9'8 Feedback

General Discussion
1

I recently made my first longboard in November 2020.  9’8 x 22 x 3 with a nose concave, and very minor belly (not enough) to pretty much flat, if I can recall.

I’m curious what folks think based solely on my experience riding it (and some pics!). I have made my own observations about the shape-job but I want to generally withhold those, and simply provide my experience of how it surfs.

General cons:

>The nose seems to be perpetually out of the water when paddling, and the “sweet spot” is far up which tends to cause pearl’ing. (though when riding, this negative quality does not present itself). this is not because of rocker.

>related to the last point, but is difficult to knee paddle

>does not carry a lot of momentum overall, which I feel any good longboard should - at bare minimum -be able to do.

>not much of a trim spot or “feel good” spot in between the nose concave and tail. (possibly another common characteristic of a good LB)

>kind of a bog…

Pros:

>It does catch waves…

>nose rides pretty good/stable (though its not like I am hanging it out to dry up there)

>does not bog on turns

I have found that to get the most of the board the best approach is to whip it off the bottom quickly, rather than try to set a rail line straight away. (another characteristic I feel every longboard should have). I had a session out at Rincon a while back which illuminated this nicely, and I tested/confirmed the theory. Had a lot of great waves, starting up at the river mouth, and walking back up on multiple occasions. There was really nobody out (got there early on a Monday) except a friend and a few others. The cove did get crowded(maybe 12+) later on, but I did get some great waves in there as well, apart from the shorter rides up top.

Anyhow, I do have my thoughts about the shape job in terms of shortcomings and areas to improve, and have since made a 9’0 that while very different, works exceptionally well in my opinion. I figure these are the types of questions shapers should know how to answer, so here we go.

Oh oh also… worth noting, my lam job is probably the worst, or maybe second-to-worst of any that I’ve done. I got a hot tip to use iso resin to make it look cool with volan…. Oh and I hotcoated it with the marine resin too, like an idiot, and added way too much SA and had to squeegee it off (twice…) before switching to normal surfboard resin, and some advice from a friend (haha). I have since been gifted a very reliable chart, also.

So what could be done differently next time?

The initial lam wasn’t too bad, before the hc. I also will never put a fin patch that far up again haha

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2

From the pics I can see the nose concave doesn’t blend through the middle. Rails look full and kind of blunt. Smooth foils make for good trim. Send a rocker pic. Sounds like a fun board despite the cons.

3

You are an experienced enough shaper to say that the nose being out of the water has nothing to do with rocker??  Most of the “cons” you have described sound rocker related.  The nose concave is not blended far enough back.  The back of the concave should end and blend about where your head or neck would be when paddling.  Overall it looks fairly decent.  Nice tailblock.   What blank did you start with?  Can we see a pick from the side?  Rocker/rail profile?  You asked.

4

thanks for chipping in. those pics were all existing ones I’d had. I will post/ take some more later to show how full it is towards the tail especially in the rail.

Fishnsurfn - thanks for the remarks on the overall foil. you are definitely right about the concave not blending, it doesnt really transition at all. rails definitely fat as hell, especially towards the tail. I think the tailblock is 1" at the tip…

McDing - it certainly could be rocker-related. I made the rocker comment because in my observation it’s just really full towards the back, and with the nose concave not blending much past 24" I think causes it to rise. Again, not a characteristic I’ve noticed during riding. it seems like it is just a weight distribution issue, its not like the thing is banana’d out. (pics to follow)

Looking back at the USB catalog I would have to guess that it was the 9’8 Y (blue), since theres nothing else bigger that is close to that length. I got it down at bashams in san clemente, and of the two options this one was the “TM Flat” which was supposed to be geared towards a classic-style rocker.

5

I dunno why it is, but it seems like I always have to order more extreme changes in these rockers than is offered in their stock selection.   

6

I’m glad I did this, because I don’t think I would have otherwise taken these additional pics, to see some obvious details. I hope these help. Check out the dust on the second one! windy day today. the last one has the nose in the foreground

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7

A little chunky.  The adjustments made for a nose rider are usually less rocker at the nose, more rocker at the tail.

8

thanks all, i have a 9’1 cut out that i am going to try and make into a more functional version of this one, and really try for a nice foil, with a much thinner tail, and more rocker there as well.

9

Well have fun with it.  Ride it and learn.  Learn not necessarily from mistakes, but rather how the things you did affect its ride.  The short nose concave is one of the reasons I never cared for “Sweet Spot” conclaves like DT and Boehne did.  Sometimes it’s hard to find that “spot”.  Especially when you need a burst of speed to make a hollow section.  

10

that really is the key - “Learn not necessarily from mistakes, but rather how the things you did affect its ride.” and much easier said than done so far in my experience. I guess that speaks to the relevance of making the same or similar boards multiple times, so you have a baseline that’s comparable to the next project. I’ve been able to determine a bit from placement of vee in relation to the fin, and thickness of the tail from similar boards, as an example.

I’ve also found that sticking with one board for a month or so, switching, and then returning to it will illuminate things.

None of these realizations would have ever come if I hadn’t ever tried making boards. It’s funny how concepts like single and double concave, as an example, are suddenly understandable when you’re the one carving them out. surfboard jargon is still foreign to me, and i can’t BS like some, but shaping has explained a lot.