shaping a board for a friend. he is 5’9 300lbs not in the best of shape. he wants a 8’9 cross between a fun board and long board. im thinkn 16’’ full nose, 24’’ wide a lilttle forward of center, 16’’ tail, 3 1/2 thick. do these seem like good numbers for a guy that big?
Ask him why he wants a board that small. How good does he surf? Try to convince him to go 10' give or take, and really wide and thick. he doesn't sound like a good paddler if he is out of shape, so lenght will benefit him. what is he riding now? likes dislikes? then take that info and change it to his liking
I know there's that guy that size who rides a shortboard but has your friend ever tried something along the lines of a Munoz Surftech or one of the smaller surf oriented SUPs?
Seriously, 'not in the best of shape' and 300 lbs? Sounds like he could use all the help you can give him in the flotation department.
he rides a 10’ now. not a good paddler, but wants something smaller. he really could use help in the floatation but wants something sub-9’. i dont know what the dimensions of his 10’.
"not a good paddler, but wants something smaller."
Whatever he wants I suppose. I'd be giving him my best pitch for something with more volume at least. 4"+ thickness is not unheard of in the big guy custom arena.
Yeah, dropping over a foot is gonna be shocking for him. explain that he will probably not catch alot of waves with it. does he even know why he wants a shorter board, or e he just going shorter cause thats what the cool kids are doing? If he is stubborn and insists, then go as wide and thick as possible. He'll be stoked that his board is short, but most likely won't know that he is surfing a foam brick.
Good luck
[quote="$1"]
shaping a board for a friend. he is 5'9 300lbs not in the best of shape. he wants a 8'9 cross between a fun board and long board. im thinkn 16'' full nose, 24'' wide a lilttle forward of center, 16'' tail, 3 1/2 thick. do these seem like good numbers for a guy that big?
[/quote]
6'8"
17 3/4 nose
23" wide
16" tail.
3" THICK
2" thick GOING OUT THE TAIL
Minimul rocker
That is as short as I can go and still surf with any expectation of catching waves and not justy flapping.
Talk to ACE in a pm about his squish boards in the 8' range.
yep ACE shapes butters boards and he ain’t dainty
First of all, US Blanks got the perfect blank for your friend. It's the 9-3A and it can yeild a 9'3" x 24.5" x 4.25" board. Check out the wide quad pintails by Joe Blair at www.jblairsurf.com/. He made me a great board with that blank and I scale in at 270 lbs but I am a pretty strong paddler. The rockers need to be adjusted to -1.5" center to nose and - 3/8" center to tail. At 300 lbs, I would suggest ordering the blank 1.5 to 2" wider. Don't be afraid of shaping a wide board and take it out to 26" wide. He will appreciate the easy paddling. Shape it right and he is going to feel like a kid again when he rides it. I love my Joe Blair board and it rips. PM me if you want more suggestions.
Aloha,
D
Hi groggylbc, all you will achieve is a sale and the loss of a potental longterm customer if you build a board in the dimesions you have proposed, uncled is far closer to the mark. It’s like selling a woman a size ten dress when they are size sixteen, lol. However if you want your customer to feel what it is like to paddle a board like surfers 100 pounds lighter than him, tell him to pick up a surftech 12 ft softtop. These are the most underrated big guy surfboards, the vee bottom actually allows you to paddle into a wave in whichever direction you focus your weight on, i.e. lean on left side going left, right side going right. These boards are meant to be based on the 12ft Mickey Munoz, with the vee bottom, they aren’t that good for standup so are probably dirt cheap secondhand. If you were to build one I would probably reduce the width by one inch and put in less nose rocker.
MrT
thanks everyone. you guys are right. thanks again
geez,, finally can log on...same size here and i found surfblank america, 10'5'' gun blank and plan to make me 9'?'' fun gun. Its the only gun blank that will yeild 23'' in the middle and 4'' thick if needed. thanks swaylockers for all the info on fin making. i will post my (our) fin making jig and my foiling jig until i saw the guy with the vice clamp. he is a genius and thanks again..
5'9" 300 lbs? How old is he?.... Just tell him to forget about surfboards, and take up body surfing.
this thread is so ridiculous…the biggest fallacy is that you need to ride a LONGER board just because you’re big.
all you wind up with is something that’s a hassle to transport and to negotiate the surf on unlss you surf nothing besdes points.
width and thickness (and rocker) are far more relevant to getting a heavy load planing than just length alone.
benr’s suggestions were spot on…the only thing that’s tricky is if the guy is this short, 23" may be tough for him to get his arm around when carrying.
centerline thickness in the 3-3.5" range…a wide tail with sufficient thickness and low rocker will also make for good paddling and easier wave catching.
frankly, a longer than usual minisimm type of design could be really good as it mixes all of these aspects in a very maneuverable package.
don’t just put him on a longboard because he’s a big guy…that’s shortsighted and makes for lame surfing.
Afoaf is spot on in saying length is not always the answer. You can tailor a board for the way he wants to surf and won’t be relegated to only trimming out. The only thing I’d change is thickness. 3.5 inches thick is a starting point for a really big guy.
We need to get some waves soon or I'm going to become a super big guy. People keep bringing doughnuts in to work, and it's killing me. I'm powerless against a box of doughnuts. They just gravitate to my hand.
added: I went to Chevy's for dinner the other night and ordered the Super Cinco Plater. After finishing the whole plate I checked out the nutrition info card on our table. That plate had 96 grams of fat, 3,200 mg of sodium, and 1900 calories. That's insane! I wonder what the numbers are for plates at real Mexican food restaurants?
Here are the specs for the US blank 9-3A:
Overall Bottom Length:
9' 41/4" (285
.12 cm)
Tip-to-tip Deck Length:
9' 2 3/4" (281.3
1 cm)
Maximum Width:
259/16
" (64.93cm)
Maximum Thickness:
41/4
" (10.76cm)
Displacement:
4.21 ft³ (119.3L)Introduced:
July 2008
Rockers:
Natural
Shaper's Comments:
I designed the 9’3A to be a very serious "big guy" longer version of the 8’2A blank for either high performance, retro’s or fun gun styles. Designed with a performance bottom curve and enough volume for 375lb. surfers. It should be able to yield 9’0 x 24.5x 4
also with ability to position the overall rocker and nose widths as needed. Cutting 2" of length off the nose will enable an 18 3/4" nose width at 12" back, and facilitate well for big guy fish designs.
I recommend changing the rockers to - 1 1/2" N and - 3/8" Tail. I also recommend widening the blank to yeild 26". Make the board 9'3" x 18" x 26" x 17" x 4" quad fin round pin egg shape. It's a great all around board that can both Town or Country waves.
D
Howzit swied, Take it from a diabetic who count carbs there is a lot of calories and carbs in tortillas especially flour and the rice and refried beans are the enemy and then add the cheese and sour cream, Yikes. Aloha,Kokua
thanks uncled!!
Aloha Kokua:
Same here for me. I am type 2 and limit my carbs. It's fresh vegetables, fruits and lean meats like fish and chicken. Rice and wheat products are rarely eaten. I am trying to control it with diet and exercise. The pounds are slowly coming off and I can start riding regular boards instead of big boy boards soon.