Please, Vote my Fish! (design only so far, sorry)

General Discussion
1

Hi everybody, I need some advice (actually a lot more than you’ll read here, but let’s stick to this for now).

With all the knowledge I got from this wonderful forum, I’m soon to start shaping my first board. I understand the actual handwork will have a much stronger impact than design on my first creation, but nevertheless, i’d like to understand what ‘would’ be best. I’ll try to be clear.

-I’m 36, 6’2", 185+lb, Started surfing last march after moving to San Diego from Italy, but surfed 3-4 times a week (just to give you a rough idea on skill), and have a long Skate-Snowboard background that helps me a little when on the board . So far I surf a 9’3" longboard and a 7’2" speed egg.

-I decided to shape a traditional fish, because I like the shape, and it also seems to be a good one to start with. (comments?)

-With a lot of input here(HERE) and there, and my own reasoning, I came up with two pretty close templates, one slightly slimmer and more racey (B), the other one fatter and with a deeper/wider buttcrack(A). I’m still a bit confused about rails (see sections on the side)

-Which one do you think works best for me? Here you see them side-to-side in red/blue. of course I’m ready to mix and match (tail A on shape B and so on).

-I’m thinking of using a 6’8"P blank (by Rich Pavel, sounds appropriate) with a very relaxed rocker (the one you see here), but I’m also considering a 6’9"A, with a slightly more aggressive rocker.

thanks in advance for all the input.

d

800×757 25.4 KB

2

B

However, your rocker is still way too much IMHO, which will cancel any fast outline you may have.

3

Thanks for the first comment.

That’s actually the lowest rocker I could find in the Clark catalogue. I Think it could look more than it is because the sideview is soo close to the belly of the template. I added a thin Horizontal line for reference.

If it’s still too much, what should I do? I’m not getting into modifying rocker on a blank in my first shaping experiment, i’m sure i’d mess it up.

d

4

Make it wider by an inch.

At 6’2", you might move WP back to increase tail curve, as such as straight template doesn’t work above 6’ in length like it would at 5’6".

5

Thanks LeeDD,

bUt which one should I make wider? version B already has a widepoint further back than A. but is narrower. should I widen B? and the buttcracks?

thanks

d

6

Hi Moai.

Just my 2 cents worth. Your ideas look really good, nice outlines. I’d DEFINITELY go with the narrower one. 21" is heaps of width, and with your skating background I’d say go shorter, too. 5’10 to 6’ x 21" is more than adequate flotation for your weight, and added width would just make it much more sluggish, unless you go very short (5’4-5’6).

As for the foil, the 6’8P looks like a very good blank (wish we could get them here in New Zealand), or go with the 6’2C and ask for lowered rocker (look at the Clark Foam website, and go to the rocker catalog. There’s tons of options, even, I believe, a Skip Frye rocker which should suit your board well). Aim for something like 1.25" tail rocker and 3.25" nose rocker.

Also, you might want to thin out the nose from what you’ve sketched. No need for a huge beak.

Have fun. Whatever you end up with will blow your mind.

Maz

7

moai,

nice drawings. what software did you use?

quesiton about your fins…how much toe/cant are you going with and where are you sourcing them?

fyi – i’m 37 and 6’3" x 200 lbs. my fish is 6 x 17.5 x 22 x 16.75 x 3 and works insane!

kirk

8

Liki, the same I saw, to short an apex on the rocker, for a large man too close to rear of board, a real water pusher

9

Kirk, see my reply here

Quote:

moai,

nice drawings. what software did you use? -The template is actually designed in Rhino3D, that has a cool curvature analysis feature, but the drawing is laid out in Illustrator

quesiton about your fins…how much toe/cant are you going with and where are you sourcing them? -If I go with the keels: No cant, 1/8 on an inch toe in. I was thinking of making them myself (I’m doing this with a friend). Otherwise we’ll use a finbox system and put a twinzer setup on.

fyi – i’m 37 and 6’3" x 200 lbs. my fish is 6 x 17.5 x 22 x 16.75 x 3 and works insane!

kirk

10

u can bring the rocker down by taking some foam off the bottom but you may not want to do that because it will take down the thickness’

that’s just my 2 cents though