Review: Hydrus Scud
Summary: The Hydrus Scud is a super durable, high volume board good for surfing small river waves and holes. Continue reading for the full review…
The Scud is a thick and fat, high volume board with forgiving rails near the nose. These features make the board a good choice for holes and small waves. If you are a beginner river surfer, these features also make for a forgiving board that is easier to learn on.
On the bottom, the Skud has a deep double concave which allows the board to plane out easier on slower features. The board actually feels like it sits higher out of the water than other boards due to the bottom shape forcing the board out of the water.
The holes and small waves that the Scud excels on are often found on rivers and creeks where it is shallow and rocky. Luckily, Hydrus boards are super durable. If you’ve seen Glide’s durable construction, it is similar in durability and weight except it’s smooth instead of textured. The Scud can be kicked into rocks, perled into the bottom of the river, and drug back to the car without showing any signs of damage. I’ve done this (minus the dragging) to the Scud several times and never gotten a ding. According to Hydrus, if you are able to ding their board, repairs are the same as epoxy boards.
While the super durable skin is great, it does come with a cost. The board weights over 25 lbs. The result is the board feels sluggish and slow to respond on the wave. It can also be difficult to carry around.
Although I like the technology Hydus has developed in their durable boards, there were a couple of things that bugged me. The fin boxes don’t sit completely flush with the bottom of the board and the deck pad has some wrinkles in it. These are small issues that hopefully will get resolved over time as Hydrus gets more experience building boards.
UPDATE: Jason from Hydrus reached out to me and explained that the above fin boxes are actually fin box inserts. They can be removed and replaced with different boxes that have different cants! They also allow for some amount of cushioning and help protect the board when you ram your fins into rocks. He did say however, that mine were not correctly modified to match my board. He’s going to send me a set that will sit flush with the bottom of the board.
The Skud is very similar to Badfish Cobra. If you are considering one, you owe it to yourself to look at the other. The biggest difference between the boards is the durable shell on the Skud vs the lighter weight of the Cobra. If you surf in shallow or rocky rivers, the Skud is a better choice. If you aren’t worried about dings and want slightly better performance, the Cobra is your board.
The Hydrus Skud is a good board. If you are looking for a durable hard board for surfing holes or small waves, or are a beginner-intermediate surfer, or are a heavier surfer that prefers high volume boards, the Skud is a good choice.
Hi!
Thanks for this good review.
This sup is more at home on hole or wawe like that but do you think it will also suit for surfing clean fast wawe like the one in the link below ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3LUwvca0Bs ( I surf here with an ocean 8.5 sup a little to big 🙂
The Hydrus Scud would not work well for the wave in that video. I would suggest a 7’6″ or shorter SUP designed for small ocean surf. The Naish Raptor would be a good board for that wave.
Hi Benjamin, Have tried Hydrus new board the “Montrose”. It Looks good. Hopefully, you can give a review soon.
I haven’t tried the Hydrus Montrose. Most (maybe all?) of the Hydrus boards these days are custom… or somewhat custom. Jason works hard with his customers to figure out what the perfect shape is for them, and tweak existing designs to meet their needs. This is great because custom boards will almost always surf better than standard/stock off the shelf, mass produced shapes.
However, it makes it difficult to review. If my board is a little different than the board you get, it will surf differently. It becomes hard for me to recommend a board if I know that it is one of a kind.