Here is a review of a Santa Cruz Everslick skateboard deck. The Everslick deck has 7-maple plys with an additional plastic layer that preserves your graphic and helps you slide longer. Lately, I鈥檝e been reviewing all of the strongest skateboard decks, and I wanted to see if the plastic layer on the bottom of the Everslick made the deck better in any way.

Here is everything you need to know about the Santa Cruz Everslick skateboard deck.

Here are the snap shot specs of the VX deck.

Santa Cruz Everslick Skateboard Deck

Excellent Shape – Mid Concave rounded-off nose and tail

One of the fastest sliding slick boards – These decks slide well / Graphic has been preserved thanks to the slick layer

It isn’t much stronger than a standard deck

The plys seem thinner, so I got razor tail even faster than normal

Everslicks are available in nearly every width. Here are some that are available right now. 8.0″, 8.125″, 8.25″, 8.38″, 8.43″, 8.5″, 8.43″, 8.8″

The size I skated for this review was an 8.0″ x 31.65″ with a 14.22″ wheelbase.

I have been a fan of Santa Cruz since I began skateboarding in the early 90s. I was hooked since I first saw the “Skateboarding is Not a Crime” decks and t-shirts. At the time, I was learning to skateboard, and I had got a $200 ticket for grinding a plastic bench. I resonated with Santa Cruz’s clean, high-contrast graphics and overall message of keeping skateboarding fun.

An Everslick or slick skateboard deck is a standard 7-ply maple skateboard deck with an additional thin plastic layer that covers the bottom graphic side of the deck. The extra plastic layer makes you slide faster and preserves the graphic on the deck. Additionally, it makes the deck slightly stronger than a normal skateboard deck that doesn’t have a plastic layer. 

Over the past few years, I’ve been reviewing the Santa Cruz VX decks as part of my quest to find the strongest skateboards. I already knew I enjoyed the shape of Santa Cruz’s skate decks. I wanted to try a slick to see if it could help me slide longer and learn if the deck was stronger.

The Everslick decks are slightly more expensive than a normal Santa Cruz skateboard deck by about $8 – $12. However, they are around $15 less than the stronger Santa Cruz VX skateboard decks I’ve been buying. I wanted to get an Everslick to see if I could get the stiffer, stronger properties that I liked about the VX deck in a slightly less expensive yet similar feeling deck.

So for me, it came down to these two considerations.

This deck skates exactly like a normal 7-ply maple deck from any other brand. When I first got it, it had all of its pop and felt perfect. As with most maple decks, it started to get a soggy/bouncy feeling in its tail around the second week of skating it. Here in Pennsylvania, it is summer, so two weeks of skating would be around 38 hours of skating the Everslick. That is right around how long I would skate a normal, non-slick skateboard deck.

The primary difference you will notice in a Santa Cruz Everslick is that it does slide better than most other skateboard decks. If you do a lot of slide tricks, Everslicks will be perfect for you. I found that ledges and rails didn’t need a lot of wax to slide on them with this deck. It made learning some new slide tricks easier because I didn’t have to go fast to slide. I would go slow, pop into the trick and slide with enough control to learn how to pop out. Once I became confident with the slide trick, the glossy plastic layer at the bottom helped me slide an extra few feet when I pushed towards the object with some speed.

I didn’t notice much difference from a normal, non-slick deck outside of the slide tricks.

The deck seemed like it got razor tail faster than normal. I am unsure if that is because the plys were thinner or if it was a symptom of sliding so much. There are rough ledges near my house that I was blunt sliding for a few feet. My tail was dragging on the ledge for some of those attempts.

I like how well the Everslick plastic layer helps this board slide. These are one of the fastest sliding slick boards you can buy. It is instantly noticeable how well this board slides. I skated a few worn-in, rough curbs that this deck slid right over with no issues. If you skate some haggard street spots, an Everslick deck is worth trying out.

That material is what helps your slide faster and longer.

I like the shape of the deck. Santa Cruz offers a wide range of sizes, and their concave tends to be in the sweet spot zone for me. There isn’t too much concave where I feel it underfoot. However, it is nowhere near flat. It is perfect. The shape of these decks is a highlight for me. I tend to be the type of skater that enjoys a more rigid to stiff feeling skateboard deck, and the extra plastic layer added a layer of stable feel to this deck.

The extra plastic layer over the graphic really did preserve the graphic on my deck. Here is an image of what my deck looked like the last day I skated it. I do a ton of boardslides and you can still see most of the graphic.

A neat feature is that if you get the plastic layer dirty from sliding, you can take a few drops of Goo Be Gone on a piece of paper towel and clean it off. 

Note: With any skateboard deck, you want to ensure you don’t get the wood itself wet, so please only use a few drops and ensure it stays on the plastic layer only.

This deck got razor tail faster than I thought it would. I thought with a glossy, plastic layer, the tail and nose might last a few extra days before they began to wear down. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. This deck got razor tail as quickly as any other skateboard deck would. That is why I swapped it out for a new deck. The tail got razor tail so sharply that the board began to lose its pop. It is worth noting that every wooden skateboard deck will get this issue.

Here is an image of how my tail looked before I swapped the deck out for a new one.

I was hoping that the plastic layer would help this board prevent from getting wheel bite. It doesn’t. It just takes longer for the graphic to wear through.

Here is an image of some wheel-bite that I got. This image will also give you an idea of what the bottom layer of an Everslick board is like. The white section shows where the plastic layer began to wear through and the wood begins.

These decks are a few dollars more expensive than a deck without the additional plastic layer. If you don’t do a lot of slide or grind tricks, you can save a few bucks by getting a normal, non-slick Santa Cruz skateboard deck.

Everslicks are nearly identical to a non-slick 7-ply maple Santa Cruz skateboard deck. The main differences are the extra plastic layer and the additional $8-12 cost for the slick layer.

Everslick decks are not as expensive as the stronger Santa Cruz VX decks. The VX decks are still $15 more than the Everslick decks. The VX decks have two Quad X Carbon Fiber layers with 5-ply maple layers sandwiched between them. Since Everslicks don’t have the two carbon fiber layers, they aren’t as strong or resilient when doing tricks down stairs.

Yes, Santa Cruz makes excellent skateboards. Their decks always feel consistent in their construction, quality, and shape. Santa Cruz began making skateboard decks in 1973, and since then, they’ve been innovating and perfecting the technology built into their skateboard decks.

Santa Cruz skateboards are beginner friendly. I recommend beginning with this one of the Santa Cruz complete skateboards on our Best Complete Skateboards for Beginners list.

This particular review was for a slightly more expensive Santa Cruz Everslick deck. The Everslick is a great deck for skaters with all experience levels. However, when you are just starting out, you aren’t going to need the extra plastic layer to help you slide longer with that in mind, its perfectly ok to get a less expensive deck to learn on and then test the Everslick out once you’re ready to put the additional plastic layer to good use.

Editor’s Rating:

Yes, I recommend all types of Santa Cruz skateboard decks for anyone looking for a stronger deck with a mid-concave. These decks come in such a wide variety of shapes that you can also find a dimension with the proper wheelbase for you.

For this review, I skated an 8.0″ wide deck by 31.65″ long. The wheelbase of the deck is 14.22″. For reference, I am 5′ 6″ tall. I weigh 141lbs and have a men’s 8.5 shoe size. If you’re wondering what size I recommend you try, check out our skateboard size calculator.

You purchase Santa Cruz Skateboard decks at Amazon, Parade World, or Tactics.

Looking for more skateboard reviews? Check out the other reviews I’ve written

Steve Weber is the author and boardsport gear reviewer for Board of the World. He has been snowboarding for 26 years, skateboarding for 20, and is always looking for a new board sport gear to try out. When he is not riding or skating, he runs a marketing agency. Board of the World is Steve’s blog for skateboard and snowboard gear reviews. The blog’s goal is to help people find the right board for them and encourage people to have fun outside.