Hi everyone, im hoping to build a wooden version of a 6’ firewire potatonator, as all the reviews i’ve read have been nothing short of superb. However i’m struggling to get any more detail on the dimensions, other than 6’ x 21" x 2 5/8". There arent any stockists near me to go and have a closer look (Scotland) so i dont have a model to copy off, does anyone have any more detail on the dimensions for the potatonator, nose and tail rocker, bottom contours, nose and tail widths etc., or any idea where to find it? as ive struggled using the power of google.
An image I scaled to 6'2" came in at 14" nose, 17" tail, 21 3/4" WP (2"-3" aft of center) and corner to corner on the tail at about 9". The diamond part of the tail extends about 1 1/2" beyond the corners.
There are some videos of it online that show the dual concave through the tail and relatively flat rocker. I also noticed that the rail tuck on the underside extends pretty far back through the tail, unlike some of the tucks that fade to a sharp edge about even with the leading edge of the sidefins on a thruster.
It's possible that the image used was tweaked slightly to fit the website page that I printed out . The stock dimensions for a 6'2" are supposedly 21 1/4" according to the Firewire website. 1/4" per side on the total width discrepancy would be pretty hard to eyeball as far as total curve is concerned.
If you plot those key dimensions on a sheet of masonite, cut it out and plane/block sand to taste you'll be pretty close.
Yo! I’ve just got a 5’10" Potatonator and I’ll happily throw some dims your way. I’m in Pembrokeshire on a surf trip and ending up doing a lot of running, swimming and eating if you know what I mean. Can you wait a week for some accurate dims?
I used AKU shaper to get a rough idea of some Fishes I was wishing to emulate. You can use a picture to copy rocker and template in the program. Trouble might be getting said pictures of a 6’PN.
What amazed me was the flat deck…I mean dead flat! It keeps the maximum amount of foam right up to the rail transition.
The quad placements are interesting. They are mid way between McKee and Greenlight in the rears, just where I’d placed mine on a swallow tail quad that I have yet to surf!
martymo, happy to wait if you dont mind sending some dims my way, particularly rocker dims and thicknesses at various points through the board - from what youve said about the flat deck i guess its pretty chunky throughout? From what ive seen on vids of the board it seems the double tail concave is pretty deep too, any rough dims on this would be a great help. I want this board to be a beast! hope you found some swell in the end…
johnmellor - thanks for the advice, those dims sound pretty god to me, and im actually thinking i might go for the 6'2" instead of the 6'0", as the waves here are frequently pump. Out of interest how did you scale the dims from a photo? is there a nifty way of doing this?
Yo Mechtyme! I only had a quick 5 minute chance to get some dims off the 5'10". If any of them look a bit squiff please let me know and I'll re-measure, appologies for a mix of units and the contour and width dims not being at 12" and 6" as I didnt have time to take fins off:
BOTTOM: @16"T Double concave with rails lower than centreline (CL). CL is 4mm higher than rails. Concaves 8mm deep.
@35"N (midpoint) still double concave with CL 5mm higher than rails and concaves 6mm deep. Rails still lowest points.
@24"N almost flat with 1mm double concaves. CL same depth as rails. Forward of this there is "V".
@12"N CL 6mm lower than rails. Straight "V" rather than soft belly.
FINS: FRONT: 10 5/8" from tail, 1 1/8" off rail, vectored ~11" off nose. REAR 4 1/2" off tail, 1 3/4" off rail, vectored ~24" off nose. Sorry couldnt find gauge for cants, looks about 6 and 4 degrees, but will measure them tomorrow hopefully.
"Out of interest how did you scale the dims from a photo? is there a nifty way of doing this?"
It's not exact to tiny fractions of an inch but here is how I do it if I'm gonna rip a template… It only works if the image hasn't been tweaked to fit some magazine format. If the image is true to the actual outline you can simply right click on the image and print it.
When I printed the image I had snagged, it came out right at 6"+change actual size on printer paper. (Close enough for my purposes - I estimated it to be a 1":1' scale image of a 6'2".) If it isn't close to your desired length (scaled down to inches), run the printed image through a copy machine with enlargement capability. You will have to calculate the percentage increase on the copier to get the image at the correct length. If the original printed image is 5" and you want to do a 6' board, you'll have to enlarge by 20% to get an image at 6".
Once it's printed, it's easy to measure 1" from either end for your 12" from each end measurements. Measure across and see what you get. If scaled to 1" = 1', 1/2" = 6", 1/4" = 3", 1/8" = 1 1/2", etc. My ruler has calibrations at 1/32" so I can get it pretty close. Take a few measurements at wide point, maybe 1/2" from each end, and across the tailblock and you'll have enough to create a rough replica.
Plot those dimensions on a sheet of Masonite. Use old templates, batten, fiberglass rod or whatever to connect the dots. Cut and smooth to taste. It doesn't have to be exact. Somebody made up the curves. You can alter them slightly and be close enough. The other aspects of the shape will be difficult to replicate so you're only going to get something close anyway. You don't necessarily need to copy exactly… just use the original image as 'inspiration.'
very clever John, i hadnt really thought of using a photocopier to scale up/down board images and get accurate dimensions from. I'll give this a try when im back in work next week and have access to a decent copier. Thanks for the help.