So now that I’ve done my research and have some understanding of the process of shaping and glassing and have a bunch of great people willing to help, I figure the first step is to decide what kind of board I want to make and put all the elements together so that I’m not making last minute decisions with a plane or sandpaper in my hand.
So I stared at the blank for a little while and it looked like it was just asking to become a step-up/mini-gun type shape. But at the same time it wants some old school flair. I did my research and I think what my new 7’0" foamy friend was asking to become is something close to a JC Retro Rocket. Now I’ve only seen one of these in the store once, but I think I’d like to copy the basic idea of a step-up board with a little slightly fuller nose and the wide point set slightly foward. Now my question is, will this be a good shape for a steep punchy beach break board on bigger days? I’ve looked at the Rusty Traveler, K Step-up, Rawson Hyper Classic, T.Patterson Assassinator Step-Up, CI MSG, trying see what design elements go into a step-up board. This is not for perfect clean barrels, but more for bigger days when it gets steep to help me get in early and make me more confident on the drop… that is if it even turns out to be ridable.
So here the elements of design I have found to be somewhat common among those board (although there was a suprising amount of variation)
First about me:
I ride mostly fish, but my usual shortboard is a 6’2" CI Flyer. I’m 5’9" 165 - 170lbs, but I’m in a wetsuit (3/2, 4/3, 6/4) most of the year in NJ. I’ve found the quad set up to give me more stability on steeper drops and I need some extra volume in the winter cause I’m a crappy paddler in a 4/3.
Length 6’9"
Thickness 2 1/2"
Width 18 1/2"
Nose width at 1’ from nose 11"
Tail width at 1’ from tail 14 1/2"
Nose
Medium entry rocker (5 1/2" already in the blank)
Medium tail rocker (2 1/2" already in the blank)
Slight single concave to slight vee in the tail
Wide point slightly foward (how many inches?)
Moderate deck roll
Moderate rail volume with pinched rail going into a down rail in the tail
Slightly fuller nose
quad fins (will this work, I hope?)
Rounded pin
Does this sound right?
I wasn’t sure if a pinched rail or round rail would be better
Will this work or should I forget the extra nose volume and make it more standard step-up/mini-gun?
between the nose and tail rocker should it go flat for better paddling speed? should there be continuous rocker? It looks like the blank has slight continous rocker and I was already told to leave the rocker alone so I’m thinking stick with what’s already in the blank?
Shweew, I know this is alot so Thanks in advance!
Pictures of the virgin blank coming soon.