Any experience with thin longboards with thinned out rails??

General Discussion
1

I’m 5’8 x around 170lbs/77 kg. not exactly a monster, but I do like mid lengths and longboards. Most of them have chunky rails and are 3" thick. I’ve been thinking of an 8’ er with thinned out rails and 2 1/2" thickness. My current 9’1" is 3" thick, however the roll on the bottom means the rails, even at their thickest aren’t crazy thick/full. Great board. 

 

My mate has a surf tech ( yeah yeah boo hiss haha ), but for whatever reason, it is 2 1/2 thick, which means the rails are low and soft. As a result, the rails really bite in and it goes pretty good, and there are no real drawbacks for the thinness. 

 

Anyone have one/ ride boards like this ??. What do you think ride wise?, and why are longboards rails normally so chunky??

 

basically I’d like a mid length that has nice width, but thin enough rails that they will bite on cutbacks etc.

2

Add 15 pounds and 15 years.......For me a longboard with D rails and a 2+1 fin set up is super stiff.....(mushy SanDiego)

I like a rolled bottom and a single fin...50/50 rails....most weekend surfcats I talk to do not like this set up......I want the longboard to be thick in the middle....and thin at the nose and tail.......2.5 thick is for super skinny people.......so....it's just numbers...and surfing your brains out .............going thin on a longboard ? not for me.........

 

 

3

Ray, my current 9’1’’ is pretty similar to yours, also ridden as a single and I love it. Just like to try something different, and at my height/weight, probably don’t need that much foam. Im certainly not gunna get rid of my current board!

4

Hey Beerfan,

I have a mal from around your way (Wollongong?).  Its a Skipp/Frank Latta original, dimensions are 8’6" x 21 1/2" x 2 1/2" with a big concave under the nose, a good touch of nose & tail rocker, and somewhat normal rails.  Im also around the same specs as you, at 5’10" & 78kg.

I’m actually looking back to a simmons type thing for realy small days, but I really do prefer this board if I have to be on a ‘longboard’. 

A good mate has a 9ft x 3" very flat type of Mal, and mine paddles better, is easier to turn, and just more fun to be on.  The big board just feels too awkward.  The only area a bigger mal beats it is true noseriding in micro little waves.

5

thin
wide
and flat

will catch rails during cut backs
tend to surf like tongue depressors

but if you wish to plane across a long endless face like a point break
they are the fastest boards you can ride without turning

nothing flatter nor thinner than an alaia
and just watch them plane across an open face
but not real good at cutbacks off the tail

too each his own

at your weight you should be able to ride 2.5-2.75 domed and 2.5 flat with a flat deck
egg rails/and d rails are great for anything 1-2’ above your head length wise

6

  They stress fracture and break.

7

I’ve been looking for drawbacks from thin rails and other than a loss of volume havent come up with any. my favourate board is a 9’1 T&C McMann which is very thin with quite thin rails - like a 9’ shortboard and rips. 

Both boards i’ve made have had very very thin rails and I cant say that i’ve found any downsides I’ll almost certianly do the same on future boards.

8

I’m 5’10" 215 lbs.    Some Belly, but mostly a big frame.

My most used longboards are under 3" thick or exactly 3 inches.  I can Duck dive both.  The smaller is a 9’3"  single fin knifey pintail.

22.5 wide x 2 7/8" thick  rolled bottom to subtle V. 10/90 “up” rail in the nose to 50/50 mid to 70/30 in the tail.  Very flat deck.

The tail is so thin that I could not set the fin box to full depth, not even close, and it was visible on the deck for 3 inches worth.

I made it after a large hurricane swell in '97 whose longshore current and shifting peak frustrated my shortboarding efforts, and later found it was quite capable in any likely conditions.  I had crudely  mowed it from a much bigger blank when I was first learning, and it was also my first solo glass job.  Triple 6, no gloss coat, soft.

 

This board was used hard, off and on,  since construction, and was ready to snap with stress cracks  all over the hull.  It was a loaner board, and a back up to my other more used longboard(9’7" single fin r0und pin 23 wide, 23+ pounds)

I was trying to convince myself I did not care if it snapped, when I tried it with a smaller fin, and it awoke.  Already capable, the smaller fin was faster, looser, and no danger of slide ass as the rocker is not extreme.

I decided I could not let it Snap in half. I re-enforced it by inlaying  3/16" thick cedar strips(3.5 wide deck and 5" wide hull) top and bottom over the stringer, glassed over and under with epoxy. Some 7/8 inch wide carbon fiber strips going rail to rail to hold the two halves together and bridge  over all the heel dents. with another 4 oz over the whole deck, but not wrapped.

  I also added 2 more full depth stringers in the tail on either side of the finbox, One 28 inches long, the other 40, both gradually tapering to nothing in the foam.  The I beam effect is so strong I think there is little likelyhood of it ever snapping or buckling.  The glass under the cedar is 7.5 oz cloth, and the deck is 7.5oz plus a 4, the hull just a 7.5 under and over the cedar.

I was concerned the extra weight and reduced flexability would ruin the way it rode and all the effort would be wasted.  It is at least 17 lbs now.

Only recently got it back in the water. My concerns were unfounded.

 The thing is solid, I am extremely confident on it, and try to not be too greedy with it.   It actually feels like cheating as I can get in so early from way outside, or even swing around super late and force the thin tail into a late drop and  sections that I shouldn’t.  Today, nobody joined me and I had a blast in the knee to chest high conditions, all by myself for 2.5 glorious hours.

It is not forgiving at really slow speeds, on rail, and in certain parts of the wave it does not like to be pushed hard, but in others it asks for everything I got, and I oblige and keep getting surprised at how it responds  both from the tail and up in 2/3 trim away from the tail.  I’m still dialing in the 8.5" fin position at 1/4 inch increments now. Right now  trailing edge at 10.5 inches from pintail, and can go back 1 inch more.  The fin appears too small for the board, but the tail is so narrow, there is no slidey factor or lack of drive.

And I can duck dive it in overhead conditions.   I Have not put a leash on it in over a decade, but might tomorrow or Thursday if it gets big enough, and I decide to ride it instead of my six eight.

Actually, Thin Knifey tailed/ railed longboards suck.  Please don’t ride one. 

9

they go great beerfan, But you lose some glide and early entry of the thicker boards. I  had a 9’1’’ bear with very thin round egg rails, and an edge in the tail and it went super well. you should make one, Im working on a 7’6’’ with thicker rails, ill post some pics you may be interested in 

10

Here’s “last years” model a modified Phil Edwards template. 10’-0"x 22 1/ 2x 3 somehow I still love what Skip Frye was riding when he was older. The PE had knive rails and it was said “that only Phil could ride those boards”, BS! I own a 9’-8" Hobie and rode the crap out of it (in the day).

This board has “up rails” with very thin knife rails. Testing in proved to me that in powerful waves the climbing effect of 40/60 rails caused greef, i.e. spinning out in the barrel on a 10ftr isn’t my idea of fun.

Small flat faced wave yeap, plenty of glide, except the uprails climb and the knife rails are worthless. Live and learn, or better yet read about first here at Swaylocks!

Live Aloha

11

i have a old Hanley that is 9’0 and 2 3/8 thick

when you would push through an oncoming swell you could watch the nose shake around

i have got better longboard rides on that board than any other one that i have owned, but after buckling it twice and then snapping it, i finally retired it and the board is now a workbench in my room

so in the end it was a great ride, but did not last long at all

12

Great info guys. I think I’d like one. Need to keep saving up and get josh to make me one. Always wanted a pig style longboard too. Maybe a thinned out composite pig. 

13

yup do it like a bert burger sandwich

then it can last.

thinned out foam like lee says,

like fracture and break

bert sandwiches flex and 

take the abuse just fine…

…ambrose…