Duh! I was showing a buddy of mine the step deck on my spoon and when he asked what it was for I didn’t know the answer. Any body care to enlighten a poser?
Duh! I was showing a buddy of mine the step deck on my spoon and when he > asked what it was for I didn’t know the answer. Any body care to enlighten > a poser? IMHO, When it comes right down to it, a great many surfers (standing, kneeling or prone) enjoy a lowered sense of gravity, thinner more sensitive rails, slightly dished decks and flexible rocker… it`s only natural. Step decks are a move in that direction, offering the longboard surfer a taste of those sensations and the benefits of their improved performance. Dale
Steve Walden has carried it to the logical extreme with a few boards actually being scooped out right down to a football shaped glass panel in the nose - kind of like a Greenough spoon kneeboard. Speaking of Walden, he has also done nifty nose wings and sometimes combined those with little glass on fins that stuck straight out from the rail in the tail area. Far out but functional - don’t know if he still does them.
the purpose of the step deck is to allow the board to “literally” straighten the rocker profile while noseriding, or at least in trim in the upper third of the board. Supposodedly, the nose straightens out when the rider is up on it. Have ridden a Yater Spoon and a Greek Eliminator and can tell no eveidence of any of this theory. Dunno, might be just a gimmick carried over from years past, orI might just suck at noseriding.
Duh! I was showing a buddy of mine the step deck on my spoon and when he > asked what it was for I didn’t know the answer. Any body care to enlighten > a poser? STEPDECKS, A outdated noseriding design, is a spooned out/scooped out deck approx 24"-30" which supposedly flex’s downward when you stand on the tip(noseriding) making for less noserocker and less drag, but when ridden from the tail has it’s normal rocker. Now the more sringer wood involved, the less flex potentail so anything over the 3/16" normal blank stringer starts stiffening the flex potential. Personally, I feel that when the sixty’s shapers ('65-'67) discovered kicking up the tail and putting some rake in those slab fins (Con Ugly, Bing Nuuhiwa Noserider) that was way more effective for hang time than the stepdeck.
Duh! I was showing a buddy of mine the step deck on my spoon and when he > asked what it was for I didn’t know the answer. Any body care to enlighten > a poser? Please correct me if I’m wrong but I beleive a spoon and a stepdeck are two differebt things. A spoon is basically as it suggests; a subtle scooping of the deck @ the nose. Object is to remove extra weight from the nose. A step deck is a much more radical removal of material from the deck with the object of allowing the nose to flex reducing noserocker and thus enhancing the boards noseriding performance. Weight reduction/spoon nose flex/ enhanced noseriding performance. Lets pose another question. Which came first or influnced the other? JC
I’ve been told the reduction of foam in the nose reduces “swing weight” for turning. If the rocker changed on a board, wouldn’t stress fractures eventually appear?
Please correct me if I’m wrong but I beleive a spoon and a stepdeck are > two differebt things. JC, thanks for the info. So it sounds like general concensus that stepdecks “supposedly” enhance the “flex” of the nose. Regarding the spoon vs stepdeck – I have a Yater “Spoon” with a stepdeck – so in my case they aren’t necessarily different. mike
JC,>>> thanks for the info. So it sounds like general concensus that stepdecks > “supposedly” enhance the “flex” of the nose.>>> Regarding the spoon vs stepdeck – I have a Yater “Spoon” with a > stepdeck – so in my case they aren’t necessarily different.>>> mike it’s definitely an alleged “flex”. i’ve heard two main theories on the step deck design and after owning and riding one for a while, i’d really have to agree with dale above, that it’s more of a sensitivity/sensation issue, combining the sweet trim spot with a little lower position relative to the surface of the wave. i talked a lot with tom mobley of mobley surfboards and that is what the design of his stepdecks are all about…
Mike and co.- I’ve got a 9’7" Surfboards Hawaii Model A. Certainly a classic stepdeck design, with the offset triple stringer they were known for. VERY thin nose rail profile, lots of deep dish nose concave as well. Along with the promise of flexible rocker there was a price to pay, the blank had to be overshaped, the nose section was very thin and sometimes developed a twist or at worst snapped. Seems there were a lot of unhappy S/H customers which may have ended the run of this model for Surfboards Hawaii. See the “Bender Boards” article in a fairly recent Longboard Magazine issue for a good look at how different board builders dealt with this design element. Tom S.>>> JC,>>> thanks for the info. So it sounds like general concensus that stepdecks > “supposedly” enhance the “flex” of the nose.>>> Regarding the spoon vs stepdeck – I have a Yater “Spoon” with a > stepdeck – so in my case they aren’t necessarily different.>>> mike
there was a price to pay, the blank had to be overshaped, the nose section was very thin and sometimes developed a twist or at worst snapped. … I shaped a 6’8" with a stepdeck recently, with an epoxy glass job…It suffered an extreme case of “nosesnapoffitis”… Paul
I’ve been told the reduction of foam in the nose reduces “swing > weight” for turning. If the rocker changed on a board, wouldn’t > stress fractures eventually appear? Look at the bottoms of any surviving Surfboards Hawaii Model A or AAA, they are all stress lined out. If it is flexing enough for you to tell, it’s fracturing. I always used a step deck design to eliminate as much foam from the forward section of the board as possible. In turns you’re standing over the tail and want the front of the board to be as light as possible, it moves the most, the tail is standing still and only being rotated around. I always prefered very thin forward areas on my boards. Why have bulk and weight in front of you? Unless you are designing a down the line ride.
Mike and co.->>> I’ve got a 9’7" Surfboards Hawaii Model A. Certainly a classic > stepdeck design, with the offset triple stringer they were known for. VERY > thin nose rail profile, lots of deep dish nose concave as well. Along with > the promise of flexible rocker there was a price to pay, the blank had to > be overshaped, the nose section was very thin and sometimes developed a > twist or at worst snapped. Seems there were a lot of unhappy S/H customers > which may have ended the run of this model for Surfboards Hawaii. See the > “Bender Boards” article in a fairly recent Longboard Magazine > issue for a good look at how different board builders dealt with this > design element.>>> Tom S. The second floor of the old La Paloma/Surfboards Hawaii factory was stacked high with the broken remains of Model A’S that John Price never wanted the public to see again. The second floor of the old La Paloma/Surfboards Hawaii factory was stacked woith broken Model A’s that John Price never wanted the pulic to ever see again.