I am shaping a traditional single-fin longboard.
what are some good dimensions to go by?
It is for someone that I know. This person is 5’8", 120 lbs.
He wants a 9’4" but is unsure of the width and thickness. Tail width as well as nose width is appreciated.
How far forward or back should the widepoint go?
insufficient information. does the user know how to surf? how do they hope to ride this board?
the common LB width is 22". For someone as light as your customer, and if the waves won’t be particularly strong, you could go to 2.5 inches. I get nergous about boards thinner than that.
Nose width could be from somewhere around 16, and as much as 19 inches depending.
Wide point generally center or very slightly forward. It’s not so much the location of the absolute widest point, but the area in front and behind the center, and how it’s distributed. Will the board have hips, or just a taper to the tail?
I suggest to newbies that they go to the magazines and find an ad of something they like. You can scale it up from there. When you do, be sure that the size you scalel to, isn’t too far from the size in the picture, or you’ll get some distortion and a wierd width/length ratio.
They want to noseride it. It’s dominantly a noserider, but at the same time they want to be able to turn it with ease.
And yes, he can surf.
I already know the nose width. He wants it to be 18". Wide noseriding platform. A 16" nose for a traditional longboard is ridiculous.
It will have a taper to the tail. No hips.
I think you’re on track already. 9’4", 18" nose, 22" center, no hips, 13.5" tail, 5" baby square. 2 3/4" thick, maybe a step deck to lighten swing. 3" nose rocker, 4.25" tail, late. Barely a touch of a concave in the front third, then flat to slight belly through the rest. 50/50 pinched (egg) rails all the way. Sound about right?
How about something like the Harbour 19? Guys are really liking that shape for noseriding.
For such a light surfer, I think you can go shorter. A “19” at 9’2" would be nose 19" x 22 7/8 x 16 3/8 and 3 1/8 thick. No need to be thin on a noserider, right?
I’ve been doing some drawings and mental measurements, tell me what do you think of this:
length: 9’4’’
nose: 18.5’’
tail: 15.25’’
WP: 23.5’’ @ +4’’
rocker: 4’’ front, 4’’ rear
thickness: 3’’
Comment from a rider, not a builder. I know you said 9’4" is what he wants, but to my mind for a 120lb guy, that is oversized. Suggest to him that he can still noseride perfectly well and have a much more responsive board at 6" shorter. And this is from someone who’s normal pet peeve is people sizing longboards too short because they want them to “turn easily”.
…and width closer to 21.5 is hard enough for him to carry under his arm.
At 120 lbs, he’d appreciate the quicker and easier turning of a narrower log.
I’m 5’9" and the same weight, I prefer 23" wide or wider! I like 24" or so on 10’ boards.
I like 2 3/4" on logs.
Okay, thanks for all your input guys.
Comment from a rider, not a builder. I know you said 9’4" is what he wants, but to my mind for a 120lb guy, that is oversized. Suggest to him that he can still noseride perfectly well and have a much more responsive board at 6" shorter. And this is from someone who’s normal pet peeve is people sizing longboards too short because they want them to “turn easily”.
i’m 5’9"-ish, 145 lbs., and my 9’0" is my “shortboard”…i’m most at home on board in the 9’6" range with that classic “cruiser” type of style, and i like my nosreiders pushing 10’0"+.