Are these dimensions do-able?

General Discussion
1

It’s a little late now, since I’ve already cut the outline and trued it up, but I suppose I can still adjust the thickness if need be. I’m 5’9", 165lbs. and am shaping, yes, a FISH. I was looking at some really nice ones at Mitch’s, specifically a Christenson. I made my own template just from basic “hand” measurements I took off that board, does this seem too wide? too thick? Not enough? etc…Thanks.

Length: 5’9"

Thickness: 2 1/2"

Nose: 17"

Tail: 17"

Wide point is 10" up from center, and is 22"

Swallow tail tips are 11" apart.

Rocker is almost identical to what came in the blank (Clark 6’2"C)

Will be a classic twin-keel glass-on setup.

Thanks.

2

sounds do-able. but to me it seems kind of wide being that it’s only a 5’-9". the widest point also seems to far up too. I do mine at 3" to 6" up. I have a old 5’-5" Lis kneeboard that measures 17 x 21 x 17 and 2-1/2’ thick. for me anything wider than 21" on a fish under 7’-0" I get rail flip. have you ridden a classic twin-keel fish before? do you know what to expect? arn’t you making a instuctional video or something?

3

  • What exactly is “rail flip”?

  • Ridden a fish, but never one of the “classics”…

  • From what I’ve read, with the setup I am doing, I believe I can expect a pretty speedy board that needs to be ridden towards the nose more. Not great for vertical surfing, but that’s not really what I’m after anyways…

  • We are making a “documentary-type-first-timer/learn from our mistakes-type video”…Nothing special, just something I wish I could’ve seen before I started.

4

hows this one for extreme dimensions …i just finished it on saturday…

6’-4" by 23 1/4 by 1 7/8 ,13 1/2 nose 17 1/2 tail …wafer thin rails with a concave deck…so in the middle its only about 1" thick …

the thing absolutly goes off in waves under head high ,its a thruster with fins like the ones halycon builds with base cut away ,but extra raked larger sides…

ive never been so fast in my life in knee to waste high on my backhand…the surf was so small and crappy it was a mal or learner day only ,my first session on it was 5 hours i was having a ball going mach speed on nothing ,coz its so thin its super sensitive,but all that planeing area means itll go on a moving swell , i got one wave ,the guy i was with was paddling out , he reckons the wave was lucky to be half way to my knee and i was working it for speed when i hooked into a round house there wasnt even any foam there to hit so i just carved back and continued to work this moving swell as it rewalled…i was feeling like a grommet again boosting and drifting in tiny waves ,everyone else on a conventional shortboard couldnt even get a bottom turn in before these fast tiny beachy’s ran away from them…

i call it the magic carpet…

just stand on it and it takes off …

i took a section of curve from a 8’ board and fliped the nose a little …

regards

BERT

5

Tenover,

Sounds like you’re making a fishy thing. The outline of the board is good place to start. Here’s are some suggestions that may help. Go to the website below you can work on the outline and you’ll see how doable the specks you’ve called out are. You can take a series of width measurements off the sight by using the virtual calipers there. This way you’ll be able to lay the curves down more easily before you cut the board out of the blank.

http://www.surfboardsinteractive.com/

Rail configuration will have everything to do with how this baby performs. Here in Santa Cruz Carl Olson does as nice a job with the rails on a board like this as anyone I’ve everseen. Have a look at his work if you can before you start if you’re in the area.

Mahalo, Rich

Bert,

In real small surf the kind of configuration you’ve discribed above is one that only someone with much creative background and the ability to use materials to build something strong enough and light enough to function could have done. IMHO your knowledge of surfboard configuration & composite technology is as advanced as anyone I’ve encountered. I’d sell one of me best boards to get one of yours but how would I ever get it? You’re just too damn far away and the shipping would be astronomical.

Strangely the 7’9" board in the attachment has a 13.5" nose and 17.5" tail. It’s 22.25" wide. I’m still working on the fin set up for it. Unfortunately it’s very heavy and I’ve yet to hit on something that drives it well. It’s really fun to take off on though.

With this said it’s good to know that the fin idea (cutaway similar to the mental template I favor) that blossomed for me about thirty years ago is still fruiting out. Though I don’t claim to have planted the tree its branches have become so wide that I can see much of what’s going on, but that’s the way of the world.

I hope you get a digital camera (Olympus with rechargable AA batteries is the way to go) and share some photos of you work. Pictures help one understand what’s going on so well, I’m sure you’ll agree.

I’m working on the lines for 7’6" I’m going to shape for myself. The days of me surfing mid six foot range boards is over so what I’ve come up with sor far is something around 7’6"x14.5"x21.125"x15.0"x3.0". I’ll glass it with epoxy and keep it real light and shape it out of Clark superblue. How would you configure, rocker, bottom? ~ What tail shape for waves up to 8 feet for a guy that wants plenty of down the line speed and surfs in the critical part of the wave most of the time?

Mahalo, Rich

6

Bert,

Any chance of posting a picture of the board? Mike

7

sorry still havent got a capture device…have to get one soon …i still have to buff the bottom ,the gloss was so green i couldnt even cut it so i surfed it as it was,so when i buff it ill take some photos …i do have a digital video camera with a photo option ,but i cant get the images on my comp with out a video card…

regards

BERT

8

Bert,

most video cams that have a photo option store it on a memory card.

If this is the case with your camera, your camera might support a USB cable to download still images (my Sony does). The other option which I use now instead, is a universal memory card ready which in the US are readily available for about $15. This lets you take the memory card out of your video camera, place it into the reader and access it through a USB port just like another file folder.

hope this is relevant and helps.

would love to see pictures of many of the things you talk about on this site.

–4est

9

Tenover…

You got hijacked!

Your board sizing should be fine. Thickness is key for mobility in small waves, and fish’s are for small waves.

I saw a pic in Surfermag’s Design, Seven Surfboards, or 7, that I think piques my interest. The one laying ON the board bag, stubbie small wave Diamond.

I love ugly duckling boards, as they always seem to work really well.

You described the riding characteristics pretty well, for your template.

10

Hi Tenover.

Good luck with your new board. I would cut down the width a little, 22" seems excessive for someone your weight. 20.5" to 21" sounds better IMHO. Also, the tail @ 1ft off sound a tad wide at 17"; it would be hard to keep that flowing, lovely, straight’ish rail line going into your 11" tips. Maybe 16" to 16.25"?

These are just some of my observations and ideas. It seems a lot of people are embracing the fish idea, but going too big. I’m 6’1 and 175lbs and ride a 5’10 x 20.75" x 2 5/8", and it’s more than big enough. I’ll definitely go a wee bit shorter and narrower next time (5’6 x 20.5").

There, that my early morning gibberish from New Zealand. Have fun.

Maz

11
Quote:

Tenover…

You got hijacked!

Your board sizing should be fine. Thickness is key for mobility in small waves, and fish’s are for small waves.

I saw a pic in Surfermag’s Design, Seven Surfboards, or 7, that I think piques my interest. The one laying ON the board bag, stubbie small wave Diamond.

I love ugly duckling boards, as they always seem to work really well.

You described the riding characteristics pretty well, for your template.

I know Lee, that one is AWESOME looking isn’t it? Well, after all is said and done with my board, you should LOVE it, because I’m sure it will be an “ugly duckling”…We’re going to finish shaping it today in about an hour (skin deck, shape rails and foil), then probably glass it in a couple weeks. Oh, and my above post was little off…The wide point is at 6 1/2" from up from center, not 10"! DOH! Whoever said “pay the most attention to the outline” was right on in my mind. The board just seems so big and thick right now (deck not skinned and rails unshaped), but hopefully that will change today. I definitely don;t want to overshape it and take too much foam off. I’m going to go with a yellow tint job on the entire board…My buddies doing a seafoam green. Wish us luck!

12

good luck…

Don’t forget to build a thickness caliper, out of two sticks 30" long pivoted together at one end with a screw, and little L brackets glued to the sticks at right angles.

Too big, on a small wave board, is TONS better than too small.

I rode Cojo (Ranch) last year with a 5’6" x 22 fish, and it was great!

5’11", 160 lbs.

13

I think we all need to come clean on not our height’s but our Weight’s

sounds like some of us are doin a little extra Shaping off our own dimensions instead of the boards ;>

                                                                               Johnny...........
14

?HUH?

15

SoHaole’s right…

I lied. I’m actually 5’10 7/8", 157.5 lbs.

Pretty sure a fish at 5’6" and 21 would be just fine for shifty, crowded 2-5’ surf.

16

Well, our Fishes turned out excellent (WE think, especially for our first try)…Clean lines, good swallow tail, etc… Now for the making of the keels and glassing…Uh oh. I have an inlay question that I’ve posted here numerous times, yet have never got a clear answer, so here it is again if anyone’s listening (LeeD):

You want to do a single color tint on the WHOLE board. You have the bottom laminated, with the laps already cut, ready to lam the deck. Since you’re doing two layers on the deck, how would you go about doing the first layer of glass?

1.) Simply lay the whole sheet of glass over the board, eyeball it and cut the glass as close as possible to where your laps meet and laminate with tint? (Wouldn’t you have all kinds of darker/lighter tint where the fiberglass didn’t quite “meet”?)

2.) Tape off where the laps end, lay the glass over the deck, laminate with tint, wiat for it to gel, cut the “inlay lap”?

Then when that’s cured, tape off the bottom, and do a clear lamination that wraps around to the bottom?

3.) ???

4.) ???

Thanks.

17

in my humble opinion, it’s not possible to glass a modern surfboard, with reinforcement patches, and double layer rails, with tint, exactly ONE color

The laps always show darker. The deck patches, and patches over the fin boxes, both bottom and deck show darker.

Of course, making the board yellow tint shows less variances in color. Making the board deep purple shows every flaw, nick, extra glass fibers/layers and dust, sand trus, etc.

Pigment, yes.

Since bottom is already lam 'ed and cut, just lay a piece of 4 oz where you want your deck patch, trim with scissors inside the bottom layer lap.

Now lay a piece of 6oz over the whole board, to be lam’ed over the rails to the bottom.

Of course, you should tape off the bottom of the board, one inch in from the rail.

You can feelap, but that HAS to be clear, no tints or pigments.

Glass the top two layers together, at the same time. Mix slow batches.

When gelled, cut with care and pull tape as you cut…single edge razor is fine, one for each side of the board, nose to tail.

18

Thanks.

19
Quote:
hows this one for extreme dimensions ...i just finished it on saturday....

6’-4" by 23 1/4 by 1 7/8 ,13 1/2 nose 17 1/2 tail …wafer thin rails with a concave deck…so in the middle its only about 1" thick …

Bert,

What’s the rocker and widepoint specs on this?

20

wide point in the middle but it does carry the width into the tail a little …1 1/2 tail rocker…5 3/4 nose but most of that is cosmetic i could lose an inch of nose rocker and wouldnt go any different…it carries the flat forward of centre, i was worried at first it was gonna be sticky in the nose because of being flater …but the shortness and outline curve seem to make up for it…to me its quite short coz im 6’ 4" and 220 pounds…so those dimensions are relative…

regards

BERT