s showroom, although usually it doesn’t take too long before someone walk in and falls in love. Last but not least another place the board may go to is a PWA competition.
To learn about available custom boards or to register yours, please follow the links below.
