Hello, I recently purchased this Hobie board. I believe it to be a Tandem board. The board is 10’6x 25"x 4" I was wondering if anyone would have any knowledge about the board, or anyone that could restore it! I am a Tandem surfer and would love to take it out for a ride. I recently talked to someone who believed it was a Tandem board and that the fin was original. He dated at about mid to late 60’s. I could not find any writing on the stringer. The board has 2 (blue) highdensity foam stringers and a single 1/4. Any help/ information would be greatly appreciated!!!
That poor thing has seen better days. Did you strip the glass, or acquire it in that condition? Given that it has high D foam stringers, I would date it roughly '66-'67. No older than 65.
Hard to say if the fin is original with all the damage and loose bits at the base. You cannot find any serial number, you say? There should be one somewhere on the wood stringer, between the logo and the tail. It may not be a tandem board, but rather just a fat guy number. Like, for a 300 lb rider. If you’re looking for help in restoring it, you might want to state your location. Just sayin’…
Tandems were usually much longer. 12’ or so would not be unusual.There used to be one bolted to the outside wall at Shagg’s Surf Shop in Indialantic and used for a sign.
One day a guy brought one similar to this into my shop. 10’4 wide and fat and pretty flat rocker. “Copy it”, he said. Volan and all.
There was a serial # on his and it was real close in number to another board I had in the shop at the time. A 10’2 Hobie with a 6" balsa stringer that had been shaped by Phil Edwards for Jack Murphy. Murphy’s was made in '67 and the serial #'s were so close that I figured they were probably made the same day or at least only a few days apart.
Re: The fin. This was when they were doing those bolt through the deck fins.
Funny, when I commented that the board probably belonged to a 300 lb guy, I thought of Chubby. I didn’t mention him because I figured not many folks know who he was. Chubby was in some Bud Browne flicks, as I recall. I don’t remember seeing him on a Hobie, though. He’s also in the Grannis Photo books.
That board was not intended to be a tandem board. Hobie Alter was a competitive tandem surfer and the average tandem board of that era was 12' plus. There is footage around of Chubby by Dale Davis, Bruce Brown ( also Magilvary/Freeman). Chubby surfed the "Rivermouth" without a wetsuit way back when.
Yes, there’s a scene in one film of Chubby and other guys surfing The Lane before the stairs existed. They used to use a rope to get up and down. Made for some comedy as Mitchell’s pals try to hoist/push him back up.
CORRECTION! I made a large error when stating the dimensions of the board. The board is actualy 10’6 x 28" x 4" … Would this make any difference in the “type” of board? Also upon stripping part of the deck, I found no remenance of what could be a serial # There might be 1 spot on the stringer that has a marking, but would be hard to decipher it, if it is even a marking.
Are you sure about the width measurement? 28" is ridiculously wide, even for an old 10+ board. Here’s a pic of an early 60s Hobie tandem board. Note the dimensions stated.
Mickey Munoz was active in tandem events and he's not exactly a big guy. If you can reach him he might be a good person to ask. Maybe someone here has contact info for him or Terry Martin?
All Hobie Tandem Boards were made from two fat large blanks and were spliced together in the middle with the nose of each being the nose and tail to get the rocker needed. They all had a wide colored band in the middle to cover the scar. due to his large body Pete Peterson rode a 12 ft length, The rest of us rode either a 11 ft or 10 ft 6-inch length. These boards were shaped by either Ralph Parker or Terry Martin. Terry Peek Hobie shop manager 1960’s and former tandem surfer.
