2020 Naish inflatable paddle board construction technology

Naish Inflatable Paddle Boards

This year, Naish partnered with a new factory and new material suppliers in order to provide heightened quality and durability in their inflatable stand up paddle boards. The quality control has been set to the strictest level in the industry. Every piece of material, every ounce of glue and every board is meticulously checked to ensure that every Naish inflatable board embodies the quality you can expect from a brand that has been making boards for 40 years.

Fusion Drop Stitch

All the high-end Naish inflatable boards are now built using the industry’s highest standard Fusion material. It is created by fusing a layer of solid polymer to the drop stitch material, as it is being made. This allows for a stiffer, more durable material that saves about 2 kg per board, while ensuring they are as rigid as possible. Fusion drop stitch is used on all 14′ Glide, 12’6″ Glide, 12′ Glide, 14′ x 27″ Maliko, 14′ x 25″ Maliko and 11’6″ Alana.

X-Weave Drop Stitch

The NEW X-weave drop stitch – This year, the single layer Naish boards use a new “X-Weave” drop stitch material. The drop stitch is positioned in an X pattern, which evenly distributes tension throughout the board and pressure on the skin of the board. This provides a high stiffness-to-weight ratio. The X-weave drop stitch is used on the 10’6″ Nalu, 11’6″ Nalu, 12’6″ ONE and 10’6″ Alana.

Stiffness Matters – Here’s how it works

Assuming that the pressure applied is high enough—when a board bends, it acts similarly to an I-Beam, in which the top skin compresses or extends (along the axis of the board) while the bottom skin does the opposite (see illustration). A stiffer board moves more efficiently when you paddle, as more of the energy you exert propels you forward rather than bending the board.

This is why Naish use fusion material and carbon stringers on their high-end boards: to achieve the stiffest top and bottom skin possible in compression and extension. This year, all Naish inflatable paddle boards are rated with a stiffness value; the higher the number, the stiffer the board. For reference, the new Maliko Inflatable 14’0″ x 25″ Fusion Carbon (constructed with Fusion drop stitch and double carbon stringers) has a stiffness rating of 9.31. Compared to last year’s Maliko 14’0″ x 26″ inflatable, which had a 4.73 rating, the new model is much stiffer.

How stringers increase stiffness

Stringers are mainly added to the tops and bottoms of boards to improve stiffness. This is achieved by reducing the elongation and compression of the top and bottom skins of the board. They also help controlling the twist of the board. For example, one central stringer that is 30 cm wide directly stiffens the 30 cm area it occupies in the center of the board. Then by propagation, the area surrounding the stringer is also stiffened with the area closely surrounding the stringer experiencing the greatest effect and gradually decreasing as you move further away.

In this example, stiffness extends roughly 25 cm out from both edges, resulting in an overall increased stiffness that runs about 80 cm of the board.

Now, if you have two 15 cm wide stringers (at 22.5 cm apart), 30 cm of the board where the stringers are placed experience the greatest stiffness. In addition, each side of the stringers also receive increased stiffness (radiating out 25 cm on each side) through propagation.

This produces a much wider stiffened area: 15 cm + 15 cm + 22.5 cm + 25(x2) cm = 102.5 cm.

Most notably, the skin in between the two stringers is highly stiffened—almost as much as if a stringer was placed in between them. Naturally, this double stringer effect produces a much stiffer board than an old single stringer produces.

So, with this vastly improved construction, Naish are back in the inflatable paddle board game. Check out the models currently available for sale: