i haved skinned my blank , cut the outline of a 9’5" longboard blank . My first attempt at shaping . What does the tail rocker accomplish ? More tail rocker equals better maneuverabilty or does it help with nose riding , or both ? Less tail rocker does what? The board is going to be a modern longboard , i was going to put a slight belly or roll the whole length and possibly put a little vee in the tail .
Thank you james
“More tail rocker equals better maneuverabilty or does it help with nose riding , or both ? Less tail rocker does what?”
Both. Curve in the rail helps manoeuverability (shorter turn arc) and overall rocker curve in the tail slows the board down and keeps the tail in the water. Especially when coupled with round rails. Thus, nose-riding capabilities are enhanced. Less tail rocker means basically the opposite. The amount of tail rocker, rail curve (putting “V” in the bottom will generally put more curve in the rail), rail shape (rounded or sharp edge) depend a lot upon the waves you intend to ride and what you intend to do on them.
Welcome to Sway’s! This is an incredibly helpful site for the new shaper…now search the archives.
Seriously James (mind if I call you Grasshopper?), there’s an absolute goldmine of info on this site, and, while tedious, searching and reading is the best way for a newbie shaper to gain the “basic” knowledge of board shaping (wax on, wax off?). If you don’t have the patience to read, think and plan out your shape, you’ll never realize your goal of producing a functional surfboard. Patience is a virtue, and if you’re serious about your shaping, which I hope you are, a little patience now will pay off big down the road. And, oh yeah, get Jim Phillips DVDs on shaping and watch them at least 10 times (I still watch both of his shaping DVDs and John Carper’s about once a month and I’m still learning from them).
I’m not trying to be mean or disrespectful here. I’m just trying to get you off on the right foot. Sure, I could just tell you how I do my “modern longboard” rockers versus my traditional noserider LB (all of which I learned primarily from this site), but then you would not learn to fish (…you know, “give a man a fish vs. teach a man to fish…?) And the fact that you are only asking about rockers, and not also rails, bottom contours and outline curves suggests that you have not yet grasped the complexity involved in shaping a functional longboard. But of course, I wouldn’t expect someone who is new to shaping to know this, but I do expect a newbie to invest some time in researching the basics of this wonderful craft. I spent a full year “lurking” on Sways and watching videos, reading, etc. before I skinned my first blank. End result was very satisfying (http://www.swaylocks.com/resources/detail_page.cgi?ID=1490). Not that you or anyone else should do what I’ve done, but you do need to be better prepared before you start mowing foam or asking “basic” questions. That way you can also avoid getting responses such as this from grouchy garage shapers, made grouchier by the total lack of surf…
Ha
we got surf , but i,m not telling where . just kidding but we do have surf . I thought you guys would just throw out the right answers and poof magic board . thank you for the the response i do appreciate them . I will do more research and check the archives . I,m a little cocky , i just got out of the surf and had some fun .
thanks again guys and girls
Hi James -
If you've come up with a suitable way to measure rocker, you're good to go. I've had some good rides on an Eaton fungun with a panel vee and flat areas behind the tail rocker break point. By that I mean it is not a 'continuous rocker' but more of a rocker apex in front of the fins with a flattish veed area behind the apex.
The board is set up with a 2+1 fin arrangement that has allowed me to ride everything from 2' to double overhead+ with a change in center fin. For small waves I put a 4.75" trailer and for big waves I put in a 8" trailer. With those two fins and the long box, the board has a very decent range.
I've had pretty good results with other boards using similar 2+1 fin set ups.
Tail rocker (and nose rocker) are difficult to quantitate, other than from a raw number measured at the ends, without a rocker jig or sequential measurements taken at various points along the bottom.
If you measure the rocker in one of your longboards (and if memory serves me you have a couple of nice ones) you should have a pretty good idea of where to go with your own shape. On a 9'5" you might be looking at something in the neighborhood of 3 1/2" but where the rocker 'breaks' and how the curve is shaped behind the break is critical.
As a very rough example, I made up a diagram showing two versions of a 3 1/2" tail rocker...
Fun Fun Fun......
I have a homemade eps/epoxy 8 footer that I love and it's based on the Eaton 7'9" rocker.... John and Balsa and NoMas explained everything.....
I'm guilty of telling people to do a search.........NoMas you're a good man in my book....I like your input...
Jt...aka James was at the Sways 2008....Very friendly with Well thought out questions...lots of questions...Lots of questions!....
Good stuff guys ...I'm currently a big fan of extra tail rocker (kick) on bigger boards but that could change in a heartbeat....
Ray
Good morning ,
Thanks guys , you have givin me more than enough to chew on . I am going to look at a couple of my other boards and envision what I want this board to do and go for it . Maybe I will have it ready for the next campout .Gonna go surf .
James