I turn 55 in a couple weeks and I’m going to start moving more into longboards for conditions up to head high. Places like Cardiff or Church or Terramar. I favor singlefins for that type of surfing and I have lots of time on midlengths up to 7ft. I’m gonna go to 8ft on this one and I’d like to solicit some input for rockers and blanks for such a board. My current stubbie is a wide-point back singlefin and I used 3.5" in the nose and 1.75" in the tail. I run a 9.75" 4a type fin with that board and try to surf a little more off the tail. I was thinking 4/2 would be a reasonable extension for that at 8ft but I wouldn’t mind going a little flatter if I could get away with it . Too much? Too little?
" He has always had tail rocker to some extent, he understood the principle, and we are seeing everyone with tail rocker these days. I’ve got guys riding my guns at Mavericks these days with more tail rocker because they can have less nose rocker which means they can paddle into waves more easily. They are pushing the limits because low nose rocker increases your water line length which is the principle of yachting and canoes. If you have an 11 foot board with a lot of nose rocker there’s only 9 foot of it in the water. If you drop the nose rocker down suddenly you have 11 foot in the water and you will be able to glide into a swell nice and early’"
i found this interesting, might help you decided what to do with your board, i would use a 9ft blank if it was myself
Hi George,
While you were going shorter and wider...I was going longer....I took rocker numbers from a 2005 Clark foam catalog. The 7'9"E has a 4 3/4 nose and a 2 3/16 tail....I streched it out to 8 feet and made a rocker template...added more rocker to the tail when shaping....I like the "kick" in the tail...come on over and take it out for an extended test drive.
US blanks has an 8'2"A. The rocker numbers seemed a little extreme to me...but the blank is 4 inches thick....I think I paid $110 for that one in poly......future project
Have a great day....Ray...
and maybe next month we can go out for a beer...........
i have a few 8 foot hulls.. nose rockers are any where from 3.25 to 4 tails are 1.25 to 1.75. no issues with any of them.
I surf Tmar all the time when it's good, and I made an 8'0 that I made specifically for that place. I wanted a wave catcher that didn't have a ton of length in front of me. It can't out paddle a 10 footer over distance, but it catches waves just about as easy. I made it short, fat, wide and flat. I used the US 8'3H, and my dims are 8'0 x 18n x 22.5 x 15t x 3 1/8. I use it as a single with a 7.5 full fin. If you are in Carlsbad area you can check it out. Just pm me.
Ooooh im gunna like the pics in this thread! ( im a midlength fan! )
I now and then see a youngish guy at our local on what would be around 8' longboard type shape, wide round nose, forward widepoint, pulled round pin tail. This thing looks so damn flat in the nose it's not funny. But the ease with which this guy catches waves is crazy. Even on steeper stuff, he gets in so damn early its no problem. Im hoping to one day try it, 8', similar dims to dcasey's, but super flat nose, with inceased tail kick through the tail. One finner. Kinda like "pig" rocker, but with a more standard lb outline.
Keen to see progress and finish pics gdaddy. I still have your "piggy" style single fin thread in my fave's!
Maybe something like this? When I read your original post I thought…that’s what I was going for when I built this board. Note the tail kick. Very pinched hullish type rails…almost a tri hull bottom…I run a 9" fin in it and It turns on a dime and absolutely flies down the line…even in small slop.
8’7" X 20" X 3"
If this is what your thinking I can send you the dims.
[img_assist|nid=1064883|title=Foils|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=91] this a 7’6’’ i did, its super fast. can get you rocker numbers if you like.
Zac
Koopman, what blank did you use for that??
I very much appreciate each and every response posted so far and hope others will chime in, too. Just to add some info, I’m shooting for a Transition Era vibe in my midlengths rather than a noserider or HPLB setup as such. However I’m kinda leery of the hard core hulls because the conditions here usually aren’t what I would consider great for such a setup.
The other dimensions on my current stubbie are as follows: 7’0 x 2.75; 17"nose, 22"wide @ 4" behind center, 17.5" tail with a slightly pinned round tail shape I lifted off of one of Scott Henry’s longboard designs. To go longer I might narrow the nose and tail a bit.
I’m really drawn to the Putnam-Hilbers “Hot Generation” and Hilber’s MicroAnt designs but I greatly fear my reach may exceed my (shaping) grasp on those. At any rate, I would need to figure out the appropriate rocker for something like that before comitting to a template and bottom. Rocker comes first, ya?
gdaddy-I forgot to throw in the rocker measurements, which are 2 3/4t and 4 1/4n. I believe rocker is important on the mini-lb's, as when I over-rocker'd one it was a dog. Pushed way to much water on the slopey stuff and was too long for the concave stuff. I also think making them light is key. I glassed mine 6S by 4E deck and 6E bottom. You don't have the length of a noserider, so making them heavy really works to their disadvantage.
Beerfan it was an 8’2’’ longboard from surfblanks australia
template was placed 4inches from nose, 4 inches from the tail
read your comments and thought it may interest you also, it glides into waves with such ease and goes faster than any other board ive owned
Just my 2c, but I would be looking at an 8’2E Foam Corps blank with the natural rocker and move my template back a bit and do it in yellow foam or go with a a US 8’3H and drop the tail rocker by at least 1/2". There is no reason to have a low-low nose rocker if you arn’t nose riding and have tail kick. The shorter you go the more drag you have when there are breaks in the rocker flow. Both of these companies will glue up what you want on a one-off. All you have to do is ask. If your reseller says “I can’t do that” change the vendor! Try to go direct, you will be suprised, and maybe build up a relationship. Just my 2c again…
BKB
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Beerfan it was an 8'2'' longboard from surfblanks australia
template was placed 4inches from nose, 4 inches from the tail
read your comments and thought it may interest you also, it glides into waves with such ease and goes faster than any other board ive owned
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Cheers mate, M06 rocker?. Handy to know. Funny though, at my new place, i struggle to work on my 6'6'' in my 3m x 3m shed haha. I used to have a 5m x 4m shed, bloody hell i miss it. Im glassing a 9'4'' for a friend in my garage soon. Wife going to kill me!!
I don’t know if anyone has said this but…
I have made and surfed 8’ ish boards with wider tailed outlines vs narrower tailed outlines. I make the wider tailed boards with a bit more rocker in the tail or else it feels like they don’t “fit” into the wave(especially in steeper stuff). The narrower ones seem to do better with less tail rocker. so i think that outline plays a bit part in it too.This is how it seems to me…hope this helps you.
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I turn 55 in a couple weeks and I'm going to start moving more into longboards for conditions up to head high. Places like Cardiff or Church or Terramar.
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Here's a pic of the board I just posted at head high+ Tamarindo rivermouth. Sorry for the quality, but a local photog emailed it a few years ago fm cr. As you see, I ride it shortboard style for the types of conditions you listed.
Oops-here it isl.
What did the rocker end up being on your finished board?
Thanks
LOL I haven’t gotten around to doing that board yet. I started an 8-3 for a friend and that blank didn’t cooperate with me - the tail got torn off when I was bringing the thickness down on the the deck (I didn’t notice the stringer was scarfed together there - without any glue - and my planer picked up the corner of the rear piece. Bummer).
My options were limited so this is what I ended up doing with that blank. I just started sealing it so the bottom is rough. I’m gonna put a keel+twinzer on it.
ASteve makes a very good point.