Hi everyone,
I’m currently shaping an 8’9" fun board/ longboard and I’m not sure how thick to make the board. I’m about 6’2" - 6’3" and weigh around 225 lb, so I was thinking I’d make the board 3.25-3.5 inches at its thickest. I’m not so sure about the nose and tail thickness though, and thought this community might be able to help out.
Thanks,
JTH
Namaste F-
Can you tell us more about what you are thinking and doing?
Is your blank a bought/blown PU blank or a homemade EPS situation?
Is this an outline you’ve used before?
What are your intentions for rocker, widths (nose@12", wide point, tail at 12"), rails, bottom, fins?
A little more detail might get you a better set of answers.
Aloha, J
I’d like to add that a difference in thickness of 0.25 is quite a lot, as you were talking about “3.25-3.5”. If you’re set a a certain thickness, this will kind of dictate tail and nose thickness. don’t get hung up too much on numbers though, just try to get a nice, even, consistent foil from nose to tail. flowing curves, be it outline, foil, whatever.
it might also be interesting where you will be surfing that board.
take that with a grain of salt though, I’m a total newbie.
keep the tail thick enough for your fin box(es). Foil it all out til it looks right, nose prob end up around 5/8" at the tip, everything else determined by the foil. Thats how I do it anyway, backyard style.
This is my first time shaping, so I’m not too sure of what you’re asking, but I’ll try my best to answer all your questions. I’m making this board through a program at my school so I’m not sure where the blank was bought. The blank pictures is the board that I’m currently making. And as I said earlier, I’m taking a class to make the board and we’re going to be doing thickness next week, and while I will have some help in shaping the board, I wanted to get some advice here first. We haven’t gone over rails, bottom, or fins yet, although I think I might go with 3 smaller fins or or 2 smaller find and one large center fin.
Once you get thicker than 3.25 they become a bit corky, in my opinion. I’m 200 lbs, and I ride an 8’0 that is 3 1/8. 3.25 sounds about right for your size/board length. Also, I’d go with the 2 + 1 for a board that size, and not a thruster. I’m assuming you are using it for Cali style waves.
FPSG-
Thanks for the additional information. I think the best thing for you to do would be to read up on the basic process and technical terms used when shaping surfboards. Then discuss your thoughts about adding thickness with your instructor. If you pick a thickness without considering the rest of the design you could end up with something not so good.
http://www.jblairsurf.com/surfboards/big-guy-surfboards -some eye candy
https://greenlightsurfsupply.com/pages/surfboard-design-guide -good info you might have to create a free login to access this
The other comments are spot on. Waves and skill level factor in too.
PS Look up Dcasey here and find some pics of his boards
This is a subject I’ve always been puzzled by. Normal shortboard to midsize thickness rarely exceeds 2 7/8" max, yet when someone goes to a longboard, it seems the average thickness is usually 3"+. Why, when you’re adding the extra length and width (planing area) do designers feel a need for the extra thickness?
I would not go much over 3" thick. 3" should be fine in my opinion. maybe try and ride some similar designs to the board you are making. Find a board that you like and take the measurements of the board. Then you can use those numbers to loosely base your board on.
“This is a subject I’ve always been puzzled by. Normal shortboard to midsize thickness rarely exceeds 2 7/8” max, yet when someone goes to a longboard, it seems the average thickness is usually 3"+. Why, when you’re adding the extra length and width (planing area) do designers feel a need for the extra thickness?"
This is funny to me, because I look at it the same, but upside down. I figure, if you add extra thickness, why do you need all that extra length? For the past few years I have been building bigger boards (they’re not really longboards but I guess you could call them thickboards) with over 3" of thickness, but well under 9’ of length. (OK, I built one thick board at 9’ long, but I pulled in the nose way more than a normal longboard).
