Okay, some say 4+6oz deck 6oz bottom, some 2x6oz deck 6oz bottom, some 3x6oz deck 2x6oz bottom, some volan.
What works best on a 10’6" or 12’6"?
It will be for myself but I don’t want it to fall apart, some tips from the experts would be helpful.
…all the longboards that I build are only 9 or 9 2 and “modern” performers not cruisers type but I glass all of them with 3 4oz in the Deck and 1 4oz bottom thin H. coat, “speed finish” final coat. but most are pretty close (max width) to the hard skin…light and somewhat flexible.
…with this glass may be too flexible for the bigger ones…
the norm seems to be 2x6oz deck 1x6oz bottom
volan is a just a glass treatment like saline, but volan tends to be 7.5oz
any of the schedule you mentioned are reasonable, all depending on the durability your after. noserider/cruiser may want to go on the heavier side, performance on the lighter side, but if your talking 10’6" or 12’6" your probable looking at the cruiser/noserider camp. Weight won’t hurt and could even help.
My 10’6"s are 2x6oz 1x6oz finished weight in in the 22-25 lbs range. I choose to go after durabilty instead of weight, but they still get banged up.
Yup, 4est hit it: all depends on how long you want the board to last.
I’ll say this: at 230#, I use Clark foam with 1x6 bottom, 1x6 deck with 6 oz deck patch and 6 oz stomp patch if I want the board to last. And I do want my boards to last.
Consider too, that one of the criticisms of offshore longboards has been that they are too light and don’t glide. If you don’t want to glide (at least to some extent) then don’t ride a longboard.
You own opinions on durability will have to be factored in. Think of the one-heat competition boards with single 4 oz top and bottom - that’s the nadir of durability but what do those users care?
Talking superlogs, why worry about lightweight? What, you gonna snap turn a combo throwing 8’ of spray?
And if you are, you can go styro epoxy and get a very ding resistant tanker around 12lbs, but better be careful in surf over shoulder high or hollow…it can easily shnap…
All of my team riders keep saying lighter…lighter… So i think next time i am going to shape and just put a hotcoat on. Just kidding.
A friend of mine glassed his new longboard 9’6 with a single layer of 4 both sides. Running into the water jumped and tried to push through the shorebreak and buckled the board. So i would suggest at least two layers of 4 on the deck. I think the lightest board i own is 22 lbs. and the heaviest is 53 lbs.
Austin S.
I’ve repaired my 6’4 so many times it probably weighs 53 pounds…
Thanks for all the tips, planning ahead for a fun longboard for next uk summer.
Being 225lbs I will probably go for a 12’6" tanker for our small day surf.
Gazro, you should also think about the foam. You can put dubble 10 oz on the deck of a supper blue blank that has been shaped down into the soft foam, and it will not hold up as well as dubble 6 oz on a classic foam. At your weight which is just about what I weigh also, I would look into a 11’6" board classic foam, dubble 6 on the deck, with a 4 oz deck patch that runs from the tail up to 1 1/2 foot from the nose. Single 6 oz on the bottom, with a 4 oz fin patch. I like to use Volan for the 4oz deck, and fin patches, it looks cool to me. It will not be bullet proof, but it will last.
Howzit Austin, One of my room mates had me do a 9’0" for him with just 1 layer of 4oz also, It lasted about 4 months before it broke. Aloha,Kokua
Foam weight matters, stringers do too. I just did a 10’ board out of classic weight foam, with a 1.5" balsa stringer. Single six ounce bottom, single six ounce deck, with a 2/3 length deck patch of 4 oz. Glass on fin. I don’t expect to break it anytime soon, although I figure on a fair amount of ding repair as it has no leash attachment and I surf it where there are rocks… with a smaller stringer and/or lighter foam I would have used a heavier glass schedule.
For boards as long as you are refering to, there is a lot of leverage, light glass jobs will spell the end of your new stick. I had tried many times to do 4 oz. glass on my longboards, ALL of the stressed out badly or broke, none came through without major problems. I had to sand the bottom and add another layer of glass from nose to fin box, the rest just plain snapped. Go for at least a 6 bottom, better a double 4, deck 6/4 minimum, better 6/7.5. Nothing sucks more than that majical board going multi board
Jim is right. Imagine that length of foam tweakin. Lighter glass jobs will let go of the bond from glass to foam faster, and once that’s done, the board starts to come apart. This old beat up longboard that I ever first caught a wave on, that exchanged many hands before coming into possession is testament to that . . . Of course it was returned to its original owner, dunno if he fixed it or not.
can’t you use EPS with a pvc stringer, and epoxy? I know they can get a 1 lb 5 oz shortboard . . . ok given that’s its a 6’2" or so, then maybe a 12’4" will be 3 lb 10 oz? (extra lb given for more epoxy). But ask the local epoxy xperts
I saw one of the pics of berts team riders doing airs better than bonga can.
That said, shouldn’t lightness be a realm of shortboarding? Because longboards you want the cruise, and nose riding (one of key elements I got from Rich H was weight) is dependent on heavier weight?
But the coolness is rules are made to be broken and crazy stuff can happen.
Speaking of EPS Epoxy longboards, Loehr made a longboard for me a few years ago. It was a 9-0 and with three fins weighed in at 11 lbs. It was a great noserider. Best I ever rode. It had a design feature called Cat Channels in the nose, which deflected water in such a way as to create lift and control. Your Grandmother could sit in her rocking chair and needle point up there. It was amazing.
And I ain’t no spry spring chicken neither. Well, spry maybe, but not spring. Summer.
On it I could get my dozen waves done in 30 minutes. Why waste time? Break a few rules. NO design breakthrough was ever possible without that attitude. That’s what I’m all about.
Took me a while, but I finally found an ally in a shaper who was not only breaking the rules, but also willing to take on the whole world. That is the spirit of all the greats. Anyone who hangs up on tradition has got it all wrong.
That statement should antagonize someone:-) (Sways has been dull lately without Ben.)
BTW, Did anyone see that program on DaVinci last night?
They made his glider, based on his sketches his diagrams and his dimensions and it worked!
Sub 7 lbs is impossible for anyone to make…
Maybe right around 8.25 lbs minimum, if you expect it to last one week or surf in the chest high range. It will dent and ding at that weight.
Talking 9’ x 22.5 x 3 or even 2.5" thicknesses.
LeeD cool thanks for clarifying that . . . I just remember a post where someone made a shortboard 1 lb 5 oz, and I figured maybe double it, but now I realize I forgot to take into account that two 6’2" 's have less volume than a longboard . . . Ok Hiro think before jumping . . . clarity of clear water messes with your dept perception hehe
Yeah, I do all mine with 2x7.5 volan deck and 1x7.5 volan bottom. I like the weight, I love the glide. It’s not like you can’t cutback or do floaters, helicopter, off the lips if the board is heavy, you just have to plan it a little more in advance! 
I figure clark foam weight for logs is around 6 lbs minimum.
For .75 styro, closer to 2 lbs.
Glass cloth easily over a lbs.
Resin weight of at least 2 quarts, can’t get away with much less, so 3.7 lbs?
Then finbox, extra patch for knees, leash cup…
Hey Gazro, it’s my first post here, my friend Bill told me about this place this evening when i was at Cholo’s collecting oil for my diesel car… i like light boards that don’t break… i’m 55 years old so i’m not a powerful surfer i guess… anyway i only ride up to 9 foot longboards… but i use one 4 oz on bottom and two on deck… but i lay a piece of the rail cutting glass about 3 inches wide on the bottom of the board from nose to tail before hotcoating so it has a little bit more strength…that’s always worked for me well… God bless…danny