Deck rails channels: good, bad or just ugly?

General Discussion
1

I’m having a new winter gun shaped for Northern California. The shaper mentioned that he is partial to deck rail channels to improve the board’s performance; I don’t know, it likely will make the board stiffer, that’s good but is it a necessary if I’ve a triple stringer anyway…Are deck channels the innovation of the decade or a just passing fancy?

2

I can see how deck channels would stiffen the board… but with three stringers, I’m not so sure you’ll be able to tell the difference. I suspect it means more when your dealing with stringerless boards, superlight boards with light glassing schedules, or super thin boards.

They will help keep your hand from slipping off the rail while handling the board, grabbing rail, or pushing up on takeoff (if you put your hands on the rails to do that).

So I only see pluses, aside from it being a bit more work for the builders. Are you paying extra for them?

3

I imagine they make the board more expensive given the hassle of glassing them. Stretch put them standard on his factory boards currently…

4

steve seabold built me an epoxy bonzer back in 1992 that had deck channels, the board was already super stiff, and i saw no real advantage, that said, i saw no problem either, and the dam thing laster for seven years till i finally managed to snap it!

5

I know the answer, how?, I looked it up in the archives.

Greg Loehr has written a bit.

deck or rail channels are to surfboards what corrugation is to cardboard.

Stiffens it up and makes it less likely to break.

Hitlers personal airplane in the late 30’s, the Junkers G 24 or JU-52, had corrugated aluminum skin covering, strengthened

and firmed up the aluminum.

6

I would imagine that GL has written about them here, he was using them over 20 years ago. When boards first started going thin in the mid-late 80s, it was seen both as a reinforcement and a grab-handle for airs. We used to put them on the bottom also for even more of both effects.

7

This is sometning a pro shaper friend of mine said to me once, “Thumb rails are like boobs on a woman. They don’t do much but feel real good.”

kirk