Regarding the reluctance of channeled boards rolling from edge to edge, I used to shape double-barreled concaves into my kneeboards: softly rolled nose at the tip, moving down to the very slight beginnings of the twin concaves in the entry, fully defined and at maximum depth through the center, fading out through the dual fins (Fish-related), and out the tail as a slight panel vee. The way I dealt with the problem of rail to rail stiffness, which only got worse as size and power increased, was to shape the bottom into three distinct sections (a triplane), i.e. about 4" in from the outside edges from nose to tail. There was a slight (about 3/8" to 1/2" flat) bevel extending from the rail to the rounded edges of the twin concaves, which also followed the curve of the template. This design worked very well for me, rolled easily through rail turns, was extremely fast, widened the operating range of the boards, and added a lot more drive through hard carves. These kneeboards were all about 2" thick, soft, full rail contours with a sharp, tucked edge underneath, full template, deep swallow tail, low rocker, etc. Do you shape these bottoms on shortboards now? I have one but with single concave in the tail instead od vee! Ride great rail to rail and very fast.Good off the front foot too!! Wonder why we don’t see more of these? What are your thoughts? Dale
Mike, It seems weve followed the same path... that double-barreled concave w/shallow chines, tucked edges, etc. shape works very, very well! But to increase my kneeboards' handling range, I eventually went to narrower, thinner, flex tail fishy designs, widepoint and thickness ahead of center, 2/3 spoon deck, softer rails, twin keel fins w/ base cut away from bottom to provide a bit more flex, all about 5'-0" long, or so. I was then able to up the speed by using dead flat rocker through the back half. The flex/torque was there to provide enough maneuverability when I needed it. An extremely talented standup friend rode my foam/glass versions and flex tails and he liked them.>>>"Do you shape these bottoms on shortboards now?" No. At present, Im building custom surf mats full-time.>>>“Wonder why we don’t see more of these? What are your thoughts?” Im sure one of the reasons we don't see more of them is the trendy, myopic nature of surfings mainstream. Also because designs like that have an appetite for long, smooth, faster waves with lots of power. More linear tracks than vertical. With such equipment, its always more satisfying to go hunting for uncrowded, higher quality breaks. Its great to hear about what you`ve been doing… I encourage you to continue bringing your ideas to life!