i am reading here a lot since a long time and i have learned a lot.
now a new board for myselve is on its way and i am not sure about the bottom design. most of my board have got single to double combinations. but i am just thinking about shaping my new board with less rocker and a deadflat bottom. maybe with a tiny bonzer bottom in tail area, to add some vee in the last part for easy turn and control.
so what do you think? wave are not really hollow, most of the time onshore…
rider: intermediate/avarage ability, 5.7, 145 pound.
i attached an pdf.<
i also like to hat do you thing in general… i know really difficult to say…
but like in my case:
flat bottom: less rocker less tuck (4 5/8 nose, 1 7/8 tail centertuck maybe 3/8 or a bit less)
VS:
concave bottom: deepest 3/16 single to double with some vee in the tail; 4 3/4 noserocker and 2 tailrocker
I say build it. Me, I'd drop the nose rocker to 4 inches, for a board that length. But that's just me. 1 7/8th inch tail rocker will be faster. Good luck.
I like flat boards for ease of paddling and lots of glide and speed. however when the waves get a little jiucy or hollow you have to be spot on with your takeoff timing etc or you will nose dive.
I cant seee that pic, im still working out this new computer and have to add programs but generally low rocker= glide, speed, paddle speed and
possibly more stability while standing up. Rocker = slower to paddle but easier to ride hollow pits, easier to turn and get vertical etc performance.
It also same thing almost for outline, more rounded is like roocker sort of, more straight is faster down the line
My vote for a board that flat (that is if I get a vote) is to go stringerless. On a steady hard turn, you will bend in a touch more rocker. Won’t help much on snappy turns, because the board will pearl before the board flexes, but for a smoot roundhouse cutback, or bottom turn, stringerless could help.
For what it’s worth, low-rockered, flat-bottomed boards have been my favorite boards for a while. I recently built this board for a friend of mine; it seems kind of similar to the one you’re planning:
I made it out of a beat up fish he had that was way too big for him, so I had a little bit of constraint in the design, which turned out to the advantage of the board, I think. The wings were born partly to get around existing fin-boxes, and the rocker came out pretty flat: 3 1/4 in the nose, 1 5/16 in the tail. This board is one of the most fun thrusters I have surfed in a long time, so fun I am going to make my next thruster very similar.
I haven’t tried this board in very large surf, maybe chest at biggest, but it has been really fun. The low rocker and almost flat bottom (very slight concave) make it really, really fast down the line, but it’s also very loose and maneuverable, I guess because of the wings and fin setup.
The dims are 5’4" x 19 5/8" x 2 5/16", by the way. Oh, and what everyone says about lower rocker being tough on bigger, steeper stuff is true, that you’ll pearl on takeoff if it’s not properly timed. I was pretty used to it, having surfed a 5’5" fish as my go-to board for a while, but the friend I made this for has had a tricky time getting the hang of it, being used to the more-or-less standard thruster rocker.
so my take off need to be inprooved… should i go with a bit more noserocker 4 3/4 or more??would it not be to much for a board that short?? but the same tailrocker? maybe a bit more volume for easy takeoff??
You could shape the nose to what you’re used to, then chop it off and voila, less nose rocker. Wackyness aside, I would personally go with 1 7/8, maybe 1 3/4 for the tail, that would be pretty versitile in my experience and a lot faster. flat will be more forgiving to ride and faster too. But what do I know, at 170#, my favorite board is 4’10 with 0 tail rocker, and 2.25" nose rocker. It rides great on hollow days and gets me barreled more than anything else I’ve ridden…and on rare occasion I burry the nose, but I’m used leaning heavy on the tail when Im up high and the bottom disapears. Go shorter and you can get away with less rocker.
