Step Deck Longboards

What is a step deck longboard ?

at the top of the page is a button “Glossary”, with a little effort it will take you here:

http://www.swaylocks.com/glossary/index.cgi?step_deck

That’s interesting, I had always wondered about stepdecks when reading about them. A shaper here built one with a step in it like that, I thought that he had ‘lost his marbles’ by taking the ‘stepdeck’ idea literally. I thought that a stepdeck didn’t actually have a step, that it was rather a board with a fore and aft concave in the deck. It must be a hassle for noseriding, especially walking backwards. When we saw Mike Murden’s board with an actual step in it we just about split our sides laughing!

PS Now I am really confused. The Hawaiian Pro designs ‘stepdeck’ model doesn’t have a step or a deck concave!

PPS Nor does the 1966 O’neil ‘stepdeck’ model have a step in it. http://coolsurfstuff.com/Boards.htm

PPPS Nor does the Bing ‘lightweight stepdeck’ model have a step in ithttp://www.classicbingsurfboards.com/pages/5/

Is it possible that you have made a mistake?

go back to the bing noserider thread on page 2. there is a picture that is a good example.

“Is it possible that you have made a mistake?”

No.

From 48-44" back from the nose to 36" back from the nose there is a decrease in thickness from full thickness to 2 3/4" with the thickness tapering further to 1 3/8" 12" back from the nose. The attached spoon_side picture shows this if you look closely. This is one variation on a theme. I’ve never noticed the step because it’s more of a slope.

Keith, it seems fairly obvious that traditional ‘stepdecks’ do not have an actual step, and thus it would seem that you have made a radical departure from the normal ‘stepdeck’ with your stepped version. It seems to be a bit silly to have a step though. Do you ever trip over it when walking backwards?

PS Having a step on a stepdeck is maybe like having a trigger on a ‘gun’ board or a handle on a ‘spoon’ board. Or maybe even eyes on a ‘fish’ board! :))

Talk about trippin’ backwards…

You know how eager beaver noseriders sometimes walk clean off the nose of their boards? Perhaps the idea of the step is sort of like an advance warning system. First you walk off the step, and this tells you approximately how far you have to go before the big whoopsie. A major advantage of this system would be that it will allow the rider to maintain a haughty nose in the air posture, without him (or her) having to take sneaky looks at his (or her) feet. Perhaps a multiple step board with buzzers or bells which go off at each stage would be a good idea.

Chiz Chiz! :))

The Oneill board that you posted above CLEARLY has a pronounced stepdeck in the very first picture, so does the Bing. It’s almost impossible to see the “step” looking at a board from straight on, but you can see the drop pretty well on the Oneill, and you can see a thinning of the rail just a bit on the Bing. I had a Takayama Classic stepdeck that was awesome, and no, I never “tripped on the step”. Don’t knock it 'till you try it Roy my boy…

Tenover me old china, I am talking about an actual step, you know, like on a stair, like on Keith’s board. I don’t see one on the Bing, the O’Neill, or the Hawaiian Pro Designs model. a gradual slope is not the same thing. Nothing wrong with a gradual slope. Is it a step like on a stair that you have been riding?

Another stepdeck with no step! (Hawaiian pro designs)

I have own, no less then 4 step decks. Cheater by Harbour, Bump, by Haut, UFO, by Becker, and one shapped by Mike Eaton. I for one love the step deck. The idea is a good one. You get go have a board with a little more nose rocker then you would normaly have in a “good nose rider”, making it easier to drop into waves, without diging the nose. Now as you walk towards the nose the thinned out nose alows the nose to flatten out and the board has a flatter rocker making it a better nose rider. I for one think they really work well. But then that is only my idea. It does not take a lot of spooning out to make it work, and Roy if you knew as much about shapping surf boards as you claim to you would know that a real fast/sharp drop off ie a step would not last very long. It would just be a breaking point on the board.

Roy,

I have an eye on my fish. It helps me see under the board. Check out the wildlife. Mike

I get your drift, Bagman. Actually I was wondering how a sharp drop off worked. I am only a student, like most of us.

This is the sharp drop off which I was wondering about.

The one which Mike Murden built over here had an even more radical vertical step, which I thought was a misinterpretation of the original concept.

Everything works I suppose.

Awesome! Actually I confess, I am putting two rope handles on my new spoon (one each side).

the simmons board in the yater collection is where many step deck interpretations begat …a pretty severe drop off at the step down it had many stepdeck interpretations had a severe step down 1963?-1965?..the mellower interpretation s of the step were proliferated by the conservative shapers and shops…the radical ones were often demonstrative boards to signal that this shop too had a step deck…Greek Eliminator had a real big step I saw a few Hobies with the radical step as the spoon or step deck started to fade the demonstrative step down was obscured by labels and paisley cloth deck inserts the insidence of tripping walking backwards is only a poblem when one confuses walking walking with shuffling…ambrose…the Cat model from GREG NOLL exploiting el Mikilos’ affection for the Yater spoon had the greatest deck contour change of allthe step decks and, as I have mentioned before in another thread,though you may have passed it over…the abrubpt rise split down each rail leaving a pointed center mound just about foot size that the rider could feather the control ,not quite tip riding but the forward 1/3 trim position…like pictures of the dora down and around at the malibu the white shorts photos…ambrose…study there will be a test,and the dropping of the name Dora has a distinct sound heard only by dogs …surf dogs

Roy, the stepdeck that you show the pic of with the fan wood tail block,(nice looking tail block by the way). Well for me that board has way to much wood in the stringer for the board to work like a stepdeck should work. Maybe that is why he put such a heavy step in the deck. You can also see that a deck patch was added into the front 2/3 of the board, as well as the step not being strate across but done as a triangle. Everything done to make the board stiffer in the step area. The board does not look to me like it would flex, very well to me. I like my stepdecks to have the step farther back on the board like Ambrose said 1/3 of the way back off the nose, a small center stringer, and only a center stringer, and glassed with 10 oz volan one layer top and one bottom. You can feel the board flex made like this.

Ambrose, yes I did catch your post about the outside lines on the nose. I’m ready for the test. I’m not much of a name dropper, but when I was talking to Lance Carson the other day he said he did not think stepdecks worked all that well, said he saw no need for them. He felt that he could nose ride with out them. I said that him being one of the top 10 nose riders of all times(at least in my book) he did not need anything like that. Most of the rest of us, and by us I’m talking about me, need all the help we/I can get. At 230 lbs walking to the nose is easy, getting to the tip is the hard part, and staying there I need all the help that can be given. Now at 200 lbs it was a lot easier, just can’t seem to stay there any more. Bagman

Here’s how Noll did the da Cat. I don’t have to worry about tripping because I quit drugs back in the 70’s

-Jay


pic still hard to see the xagerated bump thats the steering dome that made the attempt to out genius the simmons step… the lance insight is that floatation forward has nose planting adwantages like not sinking under the weight…also the other feature of Da Cat excercise in shape alternatives was the deep centered ’ lowered center of gravity trough’ that seems much like standing in a canoe compared to the flatened forward area of the classic spoon providing a stable yet not overprotective or over stable forward standing area…as a market ploy tending to the demonstrative for sales attention and effectiveness the Greg Noll ‘da Cat ’ model was in line with Captain Greg’s philosophical life path and a great sales item I undertand in the east where most of the surviving examples reside as the surf has not the consistant power to stress the ‘achilles flaw’ of the overt step…ambrose… swing weight is the primary feature of the reduced deck altitude…My Father said "stop dragging your feet pick the damn things up for christ’s sake’’ tripping over your own feet doesnt involve drug use when you are 5 years old and it can set the pattern for a lifetime of shuffling…highstepping to the nose and back can be pure poetry

At the angle we are looking at that board it would appear the board actually has a step or is it just the shadow of where the deck patch ends?