I’m about to start shaping my first longboard board and want to shape a rolled belly into the bottom, with soft round rails for small wave riding. I’ve got the template together for the plan shape, but I havent managed to find a board with a good traditional rolled bottom that I can template from. Can anyone give me any ideas / tips on a belly bottom profile?, how deep should it be? (is say the depth of an inch at the stirnger deeper than the rail creating too much of a roll?) Where do I start the belly from on the board? Should I have the belly running from the nose to the tail or should I only have it in a certain section of the board? As you can see I’m a bit confused, any help is greatly appreciated. thanks gray
There is a lot to consider here. What kid of surf (mushy or hollow), What is the outline of the board like? Everything is a balance. Parellel outline would use a bit of roll or v or rocker (in the right places). The curve, rocker and bottom contours must be in harmony. If we had about 1,000 pages and 1,000 hours to the subject we could cover half of it For the basics you want less lateral bottom curve for flatter waves, more for hollow waves. Consider the curve of a wave and envision a board that fit these curves. aloha, tom
Tom, thanks for your help. I realise that its all a merging of small detail to make a good functional board, which I dont fully understand yet. The board I’ve based the plan template on is a 9’3" nose rider with a rounded pin tail and wide nose, their is a bit of tail lift and nose rocker (its my current board) It has a flat bottom from nose to tail and eggy round rails with knife rails in the tail. (I’m at work so I dont have the exact dimensions) I surf a mixture of small breaks, of contrasting wave shape. In the winter I surf the local reef which is a small peeling wave and never gets hollow, in the summer I surf the beach breaks, which are fast and steep. I am trying to achieve a more traditional longboard with more emphasis on nose riding, pivot turns and thought that the rolled belly and rounded bottom would be more suited to small conditions for nose riding etc hope this clarifies my needs a bit more thanks gray
Gray, My shaping career began in 1968 which is just at the start of the shortboard “revolution”. I have pretty much stayed away from traditional longboards. I feel Jim Phillips or others that specialize in those types of long boards would be more knowledgeable in that area. I’ve found that expounding on things that you’re not 1,000% versed in can do more harm than good. Good luck with your board!! aloha, Tom