I love fishes, but I'm sorry - that just sounds wrong to me! But then again, "the customer is always right" - you, my friend, have a conundrum on your hands!
I think an 8' funboard would be a better option in this case. Just my opinion.
I am 6’ 4" 255 lbs I would shoot for something around 8’ x 18" n x 23" w x 15.25 tail and 3" tk .also I would keep the rocker low , make it a versa plane fin configuration so you could run it as a twin a quad 2 +1 whatever you like. Bottom flat to a vee cut out a swallow tail. Check out the Us blanks 8’ 3" H I would not go thicker than 3.25" you got a ton of float @ 23" wide & 8’ Hope this helps : Rockfish
I once made an 8' x 23'' four inch thick ''mini board'' for a 265 pound customer. He required a board that paddled as well as his 10' 6'' x 23'' longboard. The challenge is that the board is so thick the rails are near impossible to make look attractive. What I ended up doing was to template the board on the bottom, cut it out, and the shape a bottom contour that I knew would ride well. I then turned the rails sharply down to to that bottom contour in a down rail form. The board was easily one of the uglier boards I've ever made, but the customer was delighted with the performance. When the board was upsidedown on the glassing racks, it looked like a beached whale. (according to the glasser) My point is that it's going to be a difficult task, but can be done. Just go at it slow and deliberate, and think your way through it before you start cutting. It's far easier to take foam off, than put it back on.
thank you Bill. My main concern is that once he is surfing a board that big,he will have to plan his turns 5 min in advance. I was going to go with similar rails that you are describing. very 70’s.
A 6' 240 lb beginner would benefit from any added volume you can work in to the equation. Check 'The Beast' as example of a board that is out of the box. At 7'4" it is 25 1/2" wide. The thickness is listed at 3 1/4" but I wouldn't hesitate to go thicker and even wider if the blank allows it. If he can't get his arm around it, tell him to carry it on his head or install one of those SUP hand grips in the deck.
thanks mr rockfish i was thinking of the 9’3" blank so i could cut a little more of the nose than tail thus flattening out the board and eliminating some nose rocker. i will take another look at an 8’3"h
Your choice of blanks can be US Blanks 8-2A (which can be made wider) or the 9-3A. I am starting to make shorter wide boards for the big boys. In Hawaii it is all about paddling power. You can rip if you can catch waves. Here is a board Delray made we a few years back: http://www.swaylocks.com/resources/detail_page.cgi?ID=2278. It is a great board for sloppy soft waves and it catches waves super easy. It does tend to track when the waves get steeper. I am re-thinking fish boards and opting to go with wider round pin tails with quad fins. I like Joe Blair's take on quad fins. It is simple and very functional. See www.jblairsurf.com.
gee, it ended up changing from original plan of an 8'0" fish ? did customer change his mind or did you guys want different result ???
looks more like a longboard with swallow tail now ( not being smartasss, just big change from original plan and I am interested in the thinking and reasoning )....????