hi!
Did someone have the 6’6 or 7’ black beauty (tom curren’s board by all merrick) measurements!!!thank a lot to give me these!!
I’m not a shaper, so my advive is usually crap, but I know a lot about surfboards.
Why don’t you either buy a Merrick, or go measure one yourself?
They sell them at many shops (Surfride), and they won’t mind at all if you measure the heck out of it.
However, it won’t do you any good to have those measurements if all you get is the nose width, middle, and tail width. That board is a completely different animal.
First, the deck thickness carries pretty much out to the rails (well, not exactly but a lot more than Merrick’s current boards). Also, the rails are very hard. There is a lot of debate about hard versus soft rails, but some people feel that hard rails are sticky in mushy surf (although I hear the opposite may be true as well), but the point is that you have to really look at those rails, because they are much different than any of the rails on, say, the flyer or mongrel, etc.
And the bottom. Well, that is a unique thing too.
What’s my point in all of this? Well, the only way you are going to get a true replica of Tom Curren’s board is to spend the extra dinero and buy one (But, even as the ad says, the bottom contours have been altered since the eighties. It’s not the exact same board).
Good luck to you anyway. And take it to Bells.
Fairmont is right…youre best bet is to find a shop that carries them and take some measures. If you cant do this…
I recently built a narrow 6’11 of a BB. I called CI and asked for the middle width dimensions to get me started - these boards run very wide…the 6’6 is 19.75" wide. I’ve also inspected one in a shop and from the looks of the website the tail rocker is probably around 2.25" and nose rocker about 4.75". My narrow version is 6’11 x 19 with a 13.4 wide tail.
If youre smart and clever you can use the above info and a print of the board to get the rest of your dimensions.
thanks!i ve already tried to measure these in a shop , but in fact was’nt possible!!!that 's why i 'm looking for a sympathic owner to help me!!!
I was, in fact, in Surfride this morning, looking at boards, since I completely tore the hell out of my shoulder muscle yesterday while going over the falls at Beacons (and had no reason to hold onto my board, since I was wearing a leash and nobody was around—stupid mistake, and now I’m out of the water for at least a week, and hopefully the injury isn’t serious).
Anyway, I grabbed a Black Beauty and looked it over. I didn’t measure any widths, but I asked for a straight edge and, sure enough, it has a modern design. I may be wrong, but it seemed to me that it was double concave from the nose all the way back to the leading edge of the fins, and then flat the rest of the way. I’m not sure, but that’s how it looked to me. I looked at a 6,3.
I can also tell you that one day, while surfing Swamis (did I say Swamis???) I noticed a guy on a BB, and he told me he didn’t like it. He was, in fact, having some difficulty, and the day was well overhead. Plus, he caught a lot of waves, so he had plenty of opportunity.
What you should do is ask Tom Curren. I know, that’s sounds rediculous, but think about it this way: Tom Curren can ride ANY board he wants, and can probably get free boards from any shaper he wants, so do you think he is still riding a board from the mid eighties? I bet he isn’t.
Or, since Al Merrick lives in SB, find out which church he attends, and then “bump” into him at church and ask him a few questions.
Finally, to save the trouble, just paint a three inch wide black stripe around the perimeter of the deck of your next board. 
Wait a sec- The Black Beauty is not just an 80’s design. It is definately not obsolete for anyone who loves to carve hard rail to rail at speed. That being said, here’s one thing a BB doesn’t do that modern small wave concave squashes do: it doesn’t generate speed ( because in truth the rasied center vee gives a little bit of drag and the pintail sheds speed). That’s why it’s not a good board for smaller mushy waves. But it’s a blast for head high to double overhead fast waves, and unmatched for fast point waves. You can carve hard and furious with it, up, down, and all the way around. Just don’t try and slide tail with it, or you may throw your back out since it wants to grip and turn. The 6’3 is 2.5 " thick, more like a modern board’s thickness and 18.5 wide. Warning: the 6’6 has a lot more foam volume than it appears, it’s 2.75 thick with thick rails and well over 19" wide. It’s corky and should be used if you are over 180 lbs. I go 170 and it was too much foam for me but great for my heavier buddy. The 6’9 is way too bouyant, thick and wide and I can’t figure out who would ride it, must be a big guy maybe 200 lbs indeed to sink the rails. Great design in the right waves.
My shaper has a BB, i think it’s 6’9’’ or 7’, and it doesn’t work on small waves, in fact my shaper bought the surfboard to surf it in Mundaka. As Tubedog said, this board wants to carve hard and it needs some push to make it work.
On the volume thing, is all about what are you used to. If you use to ride thinner modern surfboards, it’s a thick surfboard, but if you are used to thicker surfboards this is a nice stick with thicker rails than a modern surfboard.
I think that this surfboard works good for anyone searching for a “semigun”, i mean a surfboard for “good waves”, who want’s more flotation than what will give you a modern surfboard.
Tom Curren won a contest the last year with the original BB… but maybe he would won it anyway on a refrigerator door too. I have a personal surfboard from Tom Curren, that he shaped himself, and believe me, it isn’t a GOOD standard surfboard, but he riped on it.
Good waves!