This one looks like it has 11, by my count. Jantzen ad on the back cover of the quarterly Surfer Magazine, Spring 1962 Vol 3 No. 1
Note the nose repair.
Speaking of balsa guns. Here’s a 10’ 6" Hobie that a friend once owned.
7 redwood stringers. He bought it from some German guy in Connecticut who’d found it in the house he’d just bought. My friend got it for a few hundred after convincing the German that wooden boards weren’t worth much.
I think it sold for a few thousand at Alan Seymour’s first auction. The faces are blurred to protect the not so innocent 
NO.
I like- Marc Andreini’s vid also - it also covers proper board setup with THICK part always at center…it makes tons of sense! A board has to pivot on a central pivot point, otherwise it’s probably going to be a dog on the turns?.. it makes sence -I’ll try it. And thinner noses and tail only improve performance. I’m thinking the s deck setup was described good in that video.
So how do you guys cut in the S deck? I have my way but interested in yours.
Here is another video, this one features Brian Hilbers shaping a Hot Generation board. His planer work is inspiring!
Back in the “SDKT , Steped deck kicked tail”, Bonzer days it was plane deck flipping the tips, Then set step deck zero full zero in line with stringer. NEVER cross cuting tears too much stringer. Then rails. The Rockwell 653 with a very loose shoe and adjuster knob did the job good. We did lots of step decks especially in the old 9’3" blank to get the nose thickness down. Swing weight, move center of bouyance back under chest, and some nose flex when nose riding where the main “selling” points. As blanks got thinner, not necessarily a good thing for everybody, it has become unnecessary. I still put some of these features in my boards, center of bouancy is extremly important, I just “hide” it.
I just put it in the “blank”, one of the advantages of doing your own instead of buying off the rack.
I used to cross cut with planer at a slight angle to the stringer then I tried a variable speed disk sander with 60 grit on a fairly hard pad, at medium to slow speed and a light touch. Magic (for me).
Aloha ,…If someone has an old copy of Surfer with the Design 1 ad, it shows a perfect example of an S-deck—MP Camel was also mentioned and it with Tom’s several versions were also good examples…added flotation, was the main reason during this fast changing transition period,…narrower boards, pulled in tails, and bullet noses,…all seemed to happen within months. An old ad from MP, shows the old Front Street shop where Blinky took over in Ventura, and a volume tank to display the attributes of the added volume to the boards shape.
Spread Aloha, Randy
Spread Aloha, Randy
Dead shaper goes sking discovers rocker and camber
STEP DECK:
I recall a conversation with Renny a long time ago where he told me the original concept was “to reduce swing weight”, flexing on the nose while forward was never mentioned. However, the unexpected result on the Yater Spoon was that the step deck creates LIFT. I preferred to ride a Spoon over the closed tear drop noseriders becuz the closed concaved noses were notoriously slow as they ere designed for lift and to clock more time on the nose.
To each their own, really personal preference.
S DECKS:
IMHO, S Decks create a different flex pattern thru blanks that are either thin enough, have small stringers or no stringers at all. It’s not entirely unlike the ski camber diagram I posted. I’ve shaped many boards with S Decks since the early 70’s. They seemed to paddle well although trying to substantiate any significant difference between one versus a board with a different foil remains inconclusive as there are many other factors involved.
More importantly, deck contours are half of the foil in a surfboard which has a direct relationship with the top line rail rocker which is engaged in the air, and water on turns. Deck rocker is also one half of the draft a surfboard experiences while moving thru air and water regardles of (its) velocity.
Finally, the comment about the “thickest point always being at center” and the board “pivoting” from center thickness is a ridiculous statement I take exception with. I didn’t watch Marc’s video/vimeo and perhaps the comment was only made in the context of displacement hulls which M.A. has a ton of experience with. however as a general concept, it’s a lot of hooey, at least according to bottom rocker and fin placements.
Here’s a S deck on a paipo. Volume down the rear & nothing much upfront.The dynamics of weight distribution etc will be a different to a standup board but the end result is a fast board.
Bob
I’m going to watch the vid again as my data was running low…
I think I worded it wrong. In the vid, I think he meant the THICK part, or apex is always behind center …where the volume of thickness in back half area in stance…I’m no expert, but it makes sense that the apex is generally about center? Could you elaborate on what your views are if you would?
Fyi - I’ve owned a good board with the wide point and apex in center -which turned well. It almost seemed to be a ‘pivot point.’ On my current board I got the wide point forward center. There’s so many different theories it’s difficult to decide who’s right, or who’s wrong.
In the transition years, it was common for boards with the wide point forward to also have the thickest part in that same spot, relative to the length of the board. It was theorized that having the maximum thickness and width right under your chest while paddling maximized floatation and thus paddling ease.
Shapeaholic… sorry, I didn’t mean to soudnd harsh… you’re second statement about thickness in hulls being shifted aft is spot on… I employed that same concept in the revised Stoker V Machines starting a bit over 5 years ago.
Balsa… that thing is kick ass. What a beaut! 
Sammy A… I don’t know who made that board, is was a foto I grabbed off Google Images for illustration purposes only. I like that you brought up the history of foil to Shapeaholic about how our early day shortboardshad wide point and thickness forward of center and over the rider’s chest area. It totally made sense considering we were riding single fin round pins and variations of them much of the time.
My earlier statement about rocker and fins lends to how our thinking started to change as the tri fin era progressed from “token” side biters to “bonafide” aka equally sized "thrusters: aka tri fins. Obviously tri fins work with the old widepoint/thickness forward… albeit they work differently than a board with wider aft outlines and aft foil thickness.
This thread is turning into a good thread… a real sleeper at first, but a lot of what we initially take for granted as common knowledge, sometimes offers up a few unexpected gems under closer scrutiny.
I will always be addicted to playing with compound curves!!
np…I shouldn’t have worded it wrong! My data was break n in and out, and sound was break n… but I think he meant the apex is behind center, as is the thickness carrying back towards - the 24" from tips section…that’s what I think he meant. It seems it would be a good setup. Thanks for your .02! FYI I finally checked out your V machine.Nice shape! I got about a 12" foot, so I’m thinking about building a wide squash tail, square or thumbtail on another board ltr on.
SammyA & DEADSHAPER I thank you two for pointing that out! While I didn’t surf at the time, but - when I was five yrs old we lived in montara, ca and my parents owned a health foods store there in the mid to late sixties…I was five and a lot of surfer would drop in to grab a drink, munchies etc…well, I saw my first surfboards ever and I was totally fascinated! I even knew they must ride them in the waves… I still remember the apex and wide point DID LOOK forward - prob six-ten inches forward! So I asked the surfer Hippy how do you ride that thing! I also asked him if he stands on the fin side up? He says, " no, the fin goes on the bottom!" And this is a surfboard… all single fins. I must have stared at that
Board for ten minutes! Lol. I still remember it was yellow, around seven six and had sum rocker- less in tail…good times.
+10 to SammyA! You know your board’s! Some people just surf the board, but I do notice more of the advantanced, or experienced guys talk about dims, vee, concaves etc…but not many pay attention to apex, wide point etc… THANK YOU! -Jim
SammyA -I think I tried a board like you describe when I first started surfing in 78-79’. Yeah, they did paddle well. I remember my surf buddy who mentored me, told me to wrap my hand around the nose to establish proper paddle position.My surfing improved ten fold aft that. My first board was a seven four winged swallow short board. The wide point forward a bit. Board was a breaze to paddle.
