Pro's - con's of "hull" type board in big waves...

Please share thoughts, experiences on/with hull type boards in bigger 2xOH+ surf.

I ask cuz I went ahead and put some panels in the front half of my latest gun… a 9’3" Not exactly a “hull”… deep V in the nose - entry rocker @ 1/2", then fading to flat from the center out, and back to about 3 1/2’ from tail - from the “geometric apex” - so the flat “panel” on the bottom kind of looks like a surfboard shape/outline with in the rail lines. - Then from flat to V at “kick” Think I wrote all this before… 21" wide, 4" belly, 11.5" tail… (gotta admit, all those layers of glass added more thickness than I’d anticipated… Glad I shaped it nice and thin in the tail) @ 1.5" thick at 1’, 2.25" at kick = 27.5" from tail.

I went with this based on the “good” parts of other boards…

But, -still curious to read others input

Thanks for puttng up with my posts from the office of redundancy office

Your standard Smoothie or 'Tweener was not designed for big waves and my experience substantiates that. There are a number of examples of big wave hulls by Paul Gross and Greg Liddle that will work in the big stuff. I saw Kirk Putnam’s beautiful Hanalei Hull Greg shaped and I know Marc Andrieni probably makes them for OBSF.

You just need to narrow the width, muck with the rocker a bit and be careful how much, and where you put the hull. I’ve put a round bottom on a fish and it works great in the big (2XOH+) stuff for me. Real nice solid feel and carves well. Not so good with the slash and burn but that’s not the way I surf.

Bottom line: some curve in the bottom, if done right, will make the board feel solid and smooth but you will lose a little vertical ability as you are surfing more off the hull than the fin(s).

Shoot Lee - So no airs then??? Ha! Not part of my plan either.

The plan with the forward hull is for ease through the chop, wash, etc…, and, as it eases out towards the rails only in the fore-mid section, it should help with getting it on rail, as should the “SK8” rails I copped off HiC - worked great on my last two boards - i.e. the rails are only 2 1/4" thick from the edge to about 2 1/2" in then the deck steps up another 1 1/2" - Just in the “Belly” about 1’ in front of, and 1.5’ behind center.

Thanks for the feedback Lee - “Clean liven’ = clean surfin’ since 4/28/08!” Ha!

Sounds good! I neglected to say that the best place I found to put any roll is where you plan to stand and turn. The v for cutting chop is usually in the entry rocker and is a different deal. Too much curve in the V could slow you down, just when you don’t want to be slowing down.

good pic of a hull in larger surf: http://www.liddlesurfboards.com/tahitavaney.html

Hey Lee - I think we’re thinking along similar lines… One of these day’s I hope to get my digital act together and post some pics. I like the entry V/hull for chop etc.and tried to fade it out as described for the speed issue…

Part of my hypothesis is based on studying pictures of myself on my previous gun and once I’ve started planning/dropping pretty much the front half of my board is out of the water, or most of the out side rail, and about the front 3rd of the inside rail, so, as for the riding speed, I’m not worried about the area from the nose to the “geometric apex” in terms of slowing me down…

Soon enough time will tell… Set the boxes last night, so, with my 72 step style… ugh… Ha! - Got mental revisions in process. - it should be done with in a week… Just a little bit each night after work and surf and dinner, and…

Ok - enough rambling…

hey lee, i was looking back through an old surfers journal (v15 #2) and was reading the stubby article, were you a contributor i that? it was a wonderful and inspiring article.

ive been talking to marc over the last few weeks about him making me a chambered balsa board (he brought one into the shop that i laminate at and i could not stop drooling over it) and was thinking a hull would be a nice choice. ive never really ridden one, the mollusk guys are out on them (well they are on the one day a month that they surf) here at OB but ive never really seen any impressive surfing on them. i always thought that they were better suited for the lane, pleasures, or some of the other SC points. do you think that marc’s boards are well suited for OB? i work in SC so figured i could always ride a hull there but i live in SF a block from ocean beach and surf it every day so i would sorta rather a board that will work here too. any thoughts? suggestions?

i always thought about making a stubby but as ive never ridden one i wouldnt really know if it was working the way it was supposed to. and from talking to marc, i thought that there were too many fine points going into one to try to make one before riding the real thing