How to Size a Surfboard Bag
A bag, cover, or sock is the best way to keep your surfboard safe and extend its longevity. Now more than ever, surfboards come in all shapes and sizes, and we’re constantly asked whether or not a certain board will fit in a specific bag. After some in-shop testing to see the differences between brands and styles of bags, we’ve come up with this guide to help walk you through the process of how to size a surfboard bag. We’ll cover everything from shortboards to longboards and everything in between.
Before we go into the fit differences between brands, let's first go over some commonly asked questions.
Surfboard Bag Sizing FAQ
What is a good fit?
An ideal fit is a bag that easily stores and properly protects your board. You don’t want a bag that’s too small or tight because it will make it harder to get your board in and out, as well as leaving it more susceptible to dings. A bag that is too big will feel really loose while transporting, which isn’t ideal either.
Do I need to know any measurements?
To figure out what bag will work for you, first, look at your board and check the dimensions, most importantly length, width, and thickness.
Starting with length: this will determine the length of your bag. Bags are listed by their length, which makes it really straightforward. If you have a 6’4” board, you should look for at least a 6’4” surfboard bag.
Width and thickness affect the style of bag you’ll need to get. Bags come in shortboard, fish/hybrid/funboard, and longboard styles. If it isn’t immediately apparent which style of bag your board will fit in, you can use the width and thickness dimensions to help decide.
What about sizing surfboard socks?
Surfboard Socks are generally more accommodating than day bags, especially with boards that are extra wide and or thick. That being said, it’s always worth it to go a little on the larger side with a sock. A sock that’s too big isn't really annoying or cumbersome, but too short definitely is.
In terms of cut, all of the socks we carry run true to size. Pro-Lite, for example, usually runs 3” long in their day and travel bags, but their socks are cut right on the money. Meaning a 6’2” board should go in the 6’3” sock and wouldn't fit a 6’0” sock well.
How do I size travel bags?
The sizing listed for the companies below also applies to their travel bags, but I’d recommend going even a little longer (about 2"+) than you’ll actually need. The more space, the better, and with the extra room, you can better pack the travel bag out with clothes or padding for your boards.
Now that we’ve got those questions answered let’s take a closer look at the different brands.
Surfboard Bag Sizing By Brand
All the various bag manufacturer’s cut their bags a little differently, meaning some run shorter or longer than others and some are wider while others are narrow. To save you the trouble, we ran sizing tests through all the brands we carry and after reviewing the numbers we came up with these results. In general, here’s how the different bag companies that we carry fit:
Channel Islands Surfboard Bags
- Across the board, CI's bags tend to run about 2” short. Which means if you have a 5’10” you should get at least the 6’0” bag.
- The overall cut on their shortboard bags is narrow, so if you’re bringing a board with a wide nose or 20.5” or more in width, I’d recommend checking out a fish/hybrid bag from CI which they call their "Specialty" bag.
Dakine Surfboard Bags
- Fits pretty true to size, with about 1” extra in length. So if you need to fit a 6’1” in a 6’0” bag in an emergency, you can. That being said, it’s still recommended to go with a 6’2” bag for your 6’1”.
- The overall cut is normal. This means almost all shortboards and hybrid-style boards will fit the shortboard bag well. Fishes or really wide groveler-type boards will do better in the hybrid-style bag.
FCS Surfboard Bags
- Fits very similar to Dakine and, overall, is pretty true to size. The bags are cut 1” long in length to accommodate a longer board if need be; however, you should still try to size the bag longer than your board.
- FCS’s bags notably vary in cut a little bit from model to model, and the 3DX series of bags are more narrow than others.
- The nose section of FCS's bags is also more tapered than some of the other companies, so if your board has a full wide-nose or ever gets wider than 20.5”, I’d go for the fish/hybrid option.
Pro-Lite Surfboard Bags
- Fits longer than any other company and actually cuts their bags 3” longer. So you can size their bags a little differently. I’d still recommend a 6’0” bag for a 6’0” board, but a 6’1” or even 6'2" board will fit a 6’0 bag well.
- Pro Lite’s overall cut is also more generous than the other board companies. I’d say as long as your board isn’t a fish or wider than 21”, you can fit it in their shortboard bag.
- The fish/hybrid style bags by Pro-Lite are cut super forgiving and will easily store even some of the widest, thickest, and most strange outlines.
Octopus Surfboard Bags
- Fits slightly longer. The bags are cut 2” longer than the advertised length. A 6’1 board most likely fits in a 6’0 bag, but anything longer would be pushing it.
- Octopus has a similar fit to Roam bags, and they generally specialize in shortboard bag shapes.
- The WREBB, MFEBB, and Daily Grinder models all accommodate boards with a width of 22” and under.
Roam Surfboard Bags
- Fits slightly longer so that a 6’8 board will fit in a 6’8 bag. The shortboard bag is cut 3” longer than advertised.
- Compared to Pro-Lite’s hybrid models, the Roam fun model bags don’t run as wide and range from 24 ¾” - 25 ½“ in width.
VEIA Surfboard Bags
- Fits standard and has a similar cut to Roam bags with an additional 3” in length to accommodate extra padding and ease of use. We recommend sticking with the basic rule of using a 6’0 VEIA bag for a 6’0 surfboard.
- The 6’0 bag measures 23” in width, so most fish/hybrid shortboards should fit in the bag with ease.
Db Surfboard Bags
- Db overall has a generous cut, but I wouldn’t use anything longer than a 6’4 in the day bag model or a 6’6 in the travel bag model.
- Db’s Travel Bag is unique in that its length is adjustable and can be used as a single bag for a variety of board models ranging from 5’3 to 6’6.
- The width is just under 23”, so most fish / hybrid boards should fit.
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