Can you make an 8 foot Noserider?

Here’s my dilemna…I want to shape and older style longboard (fat, wide, heavy)

that would be good for noseriding. Currently I have an 8 foot blank and I am

wondering if it will do the trick. Or should I just make the 8 ft longboard,

sell it and buy a good 9+ ft blank and make a good noserider.

I don’t know alot about longboard shaping theory…so I’m sure some of the

old timer’s can give me some good pointers. Also, does the type of fin

(and placement) make a big difference for a noserider?

Btw…I’m using Sfoam blanks and Resin Research epoxy.

I’ve made several shortboards with epoxy/eps

but this will be my first longboard.

thanks,

Wayne

first of all…fat, wide, and heavy sounds like a good plan to me, but that could be tough with EPS…especially the “heavy” part. furthermore, you can make an 8’ board that will noseride, but i’m not sure i’d really call it a “noserider”. if you’re looking for a board to maximize time on the tip, i’d push it up to at least 9’6" (unless you’re really small and you think that might be too much board for you to handle, in which case i’d go no shorter than 9’0"). very soft, pinched out, 50/50 rails will help you to lock into the wave, as will a broad, parallel-railed plan shape. low entry rocker is key, and a smooth flow throughout the bottom with a kick in the tail can really make a stable noserider. i like a little bit of nose concave (i feel that it gives me better directional control from the nose), but it isn’t really necessary. fin placement is important, too…you don’t want that tail popping out while you’re up top…so having the fin WAAAYYYYY back at the tail is good (some people actually like the tip of the fin to extend past the tail of the board).

What type of waves?

That is the question… I have a 6’0" single fin that I routinely hang five on…but more in the 70’s style–over head waves while going fast. . If you watch Many Classic Moments, you’ll see plenty of shots of noserides on smaller boards…

wide & fat–yes. Heavy? Maybe.

How tall are you? weight? And what kind of waves?

yeah man…more details bro.

Noy sure it will be very heavy. You could glass with bouble 10oz top and bottom plus a deck patch, but I doub that would get it to where you want to be.

Shape it, sell it, then get a real longboard classic wieght blank.

Drew

i tried out my friends 8 footer he shaped for longboarding. i didnt like it. just not enough board, felt completely foreign walking it. plus it was really light and would nose up when trying to trim on the nose. shape a 8’ girl log and sell it to some hotty for a good price, buy yourself a 10’1" blank and shape yourself a board. go surfing every day with aforementioned girl, and live happily ever after.

Ok More details…I weigh around 160 lbs and am 5’10 tall. Board will be ridden in East Coast slop…usually waist high or less.

From the responses it sounds like 8 ft may be too small…as I kinda thought. Plus

with the EPS/Epoxy combo it may be hard to acheive the weight I need. This makes

me wonder if I could even build the kind of board I want from eopxy/eps or should

I get a heavier blank with poly resin?

thanks,

I ask you all to please forgive my ignorance on this but, having never ridden anything longer than 7’6", I don’t understand the benefit of extra weight. Does it keep the tail from popping up or something? Or is it just the added inertia? I thought noseriding was mainly accomplished by shape: nose concave, vee, extra tail rocker, super soft rails, etc. And of course the ability to utilize those features. Given two boards with the exact same shape, if one weighs five or ten pounds more than the other, what does it gain you when on the nose?

if you’re looking to add weight, there’s really no need to switch to poly resin if you like working with epoxy. i just recently made the conversion to epoxy. i’ve only done one epoxy glassjob, but i don’t think i’m gonna go back to poly. anyhow, the epoxy resin allows me to use less glass (which is actually better, as too much glass will make the board too stiff)…by lightening up my glassing schedule, it allows me to use a denser PU foam blank. i’m using Clark Classic weight foam (one step up from SuperGreen), and now i glass 6-oz bottom + tail patch, double 6-oz deck + optional deck patch. i’m really happy with the end result.

and for the record, i’m 5’10" x 145 lbs…and i usually surf east coast slop in the waist-high or less range…sounds like you and i are pretty on par with one another. the board specs i outlined before i generally tend to save for the cleaner days. for choppy slop, i go shorter (9’0" - 9’2") and a little more maneuverable than the classic “lock in and trim down the line” kinda shape.

it’s the inertia…keeps the board from being knocked around quite so much…enhances stability

Adding a couple extra stringers or a wider one will add weight without extra resin cost…

And I agree, some weight enhances stability & glide. Also, if you do use your 8’0 blank, if you cut out the factory stringer, you can re-glue it with less nose rocker and all the tail rocker (say 4.5") in the last 3’. That will help it lock in, too. A big 1" balsa stringer or a 1/2" redwood one would look great & do the trick for weight & rocker changes…

For someone who is your size, you should be able to nose ride boards 9’0" and bigger with some practice.

I’ve found that the tail is the place to work if you want serious noserides.

Check out tomwegener.com for tons of great info.

Big fin (on the tail), soft rails (in the tail, too), and hips is the magic combo for me.

Thank you. I ask because I’ve been wanting to do the same myself , that is, make an 8’0" noserider. In my case it’s because of space limitations. I live on the 5th floor of my building. Getting up the stairs or the elevator with a 7’6" is tight, but doable. But I doubt I could go longer than 8’0" . Anyway, it’s cool to see how many people are simultaneously asking and finding answers to the same questions.

a friend of mine has that same difficulty from the 3rd floor…he attached a pully system to his balcony and uses that to raise and lower his board…i must admit, it works pretty well.

For your ht/wt and most importantly your storage situation, I would recommend our

7’ x 18n x20.5w x 14t x 2.5" thick nose rider. I see guys getting cheater fives on 6’ shortboards.

This should be more than enough to experience the nose.

A lot of good info already so I will just add…you can make epoxy boards light or heavy…don’t seal +more glass = heavier…you can get any end result you want. 8’ of board is plenty long enough to noseride on…have fun…

Pulley to the balcony? That’s hardcore. I love it.

andrew

I made an 8’ nose rider back in the middle-late 60’s. A long time ago, so I don’t remember the details, but as I can best recall, it worked pretty well as either a nose-rider or a conventional board, but not both at the same time.

It was pretty typical forward of the tail (wide nose with little rocker, pretty parallel 50/50 rails–although I might inclined to make them a bit more “down” if I were going to do it again). The primary unusual feature was that there wasn’t much kick in the tail of the board…except in two channels (maybe about 3-1/2 to 4" wide each) that faded into the bottom of the board some distance forward of the tail, but which then curved substantially upwards toward the tail block–thus having the equivalent of a lot of kick (within the channels). The flow in these channels (via the Coanda effect) provided the downward pull at the tail that facilitated nose riding.

An accessory for the board was a pair of foam/glass blocks, molded to conform to the the channels, and whose outside faces matched the bottom contour of the tail area outside the channels, thus eliminating most of the tail kick. When installed, these blocks were held in place with PermaCell P256 mylar tape (couple mils thick, waterproof). In this condition, the board was considerably faster (due to the greatly reduced drag associated with the absence of tail kick).

When ridden on a steep wave with the blocks removed (e.g. at Blacks), the board not only went slow, but it also generated two moderately sized trailing “geysers” of water. Not too practical, but it did clearly demonstrate the effects of tail kick.

mtb