Landyachtz deck

This is my experience, for the community’s consideration and caution. Who knows the exact cause - my modifications, a manufacturing defect, or unrealistic expectations.

Failure:


The deck failed immediately behind the front truck base plate. The top fibers split, the bottom fibers are still connected. Not a complete break. I was able to force the deck flat again and ride it home at ~2-5 mph (I didn’t want a 30 minute walk). It’s now permanently decommissioned.

Deck:

Landyatchz Drop Carve Fox 38 - Drop Carve 38 Fox – Landyachtz Skateboards

  • Canadian maple
  • 7 ply
  • Medium flex
  • Length: 37.9
  • Width: 9.7

Circumstances:

  • Hit a large gap in the sidewalk
  • I saw it coming and jumped off - I was not on the board at impact (no rider weight to contribute)
  • Low/medium speed - around 10-15mph
  • Low total mileage - first ride in late May 2021, failure in October 2021

Build

Build thread: Breakfast Blend: LY DropCarve38 | BN M1 Gear Drives | FS 6374s | Xenith | 10s4p P42A
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Final weight: ~28 lbs
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Related Modifications:

  • Dropthru cutouts were filled with epoxy (and white dye)
  • Dickyho truck x-braces
  • Muirskate 0.06" Loaded rubber shock pads
  • PETG printed tunnel risers, 6mm front, 11mm rear
  • Factory grip tape removed
  • Bottom graphic sanded off (potentially removed ~ 1/2 ply)
  • ~12 threaded inserts installed and epoxied into the bottom side of the deck
  • 3-4 of the enclosure fasteners were incorrect lengths and bottomed out in their holes, created cracks and raised bumps on the top side
  • Customized eboards fiberglass enclosure, thick solid rubber gasket, thick closed cell foam gasket
  • TB 110mm urethane wheels
  • ESC, battery, and BMS mounted via Velcro directly to bottom of deck.

Landyatchz response:

Hello xx
Sorry to see this has happened! Unfortunately our warranty does not cover snaps and cracks like this. If you choose to mount another board with an electric motor I would suggest getting a maple deck - Perhaps the Cheese Grater would be a good choice. Stiff and made of maple.
Cheese Grater V2 – Landyachtz Skateboards
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Kindly,
yy

Thoughts

I broke the cardinal esk8 order of operations rule from the start, so maybe this was inevitable. It was a pain in the ass to customize the enclosure to fit the deck, and it wasn’t my favorite deck to begin with. It was a solid ~6 months of ongoing development in waterproofing, wire routing, assembling, etc and I learned this lesson the hardest way.

That said, I’m super disappointed in this LY deck. I never fully trusted it, but to catastrophically fail at low speed, unloaded, is ultimate weak sauce. I wouldn’t be surprised if it failed as a normal push board. But again, no way to know how much my modifications contributed (maybe 100%) vs a manufacturing issue vs setting expectations too high. I’m just really sad all that effort customizing was wasted.

At the end of the day, 7 ply is pretty low for esk8.
Take this for what you will.

7 Likes

First thought is wow that deck looks thin

I think this is the main thing to take home, clearly it wasn’t designed for this lol

Although I agree some of your mods might have contributed

7 Likes

I’m curious if it was caused by the enclosure preventing the deck from flexing, concentrating strain at the ends rather than being spread out across the entire deck. That deck was designed to flex quite a bit IIRC.

11 Likes

Definitely could be it

1 Like

Wow my evo has almost double the thickness of this deck. I agree with everyone who already said that this deck is very thin.

3 Likes

I think I am too heavy for 7 ply even analog. 10 would be my minimum.

10ply

3 Likes

I was looking at a landyachtz upgrade lately but I think I’ll stick with my landyachtz 9 two 5,had it since my first build in 2016! Might look a bit tatty but the thing is solid! It’s 7 ply but looks thicker than yours there,I’d bet it weighs more too.

I’d say this is spot on! Either a deck that doesn’t flex or an enclosure that flexes with the deck is your best options for reliability!

1 Like

Hmmm. I was planning to use my LY Drop Hammer for my first build, but now I’m reconsidering… :frowning:

1 Like

Drophammer is a proven board, if you see other builds with it on here, it’s likely fine. If I recall the drophammer is much thicker than this and is not a “flexy deck”

1 Like

Maybe stiff deck is the wording to look for.

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It doesn’t look thicker to me. In fact, it looks the same.

The Drop Hammer is a symmetrical drop-through longboard measuring 36.5" long and 10" wide. Its low ride height makes it an ideal city commuter and its medium concave and reasonably stiff construction make it a perfect board for an introduction to freeriding and carving on bigger hills.

Construction 100% 7-ply Canadian Maple
Flex: Stiff maple

2 Likes

Oh hm I must be thinking of the switchblade then…

I think it’s flexible just in the sense that it’s so thin. I could have sworn some others on here built with the drophammer though

2 Likes

7ply is too thin for aggressive esk8ing. Plain and simple. Don’t blame a good company for your poor choice in deck.

1 Like

Damn. I wasn’t so sure about this deck before, now I’m even more reluctant. A bit too short also, I prefer something more 40ish…

I totally have no idea what decent deck to choose. And I’m already way over budget :hear_no_evil:

Welcome to diy esk8!

Just don’t add the numbers up and you’ll be fiiiine

18 Likes

If you’re looking at a pack and esc with a fibre glass enclose that spans the lengh of the deck go for something with no flex!

I did a Backfire deck swap with a drop hammer and it has about 1200 miles on it now - only small splintering near the deck bolts arose since my buddy tightened the hell out of them, otherwise the deck has held up great.
We abused the shit out of this deck, even riding on rocky/gravel paths constantly along with the fact that my city’s roads are ancient. Drop hammer is super solid.


My 8 ply LY dropcat ended up splintering between plys near the wheel wells, I only rode it as my push board for about a month…
At one point I dropped the board from a foot or so and a small chunk of wood broke off the edge, just like the board was some cheap china shit… compared to my switchblade which has been dropped from tall fences resulting in only a large scuff.
I feel like certain LY decks are built super tough, whereas others not.

4 Likes

My deck is flexier than id like, and somewhat similar shaped. However, the enclosure on it can handle the flex. I used my thinner battery and attached it to the enclosure though, because of that. The other one had millimeters to spare and is on pcb’s, and i aint askin for trouble. I did some serious jump tests to make sure the tails arent gonna break under normal circumstances when i test mounted the enclosure and wheels and whatnot. You should always stomp test your deck before using it. If it breaks, yeah that sucks, but at least it wont happen when youre on it.

1 Like

Alright new kid, calm down. Be cool and everyone will be cool in return - you don’t need to bring the aggro attitude into every thread. Never did I say LY was a bad company.
Read some more and maybe we can have a nuanced discussion on variables that affect build longevity.

7 Likes

The thread title definitely throws undeserved shade at LY. I’m not “aggro” like you’re saying, just placing blame where blame is due. Maybe you should calm down.