OK Maybe it’s a stupid question but I hear people using the term “Hull” . For the bottom of a surrfboard . Is that just a general term for a board or does it go to a special type of board bottom? Thanks …Aloha
Hull is a general term for the interface between a watercraft and the water. http://www.blakestah.com/surf/
While Mr. Blake Stah is correct, the common usage of “hull” around Swaylock’s defines a very particular surfboard. I don’t know the derivation of the term, but I read it first at liddlesurfboards.com: Transitional Displacement Hull. I assume the term means “transitional between planing and displacement hulls”. “Hull” for these boards is the measurement between the apex of the rail and the bottom of the board. These hulls usually have a pinched, curvey rail; more of a V shape than a U shape (hold your screen sidways so the V and U look like a rail). They will have a slight roll across the bottom that is more the result of pinching the rails than adding belly, sometimes a rolled “v” in front of the fin. Usually they have an “S” deck to keep thickness in a board with thin rails and tail. By moving the location or changing the depth of the hull (in concert with rocker), you dramatically affect the way the board surfs. All of this is blended into a seamless shape that looks deceptively simple. I’m sure that any number of shapers out there could make one, the people who have it down cold are Greg Liddle, Paul Gross, and Skip Frye. Check Archives for more…
Thanks , UH ! I think… So a hull could be a board with more of a “belly” than a flat board ? I just had one shaped by a great So. Fla Shaper … I asked for double concave in it but also wanted the bottom to be flat from rail to rail … I making the 2 concaves he somehow got the center “along the stringer line " higher than the outside edge or the board … Seems like a “Belly or Keel” effect to me rather than a flat bottom with concaves … Do you think this makes much difference?? This is a 8ft. funshape “fungun” type board 23 wide 3&1/2 thick with chined rails also . And as a Epoxy EPS styro board it weighs only 10 lbs. I’m 5’11” 200lbs. and 48 yrs old and wanted a floaty board with all the performance I could try to get … Do you think the “keel” really makes that much difference ? its maybe 3/8 of an inch… Thanks Again…
Sounds like a “concave V” bottom. It should roll from rail to rail easier with that kind of bottom. The boards I was talking about, you can see at liddlesurfboards.com. If the shaper knows what he is doing, it should work fine for your waves.