How thick is too thick

General Discussion
1

Hi All

Last year I shaped a 7’ fish for a friend of mine who is a big chap, so I left plenty of thickness in it. I’ve nabbed the board back off of him and must say I don’t think I had so much fun or waves surfing.

The thing is the board paddles great but it’s the length that is a problem on sucker surf. So I was thinking about making a new keel fish 5’9 x 17 ½ x 21 x 17. 12” tip to tip (which is my standard size) fish and keeping it 4” thick and adding a displacement hull and S deck as well.

I to, would consider myself as festively plump (6’ and 15 stone) so want to keep as much float as possible so I can cut through the crowds which are getting to gold coast proportions without the waves, without losing to much performance. As I’m going to make the blanks from EPS I was also going to make it stringer less and increase the glassing.

So my question is how thick is too thick?

2

Joe,

You pose a rather knotty question/problem. The thickest board I ever made for a customer was 4 1/2’’ thick, and 8’ long.

The fellow weighed 240#, and wanted the board to knee paddle. It did. The ‘secret’ to shapeing a board as you describe, is to shape the bottom contour first. By that I mean create the finished rideing surface first, and then set the deck line, and turn the rails down to meet the bottom. The board I did for the above customer looked a little odd, with steep low rails, but the board rode very well, and exceeded the customers expectations. At 5’ 9’’ long, 4’’ thick MAY be too thick. You might need to dial it back to 3 1/2’', to be workable. You won’t know until you get into it. You can always thin the board if it’s not going together well.

3

hi Joe !

you are 6’ and 210lbs.

and you are planning on riding a 5’9 fish

may I ask why / how you settled on that length ?

cheers

ben

4

Hi Guys

My first fish was 5’9’s which stupidly I sold, my travel fish is 6’2" and my general fish is 6’6". I love riding smaller thinner boards but when you start adding a 5/4 wetsuit boots, gloves and hood I just get paddled around by the groms. The local spots are chocked so I want to position myself inside the longboarders but outside of the pack for a bit of onshore slop up the english channel!!

I’ll have a look at taking the board down to 3’5", I have heard the EPS is alot floatier so could have the best of both worlds.

cheers Joe



5

" taking the board down to 3’5" "

ermmm …

that may be a wee bit short to float you , I think , Joe !

I was actually thinking more along the lines of your fish going longer and narrower and thinner .

cheers

ben

6

hi, i regularly ride a 5’6" x 23 x 3 7/8" and i’m 5’10 and not v heavy . thickness is fine for me and i paddle rings round everyone , sometimes can even catch waves without paddling, if i get the timing right!

also ride a home made 5’ x 21 x 4 sometimes but only in smaller waves.

i think people are scared of thickness ( and it does look a bit weird) but it works for me.

7

“i think people are scared of thickness ( and it does look a bit weird) but it works for me.”

two things I find with a thick board , and me at 11 stone [70kgs / 155lbs]…

  1. harder to duckdive

  2. harder to sink the tail and the rails into the wave at times

just my aussie .05

cheers

ben
8

yeh, i’m same weight as you and duck diving was tricky but i got the knack now and once i get the board under the benefit is the buoyancy shoots out the back.

no-one else whos ridden it can dive it but its fine for me now.

ive ridden the 5’6 upto well overhead , which was interesting, but then i go for my 6’3 x 18 1/4 x 2 1/4 run of the mill short board

9

“then i go for my 6’3 x 18 1/4 x 2 1/4 run of the mill short board”

good call

10

Windsurfers are pretty thick so that’s what got me thinking. I can still “just” surf my wifes 5’5 fish but it’s just a hassle catching waves and I don’t want to sit up to my neck in water!

Duck diving wont be a problem as I can duckdive a 9ft mal (that seems like a shortboard after riding and 11footer)

My main concern was the rail line thats why I thought I would go for a displacement hull with pinched rails and a domed S Deck

cheers Joe

11

Joe, I’m 6’2" 210 and find that the magic dimension is width. I’ve made myself a 6’0 fish that’s 3" thick and a 6’0" quad at 2 7/8" and both surf & paddle fine for me. Wide points are both about 3" ahead of center (same template for both boards) and is a full 23". Nose is 18" on the fish, 17.5" on the quad and both have 17" tails and 12" between the tips.

If you like thickness, look at the deck/rail transition on Carve Nalu’s knee paddle gun. The deck shape & volume are almost like a different board, slapped on top of the board that actually touches water. Beautiful & functional way to deal with extreme thickness…

http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=277274;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread

12

Benny, can you post some pics of those fish from top and side? Terribly wanting to see that exact animal for me own reference. Thnaks

13

There’s one in the Resources: http://www.swaylocks.com/resources/detail_page.cgi?ID=1168&d=1

I don’t have full-on photos of the quad, but its the same template anyway. Its skinned with Oneula’s bamboo and has d-cell rails & Pro-Box boxes & fins (the real ones :slight_smile: )

14

Love the look of the bamboo! I forget, how much strength/weight does that add compared to a balsa skin or bender ply skin?

15

well I’m finishing a pretty fugly 6’6" x 24" x 4.5" thick bamboo balsa composite EPS beast for a rather rotund friend to try.

it’s a version of my 6’6" x 19.5"x 3" twin nose Gemini for a guy 5’7" and around 230lbs-250lbs who rides nothing shorter than a 7’6" x x22"x 3.5" short board.

It’ll be interesting for sure

If I’d painted it chocolate it’d look like a big turd.(my brother would agree)

I just hope it doesn’t ride like one…

It’s for a friend who’s been eyeing my twin nose forever and who would never have a chance of getting one made for his size out of a regular blank. Plus he just lost his brother last month. I hope it works for him.

If not there’s even bigger guys (300+ lbs) out here that could use it like my other dear friend who over 350lb and a size 5X.

16

Hey Joe -

I made a fish with a fiend about 2 years ago that was 6 5 x 3 1/4 - catches waves with half a laxadaisical paddle with just the fingertips of one arm…

It rides really well too

Seems to me that in the uk we need it a bit thicker…to cope with our seasonal sub cutaneous layer

Build it and report back!

17

three and a halph is an arbitrary # handed down to us

from the lumber revolution.especially us in the USTADOS UNIDOS

there is a world outside o’ the box.

have a look fer yerself baords of 4-6’’ thick are just different

like folk dancing partners in the third grade

the little ones and then there wer GREAT BIG ONES

so make it ride it draw impressions

the after about fifty hours o; riding then draw conclusions/

I could drum up opinions about some mountain in south china or wyoming

or even Italy but the fact I never phyisically went there puts me at a disadvantage.

the edge board guys ALA bunkie riddle Vinny and Ben

rode sub 6’ers that wer 5’’ thick

and I mean rode em at big pipelilne honolua and hanalei and Neubs…

restriction#1 is how does it feel in your hand?

how thick is too thick?

I saw that q and said wow whwt a chance to get

access to some really twisted humor.

two feet i way too thick…

or is it?

how bout a thck challenge?

lets get thick and all meet at

andrew molera state park and rip it up

Morey can hold the stop watch and

larry gordon can hold the calipers nothing under 8"

way thick…my board is way thicker

than that +^&%$#@ !!!

whadda a revolution

the thick board revolution

Thank yew Mr Arbuckle

…ambrose…

And fatty arbuckle landed atop his board after jumping from the huntington peir in standing position and paddled off with his paddle four shakkas overhead

18

Hi Guys

Interesting reading, I’m going to give a 4"er a go see how it rides and then report back.

Now to get the thickness I’m going to be doing some gluing, but would you either glue 2 sheets of 2", 2 x 1" and a 2" or 4 x 1" to get the flex and strenght without a stringer?

cheers Joe

19

"… I’m going to give a 4"er a go see how it rides and then report back. "…

20

something about cold water surfing

http://www.last.fm/music/Devo/_/Shrivel-up