If you are a surfer, the very thought of leaving your prized surf stick in the car or truck, even for quick errand or a zippy after-surf meal, must make you nervous. Yes, lock it in your car with the seats down … even keep the car parked close to the restaurant door so you can keep checking on it every once in a while … but there just is no real peace of mind when you’re surfboard baby is out of sight.

Truth be told, if some disrespectful robber baron really really wants your board, not even the lockiest of locks will stop them from running off with your surf stick. With that in mind, we concentrate on prevention of theft by taking away opportunity. There are a number of surfboard theft deterrents available in the ever-increasing surf industry, but the real deal – rather than fly-by-night-products – is hard to find.

The Product: Introducing Inno’s BoardLocker, an innovative approach to securing your surfboards to an existing car or truck crossbar. This locking surfboard carrier is a smart rack system that secures surfboards without extra compression cables or locking accessories. The locks are built right into the carrier itself! The rack system connects directly to most factory roof rack cross bars as well as square load bars.

The Inno Boardlocker’s unique “crane system” keeps the two surfboard straps floating in perfect position while you are loading your boards … always within reach. This reduces the need for another person to toss you ropes or straps, or the need to walk around the car to secure straps from the other side. PLUS, the ratcheting mechanism used to secure the boards down ensured perfect tension and even pressure across your surfboards.  Oh, that’s right … we said surfboards. Not just one board … but up to three surfboards safely locked in one system! (By far one of the best features of this surfboard security system!)

The Proof: A few of our staffers at iJs are long-time owners of the Inno rack system, and have regularly been grilled by fellow surfers who see their set up… often ending up with a similar rig on their cars and trucks. After four years of use, the only real issue we have seen with the Inno systems (set up on a compact car and a mid-size pick-up truck) is the peeling of the rubber coating surrounding the stainless steel cables and the discoloration of the black plastic components.

The stainless steel cables are quite sturdy … requiring a high tension industrial cable cutter before we could manage a tear in one of the cables. Like we said, IF some degenerate surfboard thief wants it bad enough … well you know! As for the fading, in all fairness we do live in Hawaii and the car that suffered the fading was parked in an uncovered stall for two straight years … draw your own conclusions.

If there was a complaint that we could manage to log about this solid product, it would be to use a cable guide for the stainless steel cables as they are ratcheting into the locking mechanism … at times, they tend to twist and get all tangled up inside the take up reel. A 50 cent piece of stainless steel that a resourceful surfer rigged stopped that issue, so we’re pretty sure Inno can manage to include that technical feature on their next upgrade!

Another request to Inno customer service would be to sell replacement stainless steel cables and cable covers, as well as the plastic protective coverings for the crane system.

The Bad: Although this is not related to the product itself … and the manual does warn against this particular use of the product … if your boards are inside surfboard socks or some poorly made bags, we found that we could simply slide the surfboards out from the bags one at a time. Once we were able to pull the bottom surfboard out of the bag, the locking system becomes absolutely useless as a theft deterrent. The fins, the board surface, and the racks act as a unique safety mechanism but can be easily nullified by a loose fitting boardsock!

The Verdict: This is a great product for surfers … and our staff have given this a unanimous “thumbs up” and a heart-felt “shaka brah” as a trusty surf addition to our gear! We hope that Inno reads this review and informs us of the product updates we are expecting to see, and hopefully relay to you!

Aloha and Mahalo!

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[article previously published as part of the 12 Days of Christmas Reviews]