Life span of a board?

How long does everyone ride their boards for before replacing them?
I do not use it on sliders, and have been very careful with it, But I do tend to get up above the tower and land in the flats. Does the board compress and lose pop after awhile?
Thanks.

I've been riding the same board for ummm 6 seasons, keepin in mind my season is max 4 months

I had a board for about 4 season that i rode and my friends did and we rode year around, I would still be riding it, if is wasnt stolen... unless you've out grown it skill wise or physically, you dont need a new board, untill you want to upgrade... your board wont lose pop...

wrong, the foam breaks down and you will lose pop. the more times it flexes the looser it becomes.

Dup is right the boards tend to lose rocker like flatten out a bit over time..maybe two seasons then i change unless i find a real good deal thats hard to pass up..

I used to think that too, about the boards losing pop over time. I know that my snowboards definitely loose pop and camber as they get old. So here's what happened... I have this old (2000) original HL Byerly, I had ridden it hard for 3 seasons, including hundreds of sets behind the boat, also bonking buoys, sliding PVC, etc., have repaired the rails and they are true, but the board itself has taken a beating and looks like hell. Anyway, I didn't like the ride of the 02/03 Byerly, so I just kept my old dog, thinking that it probably was losing life, but oh well...
Then, at the NorCal boat show last spring... AHHH!!!! SkiPro had another one just like it that had never been ridden, had gotten lost in a stock room or something. Got a sweet cash deal on it because it was a leftover. I was stoked and thinking I was going to get a fresh burst of pop to help out on those tricky heelside fives and stuff. Anyway... came to find out... absolutely no difference in the pop! I can ride them side by side on the same day, and there is not a bit of difference. I would not have believed this if I had not felt it for myself, but it is true, at least for my boards.

Just one guy's experience... take it or leave it.

One more thing about this issue, I was talking to a Liquid Force rep at the Malibu open a couple weeks ago - talking about their balsa cores and stuff. He said that it actually is the balsa wood cores that have the biggest problem with losing their life and going "dead" after they have been ridden too many times. So anyway,

Doc - interesting.

The way I understood the theory of balsa wood cores was that they gave slightly more flex off the wake than a foam core board, thus resulting in more pop. I would assume the more a board flexes, the more "tired" it would get. I can see why the balsa wood cores would go dead quicker than a foam core.

yeah, the life of your board is going to depend on the material it's made of, how hard you ride it, and the brand. I hear that liquid force are a little lighter and have a tendency to break easier where as hyperlite is maybe heavier but lasts longer, that's what I've heard.

This is true....Just last week I broke my 5 yr old Liquid Force (Best) in two after coming off the wake, pretty hard for an OF. This is the second Liquid Force board that has busted in my small group in the last year. OK, need a replacement - what's on the list of best boards to buy for overall grinding/spins and big air? 5'10 - 170 Thanks.

I broke a LF board in two about 5 years ago. So it sounds like that haven't made much improvement in that area.

Hyperlight boards seems pretty tough. I ride on the cable at OWC and boards generally don't make it but a year at best if you hit the sliders a lot. Even if you keep the dings repaired the outer skin just gets worn down to the foam. I just tried spreading 4 oz of liquid epoxy on the bottom of one of my boards to extend it's life a bit.

My board is a biolite, not dna, so it sounds like any breakdown would be minimal....thanks.

I wonder if that is why parks is usually on the boilite instead of the dna?