Aloha , Want to ask … Using a 6’9"A to make a Big guy Fish . It’s made for that. I just skinned the bottom . Sanded the deck as little as I could to keep the thickness and shaped the rails ,tail,nose . I went ahead and used the whole width of the blank . So it has a finished wide point of 24inches .
I'm 210lbs 49 started surfing at 14 .All my boards are wide Walden Magic is my longboard and my shortboard size is 8ft. all of them are 23in or about that.Surfing here in S. Fla. I feel you need a more floaty board to catch most of the waves we get. I've tried several smaller boards and just didn't like them. No Fun.
So Question is .. Is this an insane width to make a Fish? I'm gonna try it anyhow . Just want the opinions from others . 6'8" X 24" Saw a Quote? of Greg Loher . "It's just a Surfboard . If it doesn't work no one is gonna die."
Thanks for your help Don J.
I have the same one up next, so I’m keenly interested in the answers you’ll get from the craftsmen, and your progress. Keep posting pics. I was thinking to go a little thinner in width, but keep most of the thickness, meybe even making a fat disc out of it instead of a fish. Definetely gonna be a quad though. What are you gonna do for finning?
Man, I’ve been wondering this same thing, because I live on the Gulf and weigh 210# with a wetsuit too. I would think–because this is what everyone says–that you’re gonna wish for less length than that with a fish, if you want that skatey ride without too much corkiness.
So you’re making a 6’8" x 24 swallow tail SURFBOARD for small waves!
It don’t gotta surf “like a fish”, like a gun, or like a whatever, it only has to work in small waves for YOU!
Too wide is when you can’t bank it over at speed, when you can’t paddle fast 'cause your arms aren’t long enough to dig into the water when you paddle.
I’m pushing 50, started about the same time you did, surf twice a week, and don’t like sitting low in the water. I want to catch waves early, and cruise. Me no rippa. Even if they are right and I feel I overgunned myself, I’ll just build a smaller one. I’d probably have to do a Lis by template at that point, just to see what standing on a kneeboard feels like.
Hey Hotcoat, not only is your width good, your shape looks great!!! Glass that puppy up; stop worrying. Heck, about two years ago I was talking with a guy from Malibu named Rodstoker. Just to give you an idea of W-I-D-E, he was making these short (6’6" to 7’0") boards with GIANT diamond tails (16" at the tailblock) and the boards were as wide as 27"!!! And the best part of it was he had guys at Malibu ripping on the things. Big, powerful surfers like Allen Sarlo, and Jimmy Gamboa, et al. who didn’t want to ride the long boards, were able to go vert on their lip hits, do sick roundhouse cutbacks, and basically catch everything is sight. He was calling his boards “Barn Doors” and he showed me one that was painted like… …a barn door. Good stuff. Advice: try not to freak out too hard when you find out how good your board goes!
Aloha Riverjetty, Gonna use the Edge Fin System. Like the Idea of being able to adjust the toe . John Rodgers of Edge lives here in Fl. now and was great at getting me a big set of fins for my fish . They have all sizes . I am als gonna go with a full size center box just in case … Was gonna use the Futures for the center but the full size one gives me more options …
Good surfers can move their back foot over to the rail they want to bank down.
But above sizing is too wide for any 150 lbs surfer surfing fast waves.
Feet size is vital also. Kelly Slater could prolly ride wide boards better than most of his pro brethrens.
Cheyne did fine with 22" and 17" tails, but he’s considered good, and strong as an ox.
Don’t think Rob Machado is jumping on the wide board bandwagon, even tho as tall as he is, with his wingspan, he’d be one heck of a wave hog on those 27" wide Malibu hogs.
I think you’re right LeeDD, I remember seeing the foot marks in the wax of the boards Rodstoker showed me, and sure enough it was right on that inside corner of the tail (literally on the tailblock!)… …sounds like lots of footwork required to go port to starboard.
I was just told by a shaper down in San Clemente were a bunch of well known shapers work, That they did an experiment. They took a unshaped Clark foam blank and glassed it , put fins on it and it worked !!! Your outline looks great. DR
Aloha , I figure I’m not Kelly … And I like to catch waves easy ,have the foam to glide thru the flat sections …without hopping … Gonna try this . I have a smaller fish by CODA / Steve Forstall but have not been able to go surfing when the conditions mere good enough to use it… Favorite board is 9’6" Walden but I’d really like to find a smaller board I like … D.J.
Howzit Hotcoat,So you know John, next time you see him tell him aloha from Wildog from Kokua Fiberglass. Got to know him when he was on Kauai, he’s a good glasser and a decent shaper to boot. Aloha,Kokua
i did that very thing about 6-7 years ago. i requested burfords to leave a 6’4"j in the mould over night so the paper got stuck to it. we then put in the standard stringer, superglued tractite fins on it and walla we had a fun small wave board… the rails left something to be desired but were workable. the blank paper would get waterlogged after an hours surfing so we would leave it in the balcony for a day and use it again. it was a little too flexy/floppy but ok in small powerless stuff. after a couple weeks of surfing it in 2’ and under we lost a fin or two and i took it in and shaped it into a normal board. the foam was dry as a usual one.the 6’4" j is 6’4"x20 1/2"x 2 3/8" with a 8" pod
Hmm, good thread. The Whale-of-a-Fish that I just completed ended up at 24" width. So far, after a couple of 2-3ft sessions, I am finding the board likes to pivot near the center. That is with a 7" cutaway center and 3" side bites.
I am going to change the fin combo toward a 6" cutaway with 4~5 inch side bites. Heck, maybe even add a smaller set of smaller forward fins ahead of the side bites (twinzer 5 fin setup).
I would like to hear how yours turns out. Let us know
How thick is too thick? Infinite variables, but I’ve built some 4" and 4" plus longboards lately for surfers between 200 and 250 pounds, and here a few observations:
Extra thickness is a big plus when paddling because of increased water displacement.
Extra thickness becomes less of a factor the faster the board is moving through the water. Like when you’re on a wave.
The bottom shape, foil, rail shape, and fins come into play more and more, the faster you go.
Big, fat, round rails create more drag and less speed.
Even a thick board can go fast and turn well if the rails are shaped thinner and are “down” or sharp.
When I see a young teenage surfer on a board that is floating with the entire deck out of the water, then see him ripping, I wonder to myself, “Why can’t a heavier surfer increase the flotation on his board proportionately and surf just as well?” (Not factoring in that he’s probably older and will never be a shred-master)
Anyway, I think the performance of a surfboard has less to do with thickness and more to do with everything else, including the surfer. Doug
