I’ve taken the hulls pill and fallen… the rails…the speed…the challenge. I want to go shorter. 7’0" maybe. But what bottom? To the archives I go.
Post up you find. Should be an interesting journey
I just spent the last 4 days reading the entire 2000+ posts from the “Post your hulls thread part 2”. A lot of amazing info in there as well as a lot of missing pictures (I’m talking to you Ryan Lovelace). It was also extremely interesting following a thread that started 8 years ago. Watching that morph over the course of a few years was a cool flashback too. I now have newfound respect and interest for Liddle, KP, Andreini, and more. Innermost limits and MOTE is on the TV nonstop. I’m hooked.
I have never ridden a ‘modern’ diplacement hull, and never seen one in person. However, I have a 9’ 1968 Gordon & Smith that is definitely a displacement hull as well as a 1970-71 6’9" Weber ski; absolutely bladed out. It’s amazing the differences between these boards that only have a 3-4 year age gap. I am religiously riding the 9’ but I’m leary of surfing the ski, the Waveset fin isn’t the most reliable (so I’ve read).
With these two boards as the basis, I plan on building a 7’4" modern transitional displacement hull. We’ll see.
G & S - Watertight and super fun (and heavy)
Weber Ski - Scared to break the fin but great to research
Rocker and Rails
The G&S Hot Curl from that period was (IMO) a great board. It represented a long accumulation of design knowledge - both in the shaped blank and the fin. That one had the wide point back in a semi-pig style and a nice foil.
Soon after, the “Revolution” started and longboards just went obsolete. Too bad. Many of the manufacturers had it pretty well figured out at that point. Many good designs were left behind in the mad quest for the ultimate ‘mind machine.’
There are a few guys working on older ideas and getting good results. Here’s an example of a similar but modernized longboard design. The fin designs I’ve seen on these are really big, raked, narrow-tipped fins.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BGHTmx_hZ6V/?hl=en
You didn’t really ask but I’d say stick with the 9’+ length range. A shorter version just isn’t going to be the same.
Wow, thanks for the info and your opinion on 9’+ displacement hulls. I’m interested in hearing more of your reasoning why 9’+ hulls are the way to go. Throughout the ‘Post hulls 2’ thread, the consensus was that 7’11"-7’0" was the sweet spot for modern transitional displacement hulls. There were pictures of longer hulls (up to 12’) and most people said they were ‘fun’ and that’s about it. I would love to hear more accounts on longer hulls.
The G & S is a fantastic board, but thruth be told, I’m 135 lbs. I feel like a flea riding a great dane. I can get it on rail but it feels like too much board. And it’s very heavy, probably heavier than they were in their day. I glassed all dings then did a hot coat and gloss coat. I would love to make a ‘modern’ version of this shape, perhaps with 6oz instead just to see the difference.
As you can see in the pics, I had to put a fin box in so I’m not using the original fin, but I do have it for reference. The fin I’m currently using is a cross between its original fin and the one you posted above.
And yes, the foil is nice.
At your weight a shorter version might be the ticket. Take a straight edge and check the bottom contours. Your profile shot shows the bottom roll nicely.
PS - I just noticed a nice Hot Curl for sale on the home page. Out of my range though…
I had already taken a straight edge to the bottom. Rolled the whole entire way; which is starting to confuse me a little. I always thought a rolled hull sucked down into the wave, allowing it to use the energy of the wave to keep speed. When I step on the tail of the board, I almost instantly stop. I would have thought roll in the tail would help (somewhat) to keep speed up. I notice the usual ‘sweet spot’ of the board is in the front 2/3s of the board, which does make sense.
The shorter you go the more efficient your bottom contours need to be. I’ve seen plenty of examples of really short round bottomed boards that have trouble making even easy sections. A common place where you’ll see it displayed is when they drop down to the flats and attempt to ‘squirt’ their way around some whitewater. Many get stuck and fail to make the wave.
Skip Frye says “round bottoms suck - literally.” Phil Edwards says he just ends up farther down the beach.
Lots of modern shortboards have all kinds of slots and concaves to increase planing efficiency. Old school guys soften the bottom contours and lift the rails but compensate with overall increase in planing area.
I ride an 8’-6" often, it sounds similar to yours as mine is foiled nicely has a fair amount of rocker thru out and a rolled bottom from tip to tail. I ride a lot of vintage boards and this is one of my favorites.
After spending too much time the last few years riding mats…
It be far from slow…Tried lots of different fins the Keel is the one.
I thought we were talking about “Hulls” here. The bottom contours/profiles described are anything but. Lowel
That was very informative. Thanks, I learned a lot. Care to expand on your comment?
Absolutely, this is my favorit board for the moment too. Since you have the same bottom contours and understand what I’m riding on I’ve gotta ask, have you ridden any other boards with rounded bottom but instead with a flatter tail? I’m guessing it’s faster but you still can’t turn off the tail. That’s how the Weber Ski rides.
Nice! Dimensions? Ride report? How’s that tail? Can you turn off the tail? Any slip, slide, or squirrelyness with that single keel fin? I’m sure you have, but have you tried it with the fin forward? If so, how was that?
Looks like #3 is gonna get skegged! Nice board!
Based around 18" wide tails. This one is 7’6" x 23" x thick MY old man short board. A little slip and a little slide BUT no “squirrelyness”. Board finds speed in different parts of wave rides “high” when you want plus fits deeper in pocket and comes from behind with confidence. Likes to take off late and get going.The “hull” round botom seems to lift as you go faster. I have moved fin up did not like it as much. This has been a consistant feedback. The guy in picture was able to do full rail grap cut backs with speed on it. Fin would pop out than find itself just in time. The thing about round bottoms is not going too far and making a slug that wont get going. I wanted a solid board that fit into the same spots the mats were finding on waves. The balance of the concaves, gullys and the “hull” round bottom works pretty good…Hullygully
