I’m new to Swaylocks but been gleaning tons of useful information from you here, thank you so much. I finally got up enough guts to post one of my plans here. This will be my 3rd build, first being a boxy single fin 7’6" minimal for mushy summer waves, and second being a 9’6" single fin longboard for padding in from the outside on large days, and cruising smaller swell in summer. The first board is OK but the rocker came out a bit low. Im quite happy with the longboard and have been catching some nice long 4-5ft waves lately. Im intermediate/beginner and the biggest gap I have is with 4-8ft east swells that wall up fast. The 7’6" is too flat and Im not comfortable throwing a longboard around on a wave that strong. So, I want to build a shortboard that I can setup as a quad in these occassions, and thruster when I travel to more sloping or hollow waves in El Salvador, etc. I fully expect this to be a board that is difficult at first, but I hope to grow into it. Im 5’10", 48 years old but in good shape, with a wet suit, I weigh 165lbs and surf twice a week on average. I lifted the shape from another template and adjusted the thickness and rocker numbers. I suspect they’re good, but unsure about the rail transitions and multi- fin placement. I’d appreciate any feedback. Someday I hope to be good enough to contribute my own ideas here. JPEG’s posted below, and also a PDF for more clarity
Good find, thanks. I really like Greenlight. They’re tons of help and close by to me. Any thoughts on the rocker and rails?
No, I ride So Cal point breaks, nothing smaller than around 7’, so I have no reference on that type of board. I’m sure others with more insight will join in with suggestions.
I just had a Pyzel “Ghost” come thru my shop for repairs and the fins were set up pretty similar. What you have designed is good for a Quad or Fiver, but measurements are a little off to be converting to a Thruster. To do that you would need to set the forward fins at 11” or 11 1/2”. 12” is a bit much in relationship to your rear fin. If you’re going to be switching back and forth; You’ll need to set the two rear Quad fins in relationship to the 11 thru 11 1/2” mark. You could also bump your thickness up closer to 3 inches ( say 2 3/4”) and it would be unnoticeable with regards to the look of the board. That would greatly aid paddling.
McDing, thank you for the feedback. It’s very useful, especially with the fins. All I’ve ever ridden is single tail and Im new to shaping, so the best I can do is copy you guys and ask for help. Here is the update plan with 2.75" thickness and adjusted fin positions. I have not chosen fin model/brand yet, and I know rake length will come into play here. i suppose it will be more experimenting. I’m curious to see what the double-concave feels like in the water
Yes I think when you consider what you have in mind for end use, the latter version is better.
That’s good news. Do you think 3 contours is too much for my first shortboard? I could keep it simple and do flat nose -> single 1/8" concave -> deep 1/4" concave through the end?
…hello; do you mention:
-only ride single fins
-big boards and longboards
-beginner/intermediate
-shaping for steeper waves
-smaller boards. HPSB
-NJ USA then El Salvador (mostly point breaks…)
-new to shaping and to try to make a good board but plenty of bottom contours etc
Seems all difficult based on a big gap between stuff…
–if you are not a rear back foot surfer, better to go only with the quad version. You draw “futures” but better fusion by FCS or 4WFS or even better glass ons.
You have there too much rocker in the nose tip and 1.6 is not so much at 12".
50/50 is a no no in a “HP” shortboard. Go with a tucked edge there to help with those steeped waves drops. Also you can carry the edge all along if you want.
The board floatation would be good for the transition from those big boards to a smaller board however, at your weight and level after standing up you will feel how big the board is (for what seems you intended)
One thing learning to make boards has taught me is that no matter ability level (at least intermediate and above), most people instinctively have both conscious & unconscious “beliefs” (what your eye/brain tells you you want and don’t want in a board) even before they are consciously certain they have them (discovered this about myself first, and since the first boards this sense has only deepened). Some of the “beliefs” are wrong, but so many are right. I look at your board as diagrammed and see a board designed for a leaner, longer, backfooted rider: wide point looks rear of center (even if it isn’t, because so many hybrids are forward of center), tail foil thicker than nose, generous/modern-traditional-HPSB rocker.
The one bit of (novice, myself) advice I’d give is add some foam in the nose, so that you have a bit more room for error in the hand finishing process. If you’re surfing in crowds, and the wave isn’t too critical/vertical, I’d consider widening the outline a bit in the nose, and adding some thickness through the nose rocker, as that will increase paddle. If your level is high and you have phenomenal paddle, disregard that last bit, but surfing 2 days per week those are not likely the case (keeping it real, not intending to insult).
Go back, and read Reverb’s post above, at least three more times, before you make a final decission. Maybe even four more times.
You sure showed up at the right time, I was just setting up the tools to mow the deck! My knowledge of this is clearly limited, so I appreciate the hand-holding. My goal has been to learn about the materials and processes as I go along, amd the geometry here has been the biggest challenge. I never intended to ride anything short because I’m 48 and saw it as a younger thing. The thought occured to me when I was in Maui two months ago. The high performance longboard I rented handled so well that I found myself wanting to turn faster, but without walking back at all to make it happen. After my trip home to NJ I jumped in the water with my 7’6" and saw the need for more rocker, and enjoying the walled up NJ swells, but wanting more control. Thus started the wheels turning on the shortboard idea. Anyhow, I incorporated your feedback into iteration 2d here, the measurement numbers are adjusted but not yet the actual drawings. And thanks again, maybe you’re helping me shape something can grow into but not dislike:
That’s a very interesting point. I have a theory that our memories of these experiences have a physical component, but I’ll save that for later. My paddling is good and I worked with a sports medicine office on a 3x week routine to make it stronger, but your point is a good one. So I opened the width and thickness up a bit as you suggested, its in the plan attached to reverbs response, v2d
noted, thanks for the sanity check
Not to be a pain in the ass, and definitely not trolling (and I’m probably not alone): with the outline change, the nose outline doesn’t agree with my eye (my eye could be wrong). I think it’s because (again, could be wrong) the nose outline seems widened without the wide point moving?
I have this same reaction every time I try to work from an “ol skool” outline and shrink it down. The lines always look real effed up to me. Yours doesn’t look real effed up, now, it just doesn’t make sense to my eye. BUT, shapes that work well for you won’t make that much sense to my eye (for reasons mutually noted) because our bodytypes are opposite. You’re lean/tall. I’m short/stubby.
Oh: also (editing, now): I got a lot of your original question wrong. There’s only so much time in a day. You detailed wave type and quiver niche, I didn’t recall that when responding. I also thought you were outlining on digital to work from a CNC cut (wrong, I see now). I do the same thing you’re doing all the time. The nose rocker comment in previous post was mostly for a CNC cut board.
Whatever you do, if the rocker is good (doesn’t plow), the rails are right (no areas where water wants to bunch up), and the volume/foil are good (you can paddle it well), the board will be good for something, just maybe not what you originally had in mind. If it is good for what you had in mind, you will have gotten real lucky, and should pat yourself on the back for about a week. The 1st 20 or 30 boards I made were almost all good for something, just not what they were made to do lol.
I’m sure that last will make some 10,000+ (or even 200+) board makers cringe, but I’m still close to the point where boards almost never did what they were intended to do, and having a sense of expectations would have helped me in the pre-#50 days. I still don’t get the results I precisely want, a lot of the time, but for me the point at which boards started to do what I wanted was around #25 or somewhere in there.
Fins have a great role to play there, of course.
Reverb, when you say " 1.6 is not so much at 12"., are you saying the thickness at 12" in from tail should be thicker?
No, I mentioned the rocker at 12 in your drawing. then seems that you changed it in the other drawing.
But yes; if you have 1 1/2 inch at 12 from the tail, could be thin.
All those measures actually are lying to you. In my opinion, you need to start with a blank that would have similar numbers in the thickness and rocker of what you want. Will be easier to you to obtain long flow lines.
Regarding thickness, let all the bulk all along the middle of the board (from tail to near nose tapered out of course to tail and tip of the nose and to the sides) this way you would obtain a board that for example have 2 3/4 on the middle but not on the rails (no flat deck)
Put the blank on the glassing rack (that have a shorter and more “rigid” base than the U shaping rack) that is supposed to be perfectly leveled, and move the blank forward and backward; both sides.
If in any part you see that do not seat right; mark that spot. Go to the shaping room again and retouch (with the electric planer of course) those parts to have the right seat on the leveled lamination racks.
Grab the blank on the U racks and observe it with the side lights check for non flowing spots all along the stringer/s then put a straight edge from side to side all along too. After that you will have a good idea if all is ok or there s a spot in the need of tweaking. Now you have checked the bottom of the blank and flow of the rocker. Notice that may be you have a blank that have a concave but you want a flat bottom (side to side) or a V; well; that is for another thread.
Then check the rails of the blank and do some type of measurements. Try to make both rails similar if they have a bump.
ALL THESE is what is called “pre shaping” and seems than almost nobody does it.
After all that is when you start to decide in which part you would locate the templates; checking the other measurements etc.
Reverb, you make an excellent point. In almost all cases, I’ve had to ‘‘true’’ a blank, prior to beginning the shaping process. Life is easier if you (the would be shaper) first makes sure that your shaping racks are LEVEL, side to side. Then make sure the blank is level, on both the top and bottom surfaces, and that there is no twist built into the blank. Even when I was doing production shaping, doing ten boards per day, I would check my racks at the start of each day, and at least once midway in the shaping day, every day. It really makes a difference in the finished product.
Thanks for setting my expectation straight. Although I try my hardest to emulate what other people are doing, Im perfectly happy if I end up with a small collection of imperfect boards that are can be used somehow. My en goal in surfing is to be able to go out any day I want, regardless of the wave conditions. At this point, it’s just as satisfying for me to to be in little one foot waves as it is in big fat 6 footers. There are days of course when the water is so rough that I only catch a couple rides, but thats OK. Any regarding CNC, I dont use it. I use Adobe Illustrator an Photoshop to create plans, then enlarge and print the templates on wide format printers.
Oh good tip in checking blank first, thanks, This is what I do with dimensional lumber after it dries. Aside from using a straight rules and spot checks with the caliper, on blanks Ive also been taking pictures of the blank when I get it home. Then I overlay that image on the image of the rocker I drew. When shopping for the blank, I take a pic of the rocker and outline, and then overlay them over the pages in the US Blanks Catalgue until I find one that fits inside, pics below as examples. They are rough of course, but it’s been helpful as a guideline. Also, thanks for urging me to glass-on. it makes a lof of sense and I feel ready for it. I spoke with TrueAmes today and they asked to see the plan document, so they can choose the fins I need, and agreed to give me target #'s for toe-in, cant, distance from rails. So nice of them. This hobby seems to filled with very kind people.
