DWF Construction:

Drop Stitch construction is what allows an inflatable SUP to maintain its shape when it is inflated to high pressure. Without drop-stitch, the board would bulge out in the middle like an over-inflated air mattress.

Using tens of thousands of tough polyester threads, drop stitch technology lets us build inflatables with flat surfaces that can be inflated to rock-hard rigidity. You get hard-shell performance along with the easy transportation and storage of an inflatable.

The process starts by joining two pieces of polyester support fabric with thousands of fine polyester drop-stich-view-1thread lengths. This base material is made in strips from five to ten feet in width.  Up to 400 needle heads may be used in the setup. Each needle sews a continuous, evenly spaced thread, back and forth between the two pieces of  fabric, locking them together into an incredibly strong unit. These drop-stitch sewing machines are marvels of complexity. When a change is made in the spacing distance between the two pieces of  fabric, it can take over 20 days to remove and replace the required needles.