Hi everyone! I just bought a new Starboard blend inflatable. Although I was very careful with it, on the second day of usage I noticed that the handle started to tear off slightly in two places. On the third day it became slightly worse. I wrote to the warranty dep and they offered me to exchange it for a new one. So I'm now wondering if it's a common issue with starboards and if it will make sense to get a replacement at all? I'm just worried that soon the handle will just separate from the board completely. Has anybody had this issue?

Here is a couple of pictures:

I've had several Starboards inflatables and haven't seen this problem before so I think you are good to go get a warranty replacement with confidence that the next one will be fine.

Not a fan of inflatables, but are you sure that you are not overreacting? Your pictures only show the deck pad tearing a bit around the nylon handle ends. If the round pads under the deck pad are not actually lifting off the board, then I don't see a problem.

Yeah I'm sure you're right, it doesn't look like a major issue at all but if the manufacturer is offering a replacement, you'd take them up on it.

Area10 said..
I agree. But it would be frustrating to go to the trouble and hassle of board replacement only to find the same thing happening on the next one...

That's exactly what I was thinking and I also don't want to overreact but I think what frustrates me the most is that I've used the board only a couple of times and already got those handle tears. I'm pretty sure it's not the deck pad that is too tight, it looks like the handle is ungluing from the board under the deck pad which is causing it to lift and tear. I used the board one more time since I took those pictures and it's now torn a little bit more. It's a great board overall but I'm just suspicious that my particular board can be defective and I just wouldn't want it to fail somewhere else besides the handle. I've also got a Lokahi inflatable board and the handle on it is fixed very well in place.