In the past 10 years, I've built about 30-40 boards and they were all good boards but none of them were "special" and I think it was my lack of attention paid to putting in the correct rockers that prevented them from being really good boards. I wish I had some fo my old specail boards so I could copy the rockers. My question is how do I determine the correct rocker? My boards are 7'-7'6" and are wide and thick and I stand in a parallel stance in the middle of the board and I usually ride small waves. If some of you could send the dimensions of the rockers that you think would would be right for me, I would appreciate it. My favorite boards have been a 1977 Bonzer egg and an early 80's Becker LC3.
Sir- can you find a board you rode that had any magic about it? If so, maybe you should bust out the rular and calipers to disect board for the unknown secrets?
Shoots Mr. Chrisp, Whenevas! First you may have to get some of that wool out of your eyes. Normally, a lot of knowledge and I don't stand too close together.
if/when i'm ever down in Ventura, i'd like to come talk shop with you TBlank...
seems like there's a lot of knowledge to be gleaned from you...
Hi ASteve, For the real important ones I will use a ten foot sheet of 1/8" luan ply. I have to go to a sheet goods dealer for them. In the past I've just ripped two for anything over eight and overlapped the two pcs. to scribe. I've said this before, someday I'll get off my dead a$$ and make all my go tos out of 18 or 20 ga. aluminum.
ps. You can join the two pcs. with contact cement. With enough surface area, the glue will be almost bulletproof.
tblank,
what do you use for rocker templates for boards over 8' or so? I can't find masonite bigger than 4x8 sheets. for outline I do spin templates, but for rocker, I was thinking of maybe doing two separate ones(one for nose one for tail), and overlapping them in the middle with short bolts connecting them. any other suggestions welcome...
thanks
Make a rocker jig and then trace a template. Keep on file and give or get feedback as much as you can. When you have a template to lay on the bottom and guide you, the subtle changes come easy. Then Document, Document , Document. Rocker templates are as important as outline templates or more.
The gold standard for rocker measurement of the modern surfboard is Bill Barnfield’s, and there is a lot of stuff here in the archives, but I learned it from Alford Merrick, because he told me, and he gave the credit to BB, but when I tried to explain it to George Greenough, he wasn’t buying any of it, but he was barefooted and it was cold. He tried to explain his system to me, but I didn’t understand what he was talking about. But he was barefoot and it was cold.
What are you planning on making???
edit: Also, it might be a good idea to look in the archives. Alot of pros on here have given great advice, and could probably help you with your dilemma.
In my opinion(take it for what it's worth), Fin setup, outline, bottom contour, and foil need to be taken into consideration when looking at rocker. From your post, it sounds like speed might be a number one priority for you, in which case, I would go with less tail and nose rocker. If I were to build it, I'd say no more than 4 in the nose, and 2 1/4 in the tail. Keep in mind that these are just end numbers what goes on between them is just as important. I still don't know what you want to build, and how you want to surf it. Thats my opinion, others might have a different one. good luck on the build.
how can you give rocker measurements , then say you dont know what he wants build ???
hello,
no one was responding to tony, and tony didn't give a great description. I threw out numbers for the guy based on what he said about it being a midlength, thick and wide and mainly ridden in small waves. I still don't know any details on the board he is thinking about making, because he hasn't come back to tell us more about his board. Maybe he seached through the archives and found useful information
thanks