About Us

About Hydrus

Buying a paddleboard shouldn’t feel this hard.

Too many options.
Too many claims.
Too much hype.

We hear from paddlers every day who bought the wrong board and got stuck with it. Boards that flex too much. Boards that feel unstable. Boards that looked great online and disappointed on the water.

That’s why Hydrus exists.

We Help People Choose Well

Our job isn’t to sell you a board.
Our job is to help you choose the right one.

That starts by slowing things down and asking better questions.
How much do you weigh?
Where do you paddle?
Flatwater, rivers, ocean?
Do you want stability, speed, touring, fitness, or just fun?

Once we understand that, the right board usually becomes obvious.

Our product is the service of helping people choose well.
We just happen to build really good boards.

How Hydrus Started

Hydrus didn’t start as a brand. It started as a solution.

Jason and Nick Zawadzki were paddlers first. They were experimenting on rivers, lakes, and surf before there were clear rules for a lot of this gear. When boards didn’t exist for what they wanted to do, they started building their own.

No business plan.
No marketing strategy.
Just a desire to make something better.

Friends noticed. Then friends of friends. Word spread the old-school way, person to person. That part hasn’t changed.

Built for Performance First

Every Hydrus board starts with performance, not price.

We obsess over things most brands gloss over.
Rigidity under real paddlers.
How a board feels after an hour, not five minutes.
How it tracks, glides, and recovers in rough water.

We don’t chase trends. We don’t copy specs to match competitors. And we don’t make boards thinner or cheaper just to hit a price point.

If a design choice makes the board worse, we don’t do it.

Honest Pricing, Explained

Paddleboard pricing is confusing for a reason.

Some boards are cheap because they’re built cheap.
Some boards are expensive because you’re paying for branding and ads.

We take a different approach.

We sell direct.
We keep our operation lean.
We don’t pour money into mass advertising or middlemen.

That means more of what you pay goes into materials, construction, warranty, and support. Not fluff.

Fair pricing for what you’re actually getting.

Reviews That Actually Mean Something

Hydrus has more verified 5-star reviews per board sold than any major brand.

That didn’t happen because of hype. It happened because people felt confident before they bought, happy when they paddled, and supported afterward.

We answer questions.
We stand behind our gear.
We fix problems when they happen.

People remember that.

Backed for the Long Haul

Every Hydrus board is backed by a Lifetime Warranty and a love-it guarantee.

If you don’t love your board, we’ll make it right. Simple as that.

We don’t hide behind policies or fine print. We build boards to last and relationships to last longer.

Real People, Real Help

If you have questions, need help choosing a board, or just want a second opinion, call us.

Real people answer. Real paddlers who know the gear and actually care that you get it right.

It might feel old school.
We think that’s a good thing.

The Goal Hasn’t Changed

From our early days building boards for ourselves to helping thousands of paddlers today, the mission is the same.

Help people choose well.
Build boards that perform.
Stand behind what we make.

No gimmicks.
Just better boards.

Hydrus Board Tech

ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT * ADVENTURE = HYDRUS BOARD TECH

Indestructible boards handmade right here in the USA in what's possibly the world's greenest board factory! What more could you ask for?

Our Story

We set out in 2012 to become the most innovative board company in the world. We established our factory in Idaho, a state dotted with shimmering mountain lakes and the most whitewater rivers in the country. The handful of men and women who run this factory have a passion for all things that carve and glide through water and on land, which is why we’ve created the lightest, sturdiest and most innovative boards the world has ever seen.

INNOVATION

Our goal is to offer unparalleled boards while never losing sight of what makes Hydrus possible—you. We never want to grow so big that we outgrow our relationship with each person who chooses to ride our boards.

THE TECHNOLOGY

WHAT IS ARMALIGHT™?
Over the course of two-and-a-half years, we created and perfected Armalight™, a multi-layered blend of lightweight, ultra-high elongation and tensile strength aerospace composites. Armalight’s™ 12 ingredients or complementary layers allow for the highest strength-to-weight ratio we could engineer, protecting our boards’ lightweight EPS foam core. Our system allows us to interchange components to make our race boards ultra-light but still durable and our river boards and rec boards ultra-durable but still light. We’ve managed to make race boards and surf boards nearly as light as carbon fiber, but markedly more durable. Correspondingly, we’ve made our boards lighter than fiberglass or Innegra but far more durable! The proof is in the science! Armalight™ is the ideal construction for all types of boards, from the high performance race, white water, lake or ocean boards to the all-around family or ultra-premium rental boards.

FUNCTION FIRST SHAPES (FFS TECH)
Board performance and functionality first and foremost is our shaping room motto!! If you have ever seen a Hydrus board of any type (water or land board), you're sure to notice they are not shaped like a lot of other boards out there. We put a lot of science and thought into what we build, so our shapes all turn out a little different than the "run-of-the-mill" stuff that comes out of those gigantic factories in China. For example, to shape our Race and Adventure style SUP's (Elysium and Pocket Rocket), we have taken the best aspects of displacement hull technology and combined them with the best features and stability of traditional planing hull designs to create a hybrid that simply performs better in nearly all water conditions. For our whitewater boards (Surf Boards with River Rocker™, King DUB and Revo), we account for all conditions—the lack of buoyancy compared to salt water, the turbulence, types of rapids, eddies, and so forth. Ultimately, we design smarter, better performing boards that are, quite simply, more fun to ride!

THE BOARDS

ARMALIGHT PADDLEBOARDS
We nailed what other board companies have been trying to accomplish for years —a more durable, lightweight, high performance board. We proudly hand-crafted our boards right here in Eagle, Idaho, USA. When other board companies made their attempt at durability by turning to heavy plastics, or a sandwich layer of toxic high density foam, or four plus layers of brittle fiberglass, we decided to take an entirely different approach. We invested three years into the research and development of our very own proprietary tech that consist of, well, none of the above. When we first set out to develop this technology we had three goals in mind:

  • Extreme durability while still remaining as light or lighter than fiberglass.
  • Eco-friendly—no PVC foams, no solvent based paints, gel, or gloss coats
  • Really High Performance.

    • As we are a small company doing such large things, we guard the process and ingredients behind Armalight jealously. While we could tediously drone on about the technical details (“We use a blend of ionically bonded aromatic resins…”), we won't. Instead, what we’ll tell you is that every layer, from our specially fused EPS foam core to the outermost abrasion resistant, speed enhancing, matte finished diamond coat to the other layers in between, has been engineered, developed, and tested for maximum board performance. Once we got the durability and performance just right, we moved to designing boards that are as aggressive, functional and edgy as the construction itself.

    Now that we have perfected the science behind our boards, we welcome you to try our 2017 Armalight Board Collection.

    All Performance - No Compromise!

INFLATABLE PADDLEBOARDS

When it comes to inflatables, we put on our thinking caps and went to the drawing board. What are the issues with the standard inflatable SUP's? The answer: stiffness and durability. Most ISUP's are simply not well built! Cheap inflatables bend and sink the rider’s feet into the water (called "taco-ing"), the seams blow out, and they puncture far too easily on rocks or "goat heads" in the parking lot . These issues are caused by poor materials and boards that are, quite simply, too thin. We solve these problems by using the highest grade high-density PVC, an inner membrane, double V pattern drop stitch material, and double sidewall reinforcement. Along with higher quality materials, we also weld our seams (instead of glue or stitching), which allows for a maximum 20psi instead of the standard 15psi for "premium" brands or 10psi for the chintzy ones.

CROSSBOARDS™

Paddle the streets all year round... A combination of paddle boarding and surfing on land. Everything about this board is fun! Designed to cruise and carve like nothing you’ve ever ridden before, with the self-recommending bonus of being able to do it any time you find concrete or pavement. Surf through your neighborhood, cruise down your local greenbelt, or get across campus in style. We’ve taken the standard longboard and worked our magic, enhancing it various innovative ways! First, we changed the shape of the deck to accommodate huge cruising wheels and allow for a more forward-facing stance for paddling. Second, our lightweight decks, built using a blended lamination of high rebound hardwoods and composites, allow for a snappy yet stiff flex. Third, the wheels are made from our own unique PU formulation that offers a number of advantages over normal skateboard wheels— higher speeds, more control, strengthened wear resistance, and extreme rebound out of turns. The wheels are mounted to our unique trucks that provide unequaled carving and stability. The CrossBoard is a perfect fit with our Hydrus Board Tech style of unique, high quality and innovation boards

OUR PROMISE

AGGRESSIVE GOOD LOOKS

First off, we’re talking about our boards, not necessarily the beautiful people who work here (easy mistake, we know). As far as the aesthetic appeal of our boards, we strive to stand out from the overpopulated crowd of commercial boards, usually produced overseas, that look decent sitting on the shelf but start falling apart after a few months of use. We design our boards with an enduring style that won’t fade, even after years of wear and tear. We don’t believe in having to choose between form and function; indeed, we keep both in the front of our minds whenever we enter the shop. Every line of our unique shapes has a purpose; every ingredient that goes into our construction process serves a function. Our boards are shaped to perform, and we don’t rely on molds to mindlessly pump out board after board. No way! All of our boards are designed with a keen eye for detail and a love of all things handcrafted. It may be more work this way, but we end up with jaw-dropping boards that perform better than anything else on the market. We think you’ll agree.

ECO-CONSCIOUSNESS

At Hydrus, we take our role as stewards of the environment seriously. Our devotion to nature informs our business practices and pushes us to develop better ways of reducing our impact on the earth’s natural resources. In our opinion, nothing compares to the feeling of drifting across a glittering alpine lake, surrounded by pristine forests beneath a sky untouched by the smog and pollution so prevalent in our cities. We live for those moments when one forgets, if only fleetingly, that the detritus of civilization exists, almost inescapably, around us. We seek to evoke in our customers an appreciation for nature in all her wild and uncultivated grandeur, and do so through an unwavering commitment to using the eco-friendliest materials available. While other board makers may resign themselves to applying harmful resins, automotive paints, or solvents with VOC (e.g., the materials coating nearly every board in existence today) to their boards, we make a promise to never do so. Nature is something to be conserved and respected, not used, abused, and exploited. If you appreciate our planet and its innumerable waterways, you’ll find our commitment to the planet second to none. While other companies may evince little to no compunction about selling boards made in sweatshops overseas, we strive to produce everything we sell right here in the United States. We pay our employees generously, treating them like the artisans they are. We’re a small company, but we’re setting the industry standard for environmental stewardship and social responsibility. We believe in leaving behind a better world for our children, and for their children after them. To that end, we donate 10% of our profits to various charities and research foundations, especially those that focus on caring for and educating disadvantaged children.

OUR LOGO

Hydrus is a Greek word which means "water serpent." It's also the name of a constellation in the Southern sky whose brightest star (Gamma Hydri) is a "red giant” 60 times larger than our own sun. Our Hydrus symbol is a "psi", Greek letter Y, which is a symbol used in the science of hydrodynamics.