Fish kneeboard

General Discussion
1

I am planning to build a ‘fish’ style kneeboard, love what I hear about the Steve Liss fishes, am going to build with eps core sandwiched in corecell or similar, glassed obviously with epoxy resin.Thinking of a resin tint to hide the different coloured core materials. Anyhow although I kind of know ‘how’ to build the board, I need some design input, can anyone help me? I weigh 85kg and was thinking of making the board around 5ft 8" in length. I have loads of photos but no measurements for rocker, width, widepoint, nose , tail, thickness, foil etc… Don’t know much really do I ? This board is for me and I suppose I could just order one, but really enjoy making and riding my own equipment. Any help at all will be greatly appreciated

2

First of all, save yourself some exasperation and order it from a 6’9" Clark foam blank, so the rocker is already set. You setback your template to the tail of that blank

5’8" x 22 x 17" nose x 16" tail, x 2.65 thick, WP about 4" forwards of center.

3

here is a couple 2002 lis fishes a 5’5" and a 5’8" quad-

4

try again-:slight_smile:

5

Cheers LeeDD

I may try that, my suppliers catalogue lists two Clark blanks of that length, 609H and 609R, any ideas on which one? I presume that the laminate would be 2x 4oz deck and 1x 4oz bottom with fin patch? I think I will make some ply glass on twin fins to keep the retro feel!

6

As an old kneeboarder…

May I suggest that you go with 6 oz cloth rather than 4, add a deck patch ( and a deck pad ) and rather than the glassed ply keel fins I’d go with boxes or plugs set up so you can use it as either a twin or a quad.

Lots of good ideas at http://www.swaylocks.com/resources/Photo_Archive/5ft_to_5ft_11in/ - personally, I find some of the Pavel and Mandala shapes to be rather interesting.

hope that’s of use

doc…

7

Cheers Doc

I have found loads of info on placement of twin keels, how would the placement of inserts/boxes for quad fin set up relate to that of keels? I know that quad fin toe, angle and position from the tail seems to differ on modern kneeboards from shaper to shaper. Where do I start with quad/twin fins?

Thanks for the glassing tip.

Marky

8

I’m with the Doc on glassing schedule. Kneeriding, you don’t have the absorption of bumps and backwash like a standup, so you need more boardweight.

Toe-in depends what you want to do with your board. For trimspeed and long, fast turns, less toe. For quick, snappy vert surfing, more tow.

My guideline is 1/2 way to the nose stringer.

Quads, all within the confines of a standard 9’x5" keel… but that depends on exact shape and size of front and back fins.

Blank depends on your tail thickness and rocker needs. Look closely at those specs. YOU are the designer, and must take the blame for actual performance YOURSELF.

9

Just to add to what Lee’s saying - the knees can do a number on a board, not having the padding or shock absorption feet do: I’d go with heavier glass and a deck pad. The pad means no wax and your knees are much happier about their lot in life, especially if you’re in warmer waters without a lot of wetsuit.

Also, I’d go thinner overall than the surfboard fish variations. I find that many people are making kneeboards a lot thicker than they need to be. You don’t need anything like the floatation a surfboard needs, instead I like a kneeboard that you can push under and keep kicking and just go well under a wave before you have to deal with any of this duck diving nonsense. Another good reason for heavier glass.

Lee has described fin placement quite nicely - you may want to go with glass-ons and move them around some, then grind 'em off and put in boxes or plugs if you like the board well enough, or keep it as a model and your Mk II board can have the boxes or plugs mounted where you’ve established you like 'em.

hope that’s of use

doc…

10

Thanks for the help doc and LeeDD, I have just been sent full dimensions for the original Lis fish kneeboard, including the rocker, so think I will expand that to 5’8" , and use LeeDD’s dims for the outline, thickness. Will see which blank suits best from the two 6’9" clark’s. At least I can now make up a rocker template before I start now. Think I will start with glass on twin keels and go from there, I am really interested on how this board might feel after my aussie tri! Thanks again, and when I’m finished will post some pictures if anyone is interested( if I can figure out how!!).

Cheers Markyv