I’m thinking about making myself a prone paddleboard for paddling the bay behind my house. Prone paddleboards aren’t something I see much in these parts. Looking for template ideas and dimensions for a 200 pound paddler. My plan would be to build from scratch using EPS or XPS.
There is a public dock just a couple hundred yards from my house. I have kayaks that I drag over there to fish and paddle. Thinking about adding a prone paddleboard to the mix.
Hi Mako -
Check PM. Depending on your plan, I might have some info that will help.
please share your info in the open air. this sounds very interesting to me as well.
maybe if you are in certain parts of california or the islands, you get exposed to these craft, but despite the prevalence of tankers, yaks, SUPs, and everything else imaginable, the humble prone paddleboard is like a unicorn in most places. it certainly is in my hood, and i’ve been paying attention for a long while.
and on a side point of discussion, are the very drawn out shapes like the surftech bark prone boards a reasonable approach for recreational/rehab/general-fitness paddling as well as racing to catalina? i’ve sort of had a vision of a modified brewer-gunnish outline below ten feet that could serve well for open water but never have to ride a wave.
however, the necessarily extreme foil/rocker changes and likely rolled-vee/up-rail forward to who-knows-what aft leave me perplexed. plus, despite lots of feel for kayak and big-board (and dory and sea-skiff) shapes, i don’t know what to do with that whole raised foredeck to dropped paddling-well profile so common to paddleboards. i keep trying to think about it as an elongated teardrop cockpit without a coaming, but it’s more dropped and faired out aft where there’s presumably a pretty flat run already. it’s so closely tied in with the rocker and thickness flow toward the tail. is the paddling-well even necessary below a certain length/thickness?
and what about the chinrest factor? that sure seems like a neck saver if you’re doing real distances, but it’s a very weird twist after a lifetime of regular surfing/paddling. is that a must-have or frivolous option?
again, i’m not interested the best time-over-distance, but as a comfortable open water training tool for an experienced and fit but aging 225+ pounder whose shoulders seem to like conventional rowing and prone-paddling a lot more than the kayak double-paddle position.
as above, i get the feeling that this is a probably a block foam project, considering the length, rocker, and foil. nobody would make a blank for such a thing, and i couldn’t get one for reasonable shipping if they did.
thanks so much for this discussion.
-cbg
been thinking about making one. needs alot of foam.
i will probably do a glue up of smaller blocks, that way minimizing alot of planing.
also adding all the scrap foam pieces ive saved. i have a prone board in my garage at the moment.
its a friends, he somehow found two used for sale. might just be the only ones in norway.
i did a ton of ding repair on it for him. i should take some measurments/notes.
having one, here in the fjords would be great for workout and exploring.
It would be fun to know the dimensions and see more close-up pictures, etc. of these boards.
Oldskull, do you think your friend would mind if you do a study of the board at your place and post it here?
Paddleboard info from Mr. Snyder:
https://www.barrysnyderdesigns.com/paddleboards.html
Greenlight surf supply has a touring SUP blank and USBlanks will cut blanks to file. Or someone ambitious enough could make their own pattern and hot wire something.
https://greenlightsurfsupply.com/collections/surfboard-blanks/products/sup-series-eps-foam-stand-up-paddleboard-blanks?variant=35790131852
PS - If I were going to use Greenlight for a prone paddleboard, I would ask them to skip the outlining… just get the sled cut rectangular blank.
Aloha- I’ve made a few, got 2 blanks cut out ready to shape when I can get to that…
This one is classic style 12-0 x 21, 1 1/2# foam, single 6 both sides with a deck patch. Kind of thick, it’ll power through almost anything.
Can’t beat the long strokes you get with these boards, great xtraining …the chin pad is crucial with these things, can relax the neck and let the wings move. Easy to breathe too. Going to make 2 new ones- 1# foam w/ more glass, vent plug for 1# also. Top choice of Hawaiian Waterman! Aloha
That is awesome that Rick Holt has posted. Those are very nice boards!
Saw this yesterday at a surf swap.
Velzy 20’
I missed you last week when I made my annual visit to the museum.
those shots really tell a story. very generous of you to share and such a sincere effort to clearly depict outline and profile as well as give a feel for that long flowing transition from super up-rail displacement nose to boxy cheese-wedge tail. i can clearly visualize the water flowing sweetly around those curves forward and cleanly releasing aft.
quite nice. thank you very much.
-cbg
The hardest part at first was getting a grip on the displacement hull concept. My first p.b. I shaped had me stumped until one day I was shaping something else, I had my blank up on the top shelf, deck up. Looked up and realized " the underwater view". Different concept than the traditional planing surfboard bottom. That was a breakthrough! Anyway, here’s a view of the next two, so far taking up space…
Aloha
he wouldnt mind. let me see what i can scribble down next week. what measurements should i be focusing on?
That would be great. I would start with rocker and thicknesses and then the matching widths in the plan shape. Think about what is needed to cut out templates for cutting a blank. Any pictures of the nose, rails, tail, kneeling area would be great too.
John M. also posted some pics of a design on page two.
Several of the pictures/figures posted remind me a lot of the bottom half of my 13.5’, shallow draft, 2-man kayak.
Any rule of thumb regarding fin placement?
That looks really nice Rick. I’m getting motivated.
all the best
On a recent prone paddleboard project (not sure why prone is OK but SUPs suck around here?) I used a 15" long center box installed about 6" or 7" up from the tailblock. We plan to try a Futures SUP keel fin in it at first but I know there are tons of fins out there if that doesn’t work.
