Aloha folks out there in swayland…
It’s been a long time since I’ve shaped a board but the time has come and I’m stoked to get back in the bay and hopefully create some riding craft for my son and I…
My first board build is going to be for him…
He’s 10, 4’8" and about 75lbs…
I saw some templates online, kind of like a wide short board/fish design with a swallow tail and was leaning in that direction…
Let me just say he’s a novice but learning fast…he learned on an 8’0 soft top and has been trying different boards lately…
I was thinking perhaps around a 6’0 board…something he’ll be able to grow into…
I was also thinking between 17-18" wide and about 2 1/4" thick…
All these are general numbers I came up with but I’m actually looking for suggestions from guys in the know…
I’ve done abit research…that’s why I’m here…
If you have any questions…fire away…
Mahalo for your time…
Foamhacker…
Will the boy be in the surf regularly? Do you have access to good surf? Is he really into it or is this going to be something he does only occasionally? If you dig back through this forum you will find a few threads of mine on building grom sized boards. My personal opinion based on my experience with three kids growing up and surfing is that you are not doing them any favors by putting them on an oversized board. Put them on the right size board for their size. Oversized boards let kids get away with poor technique. I still have all of the boards my kids rode growing up. The smallest is a 4’10" x 17 1/8" and they go up from there. My youngest recently turned 13 and is currently riding a 5’5" x 18 1/8th as his go to board and he is a pretty big 13 year old.
My best luck on grom boards has been by scaling down the following templates from BlendingCurves:
https://www.blendingcurves.com/outline-templates/short-c
https://www.blendingcurves.com/outline-templates/short-b
I built the bottom board (the round tail) scaled down to a 5’4 x 18 3/4 and both of my boys surfed that board until it fell apart. Both boys ripped on this board. I’ve also made this board in a 5’5 x 18 3/4"
I will warn you that shaping the rocker into boards under 5’6 is a real pain in the arse because blanks aren’t really scaled to size. You might even want to get a custom hotwired EPS blank.
Here is a shot of my youngest with a 5’0 I made for him when he was 8.
https://image.ibb.co/m0iPky/1063813_269584869850148_1284399478_o.jpg
And here he was at 12 and now riding someone else’s boards through a shop sponsorship. Dad’s boards aren’t cool anymore.
My last piece of advice is that they grow up really fast. Make them whatever THEY want. Before you know it they’ll be 13 or older and surfing with dad won’t be so cool anymore.