I have a board where there is a nicely blended Vee starting at about 18 inches up from the tail and the goes back to flat about 5 inches from the tail. The maximum vee depth is 1/4" inch relative to the stringer. Its a Thruster set up, the board is low rockered with a wide curved template. 6’7" x 201/2" egg like profile. The tail is quite thick. Why does the Vee blend back to flat on the very tail of the board ?
Mike Diffenderfer was a proponent of this type of “V”, he called it his roller bearing V. I like the idea of this type of bottom and do my boards this way. I shape a V-bottom before thinning and rockering the tail, then pick out where I want to start the rocker and plane down the stringer until I get the bottom profile I like. I still have max V ahead of the fin(s), flowing into a flat behind the center fin. The boards ride over on the rail nicely, then squirt along on the flatter rear portion when flat out. If a board does not have much tail rocker, a V running out the rear will add more rocker at the rail
Yes Jim- I remember getting absolutely magical boards from Diff with this feature. It allowed for a loose but positive dependable feel for North Shore boards designed for juice. Others at the time were keeping the vee constant or even accelerating it out the end of the tail. It is still a valid design.
Hey Jim, any word on when your glassing video will be available.Have the shapping video very informative,can’t wait for the glassing one. Thanks in advance, Brian.
constant thru the tail= macTavish type tracking foible that stiffened up the "spinning out V bottoms of spring north shore 1968…alleviating the “v” thru the end it seemed to let the board free to ,yes rock back on the tail allowing for de planeing but also a little twist would break the board free…into a graduated slide…ie more twist more slide…opening the door for the realization of the controled drift, alluded to in the Dora demos…revealed by the noted and rarely credited Jamie Budge in his indie grass roots surf movie…thanks jamie…,and the ala Moana ala mode side slip at the bowl staring the no base fin piloted by the waikiki wunderkinder…polished at pakala sold retail at the bowl and mass marketed at the huntington contest expo …the key word slide…euphamisticly re-inventing the faults of the former into a challenging feature of the latter…and R.B. said “they will just spin out” and they spun out real good…and when them san diego egg driopping sideways pilots of fall 1968 didnt fall off the design had to be assimilated… a la side slip…taking the John Kelly renovation to eliminate slide ass to a full revolution to controlled slide ass …and in the 20th century there were those who chose to believe they were the first to see the new world just like the columbuses and pizarros and cortezes when the grand fathers sat quietly and were quietly amused by the`antics of the enthusiastic youth …ambrose …view from the peanut gallery…thanks to Buffalo Bob,Clarabell, and Chief Thunderthud surely the genisis of all knowledge
oh yea the vee too was a rocket from germany sent to england the signaled the begining of the rocket age…ambrose…this was my first reaction
Transitional slide killer! 
take a good look at that picture. i believe the problem with the old v’s was the excessive thickness in the tail and lack of edge. i’ve ridden a lot of these '68 v’s and they we’re fun but pretty weird, not dependable at all. put a tail that thick on any board and it probably wouldn’t ride too good. thin out the tail(and the whole board in general), give it some edge, and you’ve got a fun little board. i think the baby got thrown out with the bath water back in '68.
Steve, nice pic - you’re able to see a lot here. Maybe thin the tail out some so it releases into the wave, then scoop out the tail, deck side to remove a little more volume.
One more try. 
Gene, When I was shaping Crystal Ships for Bill Bahne in 1968, one of the first things he did, was to thin the tail edges out and concave the rear deck to remove volume, then harden up those edges.
If you were wondering who was resposible for the V Bottom on my first pic- Its a Yater! 7’2". No Hot coat or Gloss on the Deck- Cool transitional Space ship! 
Low Volume, Greenough fin on a rounded Diamond sort of tail with a Monster V! Board has a new home- But it was super cool! 
yeah jim, i’ve had a few of the Crystal Ships, great boards. I liked them because they were pulled in some so they handled better overall. more foiled than most but the ones i had still had substantial volume in the tail. still kind of a wild ride. great logo. my point is that the v bottom was a valid design that was discarded before it was totally explored and dialed in. things were changing fast and design just took off in another direction. i had a Hansen v bottom as a kid (when people started getting rid of them cheap)and i guess i just have a soft spot for v’s in general.
Vees are a big deal even though they don’t look like much. Not surprizingly over the years vees have crept into bottom configuration in all sorts of ways and the result has yeilded a variety of performance factors that are essential to amping up board performance. Vees and the panels they create seem to help the board fit into the critical part of the wave better, improve rail to rail transition, & give the board less wetted surface on steep walls. And these are just a few of the things that make these breaks on the bottom of the board surface the most subtle and essential of performance edges. Off to the fin shop, Rich
What the introduction of the V bottom did, was open up more bottom curve, gave a shorter board and in hard rail turns nearly half the bottom was unwetted. The design never went away, just got morphed into everyday designs. I was at Rincon the day that Steve Bigler and Bob McTavish flew in from Oz and broke out their radically new V bottom short board designs. Surfing changed for me that day
Bigler was at Rincon today in good minus tide, point surf conditions, on his 9’10" Dennis Choat (sp) single fin pin tail. He still makes it look like a dance. Good on ya Mate.