Hey, i’m in the market for a shortboard, big guy shortboard and the firewire alternator board series has caught my eye.
Anyone have any solid feedback on firewire boards? I found some old info
I wouldn’t hold that against it. I’ve never ridden a modern short board that didn’t speed up from pumping. If it simply couldn’t get up to speed, then it was probably too small to float you in the conditions you were riding. Either that or the fins were too small to bite in against the water flow.
Give Surfding a call, he was working out a design for one of his team riders in the 200 pound range last summer.
It’s only one little case and I don’t know anything else about 'em, but I do know one guy who has a firewire, liked it as far how it surfed but had some problems with some kind of delamination of the deck/rail. Could be an isolated case. Not sure what model it was, it was one of their shortboards, kind of a wider template. …For what it’s worth!
There is a lot of stuff in the forums right now about compsands (same basic technology more or less that firewire uses), you could check out an alternate source of that style of board too, if there’s something near to you.
I just picked up a broken Firewire off the beach today. Nose was snapped off about a foot back (looked like where the vent was?) and glass peeled back about another foot past that. It was a quad fin, 6’5" I believe. Or at least that’s what it used to be…
I have an alternator
traded up from my 1st generation FW fish with Barnfield
good board
paddles in funky
but you can feel the flex
you just got to figure out the timing of the mini tramp
oh yea
bought some large “lisa” dolphin shaped X-rated fins from surfsource for it.
kind of like a poor mans H2 with an x-rated cartoon on the side. Good cheap fins
seemed like an appropriate fit for such a board
all I know is that those who have them like them,BUT,the tiniest ding not caught right away,they suck up water like a sponge,and real hard to dry out completely,so I’m told
Ahhh so its not like those surftechs or tuflites that dont suck up the water. That’s good to know, this is one thing i
HATED about my eps I had.
Well, back to the drawing board. lol
Hey Bud
I had one for about 2 months.
It was ok but nothing special.
My experience was that I had to pump the crap out of it to generate speed.
Meaning…it did’nt generate it’s own speed.
In the end, I didn’t like it enough to keep it.
I turned right back around and sold it.
I know some guys that like em…and others that don’t.
I didn’t.
just my 1.874 cents
I’ve had a quadraflex since the end of August (got it brand new on craigslist for $550). I bought it as a small wave board, since it’s about an inch wider than what I normally ride. I tried it in October when we had some fun, mixing swell, and it worked better than expected in overhead surf. It’s much faster than my normal thrusters which might be attributable to the quad setup or the extra volume. I can’t feel much difference in the flex in terms of how stiff or springy it is, but open-faced carves feel just like a new PU/PE board to me.
No open dings, yet. It washed over the rocks and ended up with a small spiderweb shatter on the rail (not open). I smashed the deck near the nose with my hand, when I missed a grab, and it just made a small dent even though it killed my hand. So far, it’s been durable.
I’ve seen a broken nose at the beach, too, but above the vent. Under the top sheet of foam, there was a big balsa section, which I didn’t know existed. It didn’t do any good, apparently.
Man…
I’m stumped. Finally got some money set aside and want to get a big guy performance shortboard. I would build one myself, but I don’t want a poly board, and I
don’t work with eps or epoxy.
I want the durability of epoxy. And I could use any bit of flotation to my advantage as well.
So herein lies the problem. I’d feel guilty buying a tuflite/surftech.
Open to suggestions…
You mentioned earlier that you didn’t like the water-sucking aspect of eps… it’s a hot (and argumentative) topic in some other threads right now and you may have already read some of them, but if you get an eps board for the durability then it might be a bit of a weight off your shoulders to make sure you get a board with HD foam inserts. Just a thought, I know it’s been gone over to death in other realms.
Me, I like eps boards. I’ve yet to experience the horrendous water-suck that I’ve heard lots about though.
Good luck on the quest for the perfect quiver addi(c)tion!
they go alright
Hey Tyson
If you were anywhere near me…you and I would just make you one.
If you want to give it a go, we can design you one and walk through it either over the phone, video conference or email.
I’m sure you can do it bro…and probably do it very well.
Let me know if this idea is interesting to you.
We’ll get you ROCKIN!
Mahalo
Ya man, maybe I have to do my own eps. I talked with you a little before about it, but it was a poly board in mind. And I don’t want poly shorty.
I’m a big guy, 6’1" and about 225lbs. The shortest poly board I ride is a 6’6’’ fish, but its real thick, boxy rails. And I have a 7’4" stinger, nice and wide
with thinner shortboard style rails, and thats works for me to.
But I’m to the point that I really want a standard “got to” shortboard. 6’10" or so. I just can’t seem to find a board that is light, durable eps or other that
has five fins, so i can go quad or thruster. And that’s where the boat stops. I’ve been kicking around the idea of have Proctor make me a custom order,
even though its pretty spending for the epoxy, or titanium series, but I’ve heard phenominal things about his boards.
So I guess as I try to decide what to do I’ll think about shaping an eps blank, problem is to glass it, I’ll have to buy a heater or wait until spring. Its cold up here.
I’d probably go with Marko foam, stringless with the HD foam rails. One of the other options I was really stoked on for a shortboard for me a channeld bottom. I rode
one long time ago and it was a rocket, but not too skatey. I definately wouldn’t want to attempt all those channels. From what I’ve read, you really gotta have the
placement of those things dialed or the board won’t work right.
I have a friend who has a Futura and absolutely loves it in the sloppy conditions, had it for almost 2 years now and it’s still in great nick. Even his kids use it to learn on sometimes. I know Firewire recently released a new 5 fin model shortboard called the Dominator which is specifically designed for bigger guys. Might be just what you’re after so maybe worth making enquiries with your local dealer. Stores often have demos of boards to try first too.
I have a 6’2" quad swallow tail,I only ride it in overhead surf though.The spring if timed right on a bottom turn will shoot you up in to the pocket like a slingshot,I like the quad too…fast and drivy but loose when turning.Im over boards off the racks though,every on I get seems to be missing something.
All opinions:
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They ride great.
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Quality has been spotty in my experience (first I received a crooked-set fin, then a cracked and repaired wood rail (prob a “blem board” that was accidently sent to the shop), and finally received one that was part of the defective foam lot and snapped like kindling after a few sessions), and the last one has a minor sand-through on the deck.
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Firewire, to their credit, made good on all of the above and made the replacement process almost painless.
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The FW’s I have seen in the shops since then (about a year later) seem much more improved (quality) and consistent, so they may have ironed out those growing pain issues.
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Cannot custom order.
This may come off as a little spammy, but if you want a customizable, really durable, really good riding board, talk to Mike Daniels (here) about ordering a custom Coil that can be shipped direct to you.
Full disclosure: Coil is now a friend/sponsor of my wave prediction page, but this all happened after I selected Coil as my board of choice; I was already in the process of phasing out my current quiver and replacing with Coils when the agreement was made. If interested in hearing more, go to the reviews section at www.eastcoastsurfer.com to find my review of my first Coil (I’ve already taken up enough space here and my review is rather detailed/long-winded).
Thanks for all the replys. That new Firewire Dominator sounds like the ticket, all the fin options are on the top of my list, however I decided to go with a Proctor proxy titanium big cheif all custom. Just talked to Todd Proctor on the phone and he was really helpful nailing down the dims for me. Real cool guy.
I thought Firewire boards were made in San Diego. Kinda bummed me out that all those jobs are out sourced. Where and how I spend my money are also a big deal to me.
Anyways, the dims are 6’10" x 21 x 2 7/8 bump squash, 5 fin boxes fcs fusion, 4 parabolic channeled bottom and custom graphic.
this will be the graphic added to the bottom of the board.
I hear you on the outsourcing of the boards man-but at least Firewire is a bit different in their approach. Yeah, I believe they were made in San Diego and Australia originally, but moved to I can’t remember where-not China at least. They have two Aussies I believe heading their factory wherever it is with total control of production and the quality of the boards. They are sick boards, environmentally sound, and have innovative designs-in my opinion at least. I have the Dominator and it is sick. Not pingy like some Epoxy boards. It surf top to bottom really well and it is surprisingly very responsive-especially for being a bit wider and thicker. I ahven’t had mine for very long however and was kind of wondering if anyone has any feedback on their longevity-now that they have been around for some years now…?
I do some business with a leading manufacturer in China, and yes Firewires are made there. They couldn’t deal with the manufacturing processes involved in their own factories, and hence the shipment of shoddy looking boards that were around awhile back. Many of these that didn’t make it to the shops went to China for rework.