This is my first post, I’m a new shaper and really excited about getting into this. I’ve been surfing for about 10 years and am really excited about the life of no longer buying industry factory boards and learning the craft of shaping what works best for me and for particular conditions. I’ve just started my first groveller, small wave beach break 1-3ft mush board and am a little weary about how thick to make my rails. I’m about 5’10, 190lbs and the board is a 5’8" about 21" across and about 3" thick currently. I want it to be pretty beefy and know a generous rail will help with float. But I don’t want to carve away too much thickness in my rail and lose too much volume being left with a small under volumed board. My entry rocker I’m keeping around 3" (is that flat enough?) and tail just under 2".
Any advice, comments are welcomed as I’ve been reading up and there seem to be some great people here with loads of experience.
If I were you I’d measure a board that you like and copy the dims at these points…Rail thickness @ 2 inches from the edge of the board at the following… Max thickness somewhere around center, @12 inches from tail and @ 12 from the nose. also thickness at stringer 12 from tail and nose. With those numbers you can get a decent enough foil for you regardless of the max thickness. Hope that makes sense.
Do a totally flat step deck from the center out. Mark 3 inches in from your rails then drop those rails way down. Keep them really thin and pinched for off-the-line speed, not just in small waves, but any conditions. This way works because there is a minimum amount of shaping needed on the deck, you leave plenty of foam for volume, and still get a rail that is fast and you can bury in turns. Save all the shaping for the bottom of the board, the business side. Gut it with a deep single concave and blend into a nice V behind the rear fin. Everytime I try to play it safe on my personal boards, where I want a paddler or a groveler, and I go with a thicker rail, I notice they paddle great, but just feel slower off the drop. Nothing but step-decks and thin rails from here on for me.