With the first board moving towards completion, I’m tossing around ideas for the next one, already. Probably a big guy tri with initial specs of: 6’10"x14.5"Nx21.25"x15T", fairly wide squash tail (7-1/8"@1/2"), nose rocker, 4-3/4", tail, 2-1/4".
My question is whether that’s too wide for a board less than 7’ long? I’m 5-11 & 195, as well as being an older surfer, so I want a board that paddles pretty well, but still surfs good, once riding…
Hey Gary, I use BGTs and have a friend who uses similar 6’10s…everything you specd is good but if you want a real loose design, pull everything back (like Lee said)…pull wide point 4in, entry rocker back to about 10-12inches. Keep the rocker smooth and use a curvier outline near the front fins…round the tail block…I can send you a pick of one of mine if your interested. Like Lee said your outline is looking a little “fun”…a modern rocket fish outline is looser.
Athletisism and fitness can counter age…you could easily ride a 6’6 x 20.5 and get a real loose feel…
In ‘84, at 37, 5-11, 205 lbs, I enlisted Rich Price of Natural Art in building me my design of a heavy glassed (6-6+4 stomp patch over 6-4) poly/poly, long-box single fin, designed for all Fl conditions from 2+ windslop to 8’ cane swell. He tweaked my specs slightly and produced a nominal 7-0 (6-11 true) of approx. minimum of 14 3/4x21 3/4x14 3/4, 1/8" stringer, at 3 3/8 thick (with considerable thickness carried to both ends), round/round-pin tail, 70/30 down rails going to down-hard in the last 18", full flat bottom. Weight is under 10 lbs with original 9x5 1/2 fin. Rocker is 4" nose, 2" tail. Widepoint is “centered”, perhaps a t-hair forward. Outline is very similar to your graphic, save the tail.
OVERALL, best effen stick for local conditions ever (and sub-8’ CR). Demon paddler, pivot-turning dervish, very quick accelerating, fast, stable, responsive front and backside, versatile with the adjustable single.
Still have it, now a bit beat in appearance, but watertight. Last ridden 3 days ago in screw-work 3-4’ clean, and chosen over some high-line quiver competition…like an 8’ custom real McCoy, which I’ve ridden but once, but highly recommend if you’re partial to piggy outlines, as I also am.
I own too many boards. I’m old, fading. Need simple to cope. Hate long, yearn for short. An order for the custom cloning of the N/A as a 7-7, probably in eps/epoxy,is imminent.
I’m no shaper, nor do I play one on TV, but I noticed with the Rusty Pirannahs a tapered rail that works great on a big guy tri. I have a 6,10 that is 2.65 thick and is 21.5 wide. The rails, however, are the key. I don’t know much about where the edge should be hard or soft, but I do know that of my two big guy tris, each have very different rails. My 6,8 tri fin, which is a modern outline for a high performance tri fin, has thicker, boxier rails. I love it. It has enough curve in the template to turn well, is a squash (don’t know if that matters) and has a modern rocker, both in tail and nose. It doesn’t stick like you would think a board with boxey rails would. It releases just fine. Of course, I am used to riding longboards a lot, and so on my 6,8 it feels really looose.
The 6,10 Pirannah isn’t as loose, but it’s faster down the line and does better on mushier waves. But, again, even though the board is build for a heavier, thicker guy, the rails look like the rails of a board that is a 6,2. Very tapered rails.
Even Rusty talked about that recently in an interview. He was saying that thickness won’t really hinder your turning if you just taper those rails before you shape them. Makes sense to me, since thicker rails, technically, are supposed to make it harder to turn.
… pull everything back (like Lee said)…pull wide point 4in, entry rocker back to about 10-12inches. Keep the rocker smooth and use a curvier outline near the front fins…round the tail block…I can send you a pick of one of mine if your interested. …
Thanks for the input, the widepoint will be moved back 4", like recommended. I don’t understand what you mean by moving the entry rocker about 10-12", though.
Smooth rocker means less “flip”? Will that accomplish moving the entry back, like you recommended?
Won’t rounding the tailblock result in a narrower squashtail? I’ve already got a narrow squaretail board, this was to add some more designs to the quiver. Plus, it’s close to a recreation of a board I had years ago that had a wide squashtail. I really liked that board, so this one is an attempt to have something close to it.
I’m a fan of piggy shapes to (well the ones under 8’6")
How is your 8’ custom real McCoy?
I have been thinkg about a 2+1 set up on something like that as well. I was orginal thinking 7’6" but now I’m thinking of 8’.
Since I have a 7’8" that rides really, really, well.
Something like 14.25 nose, 21.74 mid, 14 tail pounded pin with slightly less tail rocker for speed (2.16"tail rocker). I know this would not be the utrla loose board but I’m ok with that. I think it would make up for it in speed.
Yes, flatten the flip tip. Not needed in small, mushy waves.
When you move WPoint back, you widen the stand area of the board, so you also need to narrow the very tail, or the board tips down and pearls, or catches front rails when you are first standing. Automatically compensates.
Thick rails push back, good for small waves. If you surf weak, you don’t have the power to sink the thick rails, so that’s bad.
If you tend to trim and run, feeling the speed, then you MUST thin out the rails, because you don’t surf with pressure.
If you tend to mash the backfoot, always turning and countering before you complete a turn, make the rails thicker, especially for small weak waves, it gives you push, feel, and acceleration out of each turn.
Many ways to skin a cat, don’t bother going back to the old days, you can make a better board than anything you ever tried before…easily.
hey Gary…rocker is king…youve got entry rocker, transition rocker and exit rocker…entry rocker on modern shorties should end between the two feet giving the board a natural trim/pivot point and a flattened speed zone. The transition area is usually quite flat especially with concave. You should look at a lot of pro made boards…its much easier to see looking at the board sideways with the deck side up. If your entry rocker is too forward on a pulled outline youll end up with a kind of slow board…unless overall rocker is very flat.
I don’t have many boards to reference it to, there are no surf shops around here. The rockers I’ve be using have been from the Clark blank specs. I found one on there that should accomplish what’s been recommended, the nose is 3-7/8" and the tail checks in at 2-1/2". The rocker looks a bit smoother and less “flippy”.
Pulling in the tail shouldn’t be too hard, either, even if the squash isn’t as wide. Good possibility the old board I was thinking of didn’t have as wide a squash as I thought. It’s been quite a few years since I’ve had it. I could go with 14.5" and still have a nice squash on it. Seems like a lot of the BGT/Hybrids have nose and tail dimensions almost the same.