Surfski Weight: Real vs Advertised

I was a little curious about the weight of my Epic V7. It felt heavier than I thought it should. Mt wife has a kayak that we weighed on our very accurate doctors scales. These scales are the slide kind that you can zero adjust until the indicator is level. We weighed my wife's kayak a year ago and it weighed 50 lbs exactly. That was also the advertised weight for it. I decided 2 days ago to weigh my 2016 Epic V7. To my disappointment it weighed 55 lbs. The advertised weight, last year, was 52 lbs. I went on Epic's website and noticed they now list it at 52.9 lbs. My question is "Do the manufacturers use the weight with all the hardware on the skis or do they use the weight without any hardware on them?". 3 lbs is quite a difference. I am mostly interested in the Epics and the Stellars, since this will most likely be the brand of my new ski. Any other info on other manufacturers would also be looked at. Any feedback is appreciated.

Thanks,

Rod

I've bought 4 Epic boats, ultra layup. All have weighed at or below advertised weight. The most recent is 2.5 pounds under.

Most boats weigh around the advertised weight. In days gone past when boats were made by hand they were usually heavier than the advertised weight. Now days they are usually pretty close. I have had a V10 that was a good 1.5 kg heavier than the 15 kg it was meant to be. My wife has a Stellar that is 2 kg lighter than advertised. It is a glass boat and I don't think this is necessarily a good thing.

If you are buying a plastic boat and you are worrying about weight, you bought the wrong boat.

If you buy a glass boat and are worrying about weight, you bought the wrong layup.

If you bought a carbon boat and it weighs 9kg or 11kg it doesn't really matter because on the water it won't make that much difference.

I once bought a white 15kg red7 from the other side of Australia. When it arrived it weighed closer to 18kg but I was more concerned with the fact it was orange.

Almost every single ski is made by hand and from a mold.
Removing the excess resin / epoxy is an art form:
Remove too much, you get huge problems.
Leave too much behind, you get a heavier ski.

Plastic is even harder to deal with:
You will always have "batch" fluctuation.

As much as I hate to admit it, a 3-pound difference in any layout is devastating, but it will happen a lot more than you think - with so many boat builders - and with just about any layout (including plastic).

Last, but not least, if you are a featherweight (say under 130 pounds), ski weight will matter even more. You can always opt for:
"Don't bother shipping my new ski if it exceeds **said-weight**" - but then don't complain when you miss an entire season of paddling.

To be fair: expect 4% variation - which can be considered huge for a weight-winnie like me.

Ok, great info photofr. Nice to get a veteran's opinion. Just to be clear, I'm going to quote a few lines from my post and yours, to squash any concerns - however unlikely - that my boat may be under weight and potentially prone to damage.

photofr wrote: /
Removing the excess resin / epoxy is an art form:
Remove too much, you get huge problems.
/
/
As much as I hate to admit it, a 3-pound difference in any layout is devastating, but it will happen a lot more than you think - with so many boat builders - and with just about any layout (including plastic).
/

Ok, 3 pounds under "may" be a concern. Overall - among all builders. Very general statement, not aimed at anyone or manufacturer in particular.

That was written after my comment, so it caught my eye - probably nobody else's - but you never know, this is the internet after all. Worst case scenario, someone reads i have an Epic, ultra layup 2.5 maybe even 3 pounds under the advertised 27 pounds. Ludo says that can be bad, hence Epic's quality control may be sketchy... Internets are weird that way.

LaPerouseBay wrote: I've bought 4 Epic boats, ultra layup. All have weighed at or below advertised weight. The most recent is 2.5 pounds under.

My boat is light. I heard all the new 12's are coming in at 24 pounds. Who knows, I don't care. It was used by Greg Barton in the recent Molokai to Oahu. I got a discount on it and it's flawless. Really nice V-12, surfs like a dream. Solid as a rock. I've bought a few Molokai boats, Epic ships a bunch of new boats for the race and rents them short term to the racers. Hawaii buyers can get a lightly used boat. Never had a problem with Zsolt or our local dealer. We are lucky here on Maui to have a dealer. It's not easy to get any other brand.

Sorry: I wasn't as clear as I wanted to be when expressing my views.

Regarding ski weight, most customers I have encountered are devastated when a ski shows up with a 3-pound difference from what is originally quoted to them (although I want to make it clear that I have never EVER met a single customer who complained about getting a ski that was 3-pounds LIGHTER).

Still worth mentioning:
Most skis are built by hand - even to this day. Therefore, there will be weight differences - no matter how we cut it. There are times when you have to train new workers, but there are times when humans are a bit tired or simply overly careful not to layup too dry...

Heck, there are so many variables, including weather, temperatures, gelcoat color, material age, PMS, and you name it.

On a side note: This is the first time I am called a Veteran. All of sudden, it hit me: I am getting old. "I best go paddle, in a mere attempt to stay younger longer".