I just finished cutting the profile, rocker, and thickness. I decided to run all this by you guys before jumping into foiling and rails. Am I in the ballpark?
7.0’ x 21.5" x 3.0", to be setup as 2+1
Rocker: 4.25" nose, 2.5" tail
At 12" in from nose: 1.6" thick and 16" wide
At 12" in from tail: 2.0" thick and 14.5" wide
Thickest and widest point is dead center
Rocker apex looks like it’s ~6" behind dead center
Pics below:
You’ll want to clean up the template some before moving on to the next step, but yeah, that board will surf once you finish it.
One good thing about the rocker is that you probably won’t be pearling the board.
Im so happy to hear this, thanks man.
this is my fourth board and im learning each time better and more efficient ways of doing it.
good news is that nowi have a good wooden rocker template that i can re-use moving forward
I have to tell you just how well this board is working out. My wave count has gone way up. I’ve had it out six sessions now and am amazed at how easy it is to mount small waves. It’s actually opened up opportuities to ride in a way that I haven’t before. For example, this week the swell was tiny, like one foot, 25 joules. Normally I wouldn’t even take the trip to the beach because the only option I had previously would’ve have been to drag a longboard out and ride straight in. With the 6’9, I can catch it on the inside and turn/trim a bit. Two-three feet waves seem to be the sweet spot though, as it starts planing fast so I can engage the rail and fin a bit. The softer rails up front handle mush ok too, it doesn’t ride over the top of them like a full boxy soft rail would, but it works enough. I actually feel like this board serves me well for 70% of the time here in NJ. The glass job is the best yet too. The is 4+4+4 E cloth, laid out in biased layers, bottom 4+4. It made the board feel a bit stiffer but feels harder and more durable than the 6+4 I was doing before. This may become my new standard.
My next goal is to explore the limit of just how large a wave it can handle comfortably. Next week will be four-five feet swell with more power, so this’ll be the test. I suspect with the softer rails, round tail, wide profile, it’ll take some work to get it carving. If this is indeed the case, my next build may be the same length/rocker/rails/bottom, but 2.5" thick instead of 2.7", rounded pin tail instead of rounded, point the nose slightly, and very slight vee under the rear foot.
Good ride report. I’m sure I speak for us all that we’re glad that you’re enjoying the results of your work. And that is very much the thing about a build discussion here on Sways: Regardless of any opinions we may have swapped in this process, in the end you made all your own decisions and you executed your vision with your own two hands. As a home builder you are now in control of what you’re surfing. You are not dependent on what the local SuperSurferMart has in stock in their retail racks or what models a shaper is selling this year or how other people think you should surf a wave. You can now do you.
I think what you ended up with will handle as much size as you’re willing to surf. I also think you’re getting the hang on how much length/volume you actually need to paddle into a wave in daily conditions. It might not be 6-0 for you at this point in your progression but it’s also not 7-6.
In your place I would surf this board in bigger conditions when the opportunity presents in order to find out what it’s actual limitations are. Once you know what it will do you can identify what it doesn’t do and where you want to go next in your progression. And remember, next time you want to figure our your bottom rocker first, almost before any other design consideration. Then you can choose your blank and rocker combo and what other design elements that blank will support.
