Looks good huck. Keep it going. My favorite boards throughout life have all been three stringer. A Phil Edwards, Ole “Bumble Bee”, Pearson “Classic” a “coke bottle green” old style template Yater. And a special day at Secos on a three stringer Tom Hale. Remember the trick about shaping multiple stringer boards; Wood first, then bring the foam down to match. Lowel
Thnx John, I hope so. Didn’t go into this with a boatload of confidence, but feeling a little better about it now that its actually started
Greg - I disremember which blank I bought for this, I’ll try to see if I can find it. Do you have specific recommendations on rocker? Let me know, I’m at a point in shaping where I could tweak the rocker a little if I wanted to. Otherwise I will just leave the rocker as it came and foil from the deck side.
Thanks uncleGrumpy! I have some ideas for the finished board that i hope make it a cool board. I know I probably won’t be shaping a whole lot more boards, at least not for myself, so I want this to be a keeper that looks good and holds up well. I also want to incorporate a few things as a sentimental connection to my late family, kind of a memorial board so to speak. That was my plan when I purchased the blank way back when, with my daughter in mind.
Lowel - thanks, this is my first time shaping a 3-stringer blank. Center is standard (birch I think) the outer two stringers are balsa.
Greg - I am not 100% positive cuz its been a couple years but 90% sure this is the blank (its a Yater), and the spec sheet has the numbers you requested. The numbers at the tips are a match.
If you look close at the spec sheet you’ll see where Rennie says the natural rocker in the blank is at the middle of the demand curve, but to my eye it looks like a pretty flat rocker. Which I decided is OK for my board, gliders traditionally have a pretty flat rocker. I really wouldn’t want to go any less, but thats just my gut feeling, I’m not an expert. I hate when my nose catches water on a steeper takeoff, then I feel like a total kook, lol.
I saw an interesting exchange on IG, I can’t find it now but it was a post from a guy who broke his jaw surfing Mavs on a glider, and in the comments Maurice Cole called out the flat entry rocker as the culprit. It looked very flat, and that was my first thought also. If you watch the video you see exactly why, but the poster said he intentionally bailed to avoid hitting someone. Not that I will ever surf Mavs but its just the agonizing feeling of watching that nose catch water on a steep takeoff. Anyway, I think the natural rocker in the blank will work for me, as shown in the pic of the blank catalog.
I have gone back and forth in my mind on rail and bottom contours. I have had a couple boards with similar planshape (but a little smaller) that I really liked, and two completely different contours. But this shape below (1st pic) by Josh.Martin, a shaper I follow on IG, and the comments, match that board which I sold a long time ago.
So I’m thnking that’s what I’m going to go with - the first description, with belly in the nose and rolled V in the tail - although not exactly sure what “rolled V” is, but it will have V in the fin area.
My board had a definite belly in the nose, transitioning to pinched rails, so about 3" from the rail the bottom contour started to taper up, making the rails a little thinner, and kinda giving a “belly” type effect through the middle of the board. Not sure if this is any similarity to what Josh Martin calls “foiled rails”.
I had a friend who told me “nice rails - if this was the 1970s”, haha, but that board had a very different feel from my down rail boards. It felt really “attached” to the wave face, and acceleration was more gradual than my more standard shapes. It was different but very cool and I have been wanting to try to duplicate it for some time now.
Being older and less nimble then I used to be, I find that outline and bottom contour to be the most functional board I can ride. I consider it a speed shape rather then a noserider and find that the proper rocker is the most important aspect to making them work properly.
Yes, me too. I’m 67 now, and I find that my go-to board is my 9 foot round pintail. But its old and beaten up, so this will hopefully be its replacement as my new daily driver.
I definitely don’t consider this a noserider, although you can trim these boards from pretty far forward under the right circumstances. But def not going with a concave in the nose, belly instead - the exact opposite.
I eventually added quad option to my 9 footer, and I liked it as a quad, but finally went back to single fin. I do think it is faster as a quad, at least feels that way to me, but I still prefer riding it as a single in most conditions.
As far as rocker - I can’t claim to much beyond just picking a blank with a rocker that looked good to me for my shape - I didn’t want a longboard blank with a lot of lift in the tail, like for a noserider, and I didn’t want a flip in the nose like a gun blank, and I didn’t want the nose rocker to be real flat, so this is what I ended up with. Beyond that I haven’t altered the rocker in any way, so I hope it all works out.
Great looking outline, really like the continuous curve with no straight spots.
Yeah, the boards I’m riding now have belly to vee out the back. Up rails in the nose transitioning to 60/40 in the middle, with a hard edge in the tail. And, like you did, low rocker with no flip in tail or nose.
Today I got it rough shaped. I think I will thin the tail and nose a little more, before I start cleaning it up and blending the curves.
Hand shaping is one of the most challenging but satisfying part of building my own boards. I always start with a little trepidation, but by the time I finish, I’m always a little sad that part is over.
I never build enough boards consecutively to get really good at it, but I find if I take my time and don’t try to hurry, I can usually get a passable job done. I’ve been pretty lucky that so far most my boards have worked well for me, hope this one will too!
Thanks, this is the kind of feedback I was hoping for. I think that’s pretty much exactly what I’m going to shoot for when I do the rails.
Huck, one other thing you should consider if making as a single fin, is installing the fin box a little more forward then you’re used to. All the speed shapes/ gliders that I’ve had work better with the fin up.
Was always referred to as a “Speed” Shape even with a square tail. Hyson’s “Red Fin” and the Hobie Phil Edwards were both great examples and one borrowed from the other. Of course neither was 11’ long like Frye’s quote unquote “Gliders”.
Thanks! I will do that. I notice my 9 footer does best with fin all the way forward, and not a lot of rake. So that makes total sense.
Wow, That’s long!
Hello Huck,
great build thread. I like the idea of this shape very much. The bottom contours do reflect in JC Nelsons long version of Outlier, Parallax, Apex and Neo Classic, may be you have a look on those and find the little differences. It may give you an additional input for your board. Those shapes go from belly in the front with uprails to the tail with a hard edge, but they do not show a Vee in the tail, it looks that they are dead flat, at least, if you check the video material on youtube. The only thing I would criticise is, why did you build with foam, not a HWS… 
I build a similar, but shorter one (8’8) in spring https://jamboards.com/threads/the-wooden-balsa-para-lier-8‘8-build.12213/page-6 , but it is still at home and has not seen any water yet. Hope to get it to Portugal end of this month. Then I will see how this bottom concept really works.
Enjoy your build, it will be a great board!
Greetings from the other side of the pond (Atlantic)
Uwe
Hello and thanks for the feedback. I went ahead and shaped the V into the tail, I’m hoping it helps a little leaning into turns.
Shaping foam is not easy, although it is a very different path from HWS. I kinda gave up on HWS as a practcal daily driver because of the way they take in water with a leak, and the way the air expands with temperature changes. There are ways of dealing with that stuff of course, but you can’t beat foam for a daily driver.
Foam is challenging to shape, The triple stringer adds an extra element of challenge because of the differing hardness of wood vs foam in the middle of your curves. The center stringer is a little different matter. Anyway, it is proceeding slowly, as I say, I like to work gradually and that way I don’t suddenly find I’ve gone too far. I admire the speed of the pro shapers, but for a guy who builds his own boards, one or two a year, this is a good pace for me.
I do enjoy working with wood and I plan to add some wood to the build in ways that should increase the longevity of the board, and hopefully look good too. Been working on the decoative aspects of the project.
As I wind up the actual shaping of the foam, its all about taking my time to make sure its where I want it to be before glassing.
I double check thickness at key points to make sure thickness (foil) is symmetrical. I double check width at key points to make sure the plan shape is symmetrical. I use my string with weights draped over the blank at 90 degrees to the stringer to eyeball rail and deck/bottom contours. I use a straight edge to check the V and the belly. Everything gets adjusted as needed.
At this point I know the board will not be perfect, but I try to make sure I’m not going to have regrets when I glass it and see some glaring goof that would have been easy to fix before glass.
And now I have to be a lot more careful handling the blank not to bonk into stuff and put dents all over the place 
- And now I have to be a lot more careful handling the blank not to bonk into stuff and put dents all over the place :-)
Been there. Done that. Got the T-shirt. Given my process and workspace I’ll most likely go there again.
Yeah, I have several. A hot iron and a wet paper towel took out 90% of the damage. Spackle the 10% I guess - or just let them fill in when I glass
