Rowdy,
I almost always put the wide point 3 inches in front of center on my fishes. I can’t remember the reason. Probably got it from Swaylocks. I’d be happy to mail you fish templates and fin templates if you pm me an address. It’ll have to be by Clipper ship, though, because I don’t know how to do them on the computer. Mike
here is updated photo with tail trimmed up. the stringer line looks curved but it's just because the templates not completely flat on the ground at nose and tail. rooster i'm not doing a traditional fish just like a wider thicker shortboard. some people call them fish hybrid. thanks for the offer though. i based this template off this design on aku shaper. the rocker will be less though. i'm just after opinions on whether that curve flows or not. cheers
Rowdy- the front half looks symetrical… But back half you want a somewhat straighter curve in front of the ‘hip’ you would place at front edge of twins and bring the curve off tail end… Or the curves apex would be @ that point, then flow to the end…atleast that what I would think?
Looking at your AkuShaper PDF, I see what is pretty much a square tailed shortboard. I thought you were going to do a fish?
i was but now i'm just gonna do a fun summer board. it's wider than a standard short board and it's most probably gonna have a swallow tail. cant do swallow tails on akushaper
rowdy,
You don’t need akushaper to do swallowtails. Just need a nice curve. Like a fin laying around. Mike
yeah i know i'm not doing that type of swallow tail though just a normal shortboard swallow tail. i'll just draw it in when i get to that point of shaping
Rowdy- my bad ur tail curves look about right… The ‘hip’ I believe should be right there in front of twins… Flows out back. Picked up a 6’5" blanks- I’ll shape something cool. still workin out the curves for plan shape- just want it right before I start the board. Have fun!
started shaping today and ran into my first problem. both sides aren't the same height. while playing around with the rockers one side has ended up a bit higher than the other how can i get both sides equal and flat again i've planed down the stringer to just below the surface and now i've gotta try get both sides flush with the stringer and each other. so now the stringer is how i want it ( always has been) just gotta get both sides identical again. i'm also running out of foam to keep trying new ideas. any help would be appreciated
anyone there?
Take the high side down to match the other. You'll have to bring the stringer down some to get the bottom back to flat (assuming that is what you want; if you want some V in that area leave stringer as is).
Delete/whoops!
As for the soft foam… Well, that’s a concern. What most seem to do is get the thickness thinned down on bottom- then deal with the deck thinning. Now I don’t always knowin wtf I’m doin? But I just took 2-3 thin layers off the deck, and - you do want the center deck side stronger so don’t thin it too much in the center or so… Obviously on the deckside we have to thin out the foil for nose/tail diggin into the soft foam a sliver… Shouldn’t be a concerrn man!? As long as u aint diggin to china.
Before you worry about rails I assume you mowed the bottom rocker to desired thickness, right?
After that you should thin the nose and tail foil down on deck side a bit also… On my board I’m bringing it down from the tips- towards the middle or center kinda gradually thinning down the foil to a desireable amount. This is hear promotes a bit more responsiveness vs a very thick foil that n nose would create swing weight issues, in tail a corky hard turning issues as well. How far you thin it is up to you. Obviously you leave the center thickness alone.
So just get it to how you like it. Might grab a board you like and go from there.
For rail measurements, well I did not measure- just kinda did it by eye. That said, I plan to do a low rail by breaking my rail down to 3 third sections a foot up and down the nose/tail, and then the center. U can do dd more points if u like? Then we taper down top edge @ 45 degree or so with planer to top of bottom third line… Some dome the rail all the way towards stringer. Other just go the typical 4"-6" band ontp deck.ofcourse the nose and tail taper is less so on some boards. So figure out how you want it.
After tapering -with planing bands, you surepform with pu, then sand, and some use sanding screen… Up 2 you.
Bottom rail edges are personal. Some like hard edges- prob 1/8" roll- to 3/16" for majority of bottom rail. Some like more roll… Go figure. But u want to make the edges very hard -just there in front of fins I heard. Good luck man! The main thing is to make them how u want them- according to how u like them.
On my first 3 boards I made a pretty good roll in the nose section about 15-18" down nose… Left the center with a slight roll, and went hard towards the tail like I said. Worked fine man!? Hope this helps.
