I’ve never shaped before, so experience is nil. I am THINKING, MAYBE, of shaping a board. at the moment I have a mal, a 6’6 Jim Banks Fish and a 6’10 Thruster. I find myself alternating primarily between the thruster and the fish. What type of board would be reasonable to shape and meet my surfing interests. It will probably be used only up to 5-6ft max, I am 100kg 6’3,
Was thinking of an egg perhaps, a small fish, or maybe even a rounded tail thruster for reefs.
you obviosly know what you want, think of the board you would like to ride whether something around what you’ve got or something different. sounds simple . you’ve got a fish and a 6’10 . so a smaller fish or a gunnier one . the 6’10 what about a 7’2 or 7’6 . maybe a single fin up to you. if you want to have a go the options are endless. if you need a hand with dimensions or supliers ask.
If you were buying a custom board what you you ask for? now shape that board. What ever shape you go for there’s a ton of info here on it. I would steer away from a jet bottom of a gemini though.
Half of the people will say shape a long board as its more forgiving and rails are easier, but there a whole lot more to shape and a whole lot more to glass, the other half will say stick below 7ft as there is less board to glass and less foam to mow, but the rails are harder.
At the end of the day shap e the board you want to ride, What ever you shap you will run into obsticles and chalenges to overcome, but its only foam and fibre glass there isn’t a lot that can go wrong that can’t be fixed, and you’ll still learn alot and end up with a functional board, if it does’nt perform as well as you thought it would, tweek the desin and start over,
If you have a twin fin fish and a modern shortboard, you could split the difference and do a “modern fish”… a shorter, wider, thicker shortboard with relaxed rocker and a subtle single concave. They work well in head high or so and under, catch waves pretty easily, and are a bit more “performance” oriented than the traditional fish. They don’t have the down-the-line speed that the twinnie does, but they’re really fun in smallish, snappy surf.
6’3"double wing baby swallow six channel bonzer glassed with a 3 color resin swirl , just kidding. Mid length funboards are pretty hard to f#*&# up ( 6’10-7’6") Hell of fun to ride too. When the surf is small or mushy I always seem to have more fun on my 7’ 4" than on my fish or longboard.
Thanks all. I think just seeing the the ideas written down helps to clarify the thinking. I will have a look at either a smaller fish (around 6’2/ 6’3) with quad setup, for the average surf days. Or a board for the hollow stuff around 6’8, round tail thruster. Along the lines of this, it’s a Jim Banks shape.
Those of you in Australia, particularly NSW, can yo tell me where you get your supplies??
For supplies , burfords reinforced plastics 0755343777, or shapers .com.au
The banks will be a concave to vee, . what surf teach says is true take your time. If you have a rail you like keep it near and keep checking it, same with bottom shape.
Sent a pm mate. Also, i’ll plug midget up in brookevale ( surfblanks ). Pain of a drive from where we live, but i only drive there to get his blanks, great bloke, very friendly. Resin and glass etc, can be sent to your door.
Cheers. Oh, and for a fish you would have to use a kneeboard blank if you wanted the nose and tail width in board under 6’6’'. Like i say in my pm, kneeboard blanks take a long time to shape, but i guess the amount of time i spend on my fish, and the fun i have on it are more than worth it!!!. Let us know how it goes.
For a thruster for hollow days, it would take much less time to shape ( shortboard blanks are much closer tolerance than kneeboard, unless you want to build a 19’‘x25’‘x19’’ board !!! ), but i think that’s the only thing to base your choice on, how much time you want to spend shaping.
