How durable is my inflatable SUP?
A blow up paddle board, commonly known as inflatable paddle boards, are versatile paddle boards that offer the same performance yet are more portable and durable than traditional stand up paddle boards. All of our blow up paddle board are extremely durable. It's military grade inflatable, not backyard pool inflatable grade, and this surprises most people. These boards are made in the same factories that make rugged river rafts and high-speed Zodiac style boats. The external skin is extremely durable, and on Tower boards there is an internal natural gray layer and then an additional outer white layer (for great looks, but also for added durability).
While it is of course possible to puncture any inflatable product with well placed nail or the like, these boards are intended to be used in rocky conditions and perform well in those conditions. We have thrown a blow up paddle board off the top of a building to see how high we could get it to bounce without damage. We've also run over a blow up paddle board with an 8000 lb truck without damaging them as you can see below. We don't really recommend you do these things to your blow up paddle board, but the take away is that they are extremely durable.
On the rigidity of the board, this is where our 6" Adventurer boards really shines. We can span it between two chairs 9 feet apart and a 200 lb man can jump up in the middle of the board and the thing barely flexes. Try this with most 4" inflatable boards from our competitors and their boards will taco all the way to the floor. The physics involved here are that if you double the thickness of a beam, the rigidity increase 8 times (or 800%). We've increased the thickness by 1/2, so our 6" board is roughly 4 times as rigid as most inflatable SUP boards on the market. All of our iSUPs are at least 6" thick so that any rider can feel comfortable on them.
