The Glide manufacturing facility is located in Salt Lake City, USA.  On a recent trip I was lucky enough to get a brief tour and see how the boards are made!  Scroll down through the pictures as I will have caption for each image to describe the process.

It all starts with these large foam blocks.  Sourced locally from another SLC manufacturer.  These large blocks are sliced up to make many SUPs.  Any and all scraps from this process are piled up and donated back to the local foam factory for them to re-use.

This is their CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine.  It uses lasers to cut away excess and leave the board shape.  They will do a batch of top sides, then take the time to reset the CNC and later do a batch of bottom sides. When they come out of the CNC machine the shapers go over the foam to smooth the boards out just a little bit.

Here are the boards after the talented shapers have glassed them and sanded them down.  They will do a batch of top sides, then after they are dry, do the bottoms.  Glide uses Entropy Resin to reduce environmental impact.  See more here… Entropy Resin Explained. Then, the sanding process smooths down the edges.  In this picture you can see that the tops of the boards have an additional layer which helps the foam deck stick so well.

Time to select the correct foam deck for your comfort, grip and artistic inspiration.

This one looks nice.

Careful masking of the foam before they get sprayed.

They go into this chamber of yellow to get the GSS (Glide Surface Sheild).  This is sprayed on and does a fantastic job of protecting the boards.  It’s a patent pending coating that will make these boards last a lot longer than you would imagine!  More about it here.. GSS

Finished boards are stacked up and ready to ship.  Just keep in mind that these SUPs are not going to be making the overseas voyage in a flatulent freighter.  Made in the USA!