I’ve never shaped any kind of board in my life excpet for a skateboard. What do you guys think about me attempting to make a 3 foot or so (is that how long boogie boards are) bellyboard/paipo board for prone riding waves into the shorebreak. Fin, or no fin, mayb ea fin box. Can I just take the glass off an old surfboard and cut down the foam and glass it? What about volume of foam, I was thinking more in the front under your chest. Any ideas/dimensions would be great. Aloha and thanks in advance!!!
Morey boggie boards are so common, so available, so cheap. They don’t ding, they can hardly hurt you or the other guy, they’re not banned anywhere. Well, if you really want to, let’s have a go at it. Shorebreak means lots of closeouts to go through, so you want rather minimal flotation/volume, the better to duck under. Next, too wide and even without flotation, it becomes unwield to handle in a fast-action, close-quarters situation, so not wider than a boogie board, say 24 inches max. Length is up to you, but again for the close-quarters maneuvering about three feet or so, not much more. Thickness: not more than 1-1/2 inches anywhere, to minimize that flotation, so you can duck under going out, and may not be stuck at the surface when riding a in a closeout. Put the thickness in the tail. Yes, the front portion of a longboard or hybrid shape would be a great place to start and will have a useful template (outline) already. Shortboard fragments will be too narrow. I’ve done this by taking off all the deck glass to about 1 inch from the rail, carving a concave deck and reglassing. Since the damn thing wants to slide ass all the time you really should consider one or two fins to keep it tracking rather than wanting to go sideways all the time. All said and done, a boogie board is so much simpler. I hate 'em, but dammitall, they are the answer to simple need for a cheap, durable, useful paipo/bellyboard. They’re much faster than bodysurfing (my main complaint).
I just wanna make something out of foam and fiber glass. I don’t want to buy a finished board. I really liked the outline of the El Bobbo 1, Orange Rocket, Ripthimleon and Splendid. Should I put a fin on it or not, I’m going to be pulling into 4-6 foot barrells right on the sand, its abreak that breaks pretty damn close to shore, but far enough for a 4 or 5 second ride. Any help would be appreciated.
oh and the break is really gnarley, theres a sidewash and the lip is really thick. so i’m guessing im going to glass it with volan, or s-glass or something. that should be a trip too. haha
I saw guy surfing(Standing) south Tamarack inside section on a BZ 5-2" fish proto type. I have yet to see anyone at Tamarack get stuffed in a 3 foot barrle as many time as he did. seed your plan is cool
Should I put a fin on it or not, I’m going to be pulling into 4-6 foot barrells right on the sand, its abreak that breaks pretty damn close to shore, but far enough for a 4 or 5 second ride. Any help would be appreciated. That’s pretty much what bodyboards were invented for (shallow reefs to be more specific)…but I do understand the urge for other types of equipment of your own making. In that vein, some random offerings… Any average sized person can duck dive a foam fiberglass paipo/bellyboard if it’s 4’ or smaller. You might not get as deep as you would with a real wood or new foam/glass traditional paipo, but you can do as well as with a short surfboard. If the break is that shallow you might not want to go real deep anyway… You should think of the safety factor in regard to fins. Personally I don’t like twin fins on paipos under 20" wide…seems like un-necessary drag…but I also don’t like one big fin or three fins just from a safe stomach perspective. This applies to short beach breaks - anything goes in point surf or better shorebreaks. Fins will let you have a longer ride in most circumstances, however, so it’s a balancing act. http://vagabondsurf.com/AlternativeVehicles.html
there is never anyone else out in the lineup. I think im going to go for a hard rails no fin approach. no tail rocker, just a little nose rocker. nice wide tail, smaller rounded nose, and glass it heavy
but I still think you’ll need 2 fins on it for drive and direction. You don’t have time in a crushing shorebreak to be bothered with trying to keep the tail from sliding out. I learned this the hard way at a solid day at Velzyland long ago. Take off with no one even near, overhead even if I was standing, get to knees and go sideways down the entire face and out in front. Thinks I: this wave is gonna pitch out and crush me if I don’t get down the line pronto. This was on a gray overcast day back in '70 (that’s why I had no one in the way); I forget what happened next, but it surely made the point that when you’re in waves of consequence, you gotta have equipment that goes where you point it. Next: you’ll not have to glass it super heavy, regular 6 ounce E glass top and bottom should be fine, because the board won’t be long enough to generate the stresses that snap longer boards. Also: I spent several winters back when, kneeboarding the North Shore. Besides the above experience at Vland, I put in a good deal of time at Pipe, and duck dived my share in the days before the process had a name, before Shaun Tomson showed most of us how to punch out through the wave. Also time at Rocky Rights on days when it was closing too much for the board surfers. Not a problem for me though. Too much flotation (thickness) will keep you on the surface. I’ll acknowledge the comment above that you won’t be getting too deep in a shallow shorebreak anyway, but some of my kneeboards had more float than I sometimes wanted. Gotta be able to get down. Add this to the mix: you don’t need the float for paddling, since your paddling range in closeout shorebreak is usually very short. I envision you’re planning to ride something like Sandy Beach shorebreak or dumping Makapuu shorebreak. A 20-foot ride is uncommon, and better than 90 percent of the waves close down with authority. Great place to crack your neck, sometimes I wonder why more idiots don’t.
In the shorebreak that Piapo is gonna be a fibreglass death machine, we’av all riden sponges in the shore break, whether we admit it or not. Its fun, but an object in the swirling vortexes of shorebreak soup has ways of finding you. I say get one of those mini-foam fishes for grommets as mentioned before, if you dont like twinnies, you can always modify the fins, it just takes a screw driver. (add another fin) Imagine getting sucked over and landing on dry sand and your fins, hurting, but not if they are plastic. Still i say take up bodysurfing, and make a bitchen little handgun to increase your planing area/speed.
i normally use a fast food tray for bodysurfin, Ijust wanted something that I can catch waves on when I can’t push off the bottom, then ride it into the shorebreak. I can handle myself fine in shorebreak, so I’m not worried about fiberglass, I think i’ll keep it finless though.
Ballsy, good on you. Good luck, Seek the chamber!
ill post pics when im done
Sounds like you should take up skimboarding. How about a thin foam and glass channel bottom that can be ridden into the surf like a skim board, or paddled into waves in deeper water and ridden like a paipo. Personally I think you should cut a sponge down to 36" giving it a deep crescent or fish tail in the process. Still not completely safe. A loose sponge can break your nose under the right conditions. Here’s some new photos from a page under construction. John Galera rides these 56" channel bottoms on the North Shore. You might consider something similar with a deep channel, but 35" to 40" (depending on your size)and more trapezoidal like the wide tail you described in your post. http://www.larryobrien.com/nofin.htm
Honu lulu, thanks for making us all suffer through your surfing resume.
I call him “Hono loco”. He thinks he needs a skeg or two for the board to surf good. buddy you got a lots to learn about riding paipo.
Seed, If you’re not familiar with the Paul Lindbergh paipos, then check out this website… http://www.paipo.com/