by John » Sat Nov 11, 2006 10:53 pm
Dan,
I've taken two long-distance trips with my board, with a different bag each time. Neither bag was a hard shell.
This spring I took a more elaborate bag, meaning that it had wheels and several compartments.
I put all my stuff inside the bag: board, bindings, boots, gloves, butt pad, wrist guards, goggles, pants, thermals, socks.
It made for a heavy bag. Not so heavy that I had to pay an excess baggage fee, but even with the wheels, I was barely able to pull it around.
I made sure that there were various pieces of clothing underneath and on top of the board.
Did I remove my bindings? Yes and no. I use Flows, which are different from the conventional strap bindings. They have a giant cap that goes over the feet, and I took that cap off and stuck it on the outside of my boots. Then I pushed the highback down.
I have a hard shell for my skis, and for peace of mind, you might wish to get one of those for your board. On the other hand, I'm not sure that it makes much of a difference as long as you pack your bag with a lot of padding.
Two years ago I went on a trip with both skis and a board. I carried the board and shipped the skis, in a hard shell, via FedEx. That was wonderful, and using ground transport, cheap (about $35). I wouldn't do that with a soft-sided bag, though again, it might be just fine.