Really round rails on my board, should i add a bead and sand back?

I have this board that has super round rails, and no edge whatsoever, except behind the fins, where i added a bead and made it super sharp.

 

Should i add another small bead along the rail, and try to put a little tucked edge along the board?? I use the board for under head high waves. I have had bad luck with the board, one of those boards that when you take it to the beach, its total junk!!. I have had some sweet waves on it, and pulled off some pretty turns though, so im not sure if i just need more time on it, or should i add a bead and put a bit more of tucked edge on it?.

 

Im annoyed with myself coz if i'd taken a bit more care with the rails it may have been a much better board, but then i think maybe it wouldn't have been aaaargh!!.

 

I guess i'll take more care with the next one so might be a good thing in a way.

 

Trying some new fins in it tomorrow am, fingers crossed,

 

 

 

Cheers

Beerfan , got the same thing with an older board of mine !  One day I will run some resin and glass from around midway through to the tail , and put some edge on it. It's a bit dohey on a hard turn and could do with a touch of speed.

dude cheer up,

u've got a realy nice board there.

if it was a standart  ( boring) shortboard I would understand your disapointment but

since it's not... you should enjoy it's character and love it as it is.

btw,  nice swirls !

go and make another one....

Lee

I bought a commercially built kneeboard with very round rails to see what a board with that design feature would ride like. Everyone who tried it (Steve Lis, Stan Pleskunas, Kenny Hughes) agreed that it felt quite slow. To quickly determine if that feel was associated with the round rails, we taped a “large” diameter wire along the length of the board at the approximate junction where the “roundness” of the rails met the bottom of the board. Then rode the board with that alteration. The conclusion was that at the least, it noticably changed the “feel” of the board for the better (unfortunately at that time we didn’t have any means of objectively measuring whether the actual speed was increased, or not.)

Motivated by the change in feel, we bonded some foam “trip” strips to the rails of the board to make a more permanent alteration (see attached pics).

Perhaps you might want to consider trying a similar temporary “tape and trip” experiment to see if that makes a difference on your board (it has the advantage of being easily removable). I’d suggest using a 1/8 to 3/16" aluminum rod instead of the wire that we used as it is much easier to make a fair curve. As I recall, we use PermaCell P256 tape, but plastic duct tape (I think it’s an acetate) would probably be easier to find.


[quote="$1"]

I have this board that has super round rails, and no edge whatsoever, except behind the fins, where i added a bead and made it super sharp.

Should i add another small bead along the rail, and try to put a little tucked edge along the board?? I use the board for under head high waves. I have had bad luck with the board, one of those boards that when you take it to the beach, its total junk!!. I have had some sweet waves on it, and pulled off some pretty turns though, so im not sure if i just need more time on it, or should i add a bead and put a bit more of tucked edge on it?.

[/quote]

Your performance description is vague maybe you can define it a bit better, BUT...

I have done this and yes you should. It will feel like a totally different board, probably better (faster). If after the change it feels like you went too far, then its easy to sand/round/blend it down, and do it in small increments at a time. You can even do it while youre out surfing with a waterproof sanding product. A good rule of thumb: sharp corner forward of front fins about the length of your hand. But you can go longer. But its best to blend it as long and as smooth as possible. Good luck.

 

[quote="$1"]

I have this board that has super round rails, and no edge whatsoever, except behind the fins, where i added a bead and made it super sharp.

Should i add another small bead along the rail, and try to put a little tucked edge along the board??  should i add a bead and put a bit more of tucked edge on it?.

 

 Beerfan: I had a board about eight years ago were I had the same expeirence. I wish I had photos of how I corrected it.

Any this is what I did:

I sanded the rail about 20" up from the rail back and added a pencil thickness of fin rope (Fiberglass matt unwoven) along the rail all the way back to the tail.

I made a damm with 1" masking tape to support the build up. Sanded the board flat then while sanding the rail care has taken not to dull the edge of the rail.

The rail was then spriralled to transition from edgy to soft so it all blended about 6" above the front of the fins.

This changed the board to were it would hold an edge and gave it a more responsive feel to it. Plus it saved my butt because it was an order and I left a soft rail right at the front of the fins.  This was the fix. Not my ideal howver the owner of the glass shop had the solution in my case.

Now with out seeing the whole rail line, bottom contour, rocker, foil thickness or fin placements I may be all wet here?

Take it for what it's worth?

SD 

hey beerman

  • do it

my experience; i made a nice compsand 2 yrs ago [6,4x20 widepoint fwd and wide ass tail

super round rails and a big single fin

you could nose ride it

but turn it, not really well!

so i took it back, and just added a super knife sharp edge all the way.

board suddenly went insane!

oh, and the waves i surf are mushy windswell ones, soft rolling

so… if your waves are the same, do it too

and yes, i got inspired by all that griffin talk… justly!

go and do it and report back

beers

wouter

I shape Dale Dobson’s boards, he personally tunes them himself after test riding, adjusting the length and verticalness of the hard edges, he’ll sand, dam up with masking tape and pour resin to build up the bead and go from there.

Was it Greg Loehr who talked about experimenting with rail edges by temporarily  building them up with wax ?

yes greg did [where is he?]

 but not with wax, but with… ehm… forgot the name… bondo or something?

Hey guys thanks for the info!!!. Tried it this morning in waist high fat waves. Didn't feel "sticky" ,but the nose of the board seems like it wants to lift up out of the water, even with different fins. The rear edge of the fin is around 7'' from the back of the board, could this have an effect too?, feels like they may be too far back.

 

Looks like i'll be adding another bead of resin, sucks coz i hate sanding, especially rails, but i guess its also practise. Thanks guys for all the advice, much appreciated.

 

P.S The probox keels feel unreal!!, got to pump it and bring it around on a tiny wave, and they feel great so far. Definately gunna make a board to suit them. I'll do the rails properly too!!.

Did a great job, i cant even see where the foam strips are!!. Might look around and try this, or some of the other temporary methods first.

 

Thanks again guys.