Hey everyone I just ordered my 5’10 RP blank from greenlight surf and have all my materials to begin my first shape except for one thing…a good template. I have been searching for a while and cannot seem to find a good template for a 5’8 x 21" retro fish. I am trying to shape a keel fin fish with a deep swallow tail. I am not too good with aku shaper so if anyone could hook me up with a template or any advice, that would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for the help!
Go to home depot and get some 1/8" thick masonite, a flexible metal yard stick at ace hardware, some finishing nails, and you want to put a nail “outside” your line, and kinda bend to your desired shape. I put a nail 12" from tips for nose + tail dims, we moved my wide point above center 3", and my tail block 10". 10"-11" I think is traditionally correct for a retro. Use your fins to draw tail cuts. Some people use a batton that’s flexible is the traditional way to make templates. I couldn’t find one so I just used the yard stick. For my tail half I used another guys design.
You can still get it done in AKU. Just move the widepoint 2-3" ahead of center (on a 5-6 that would be at about 35-36" from the tail) , bump the corners of the tail out to 10" or 11" and adjust the curve in the nose to match. For the buttcrack many shapers do that last, after foiling the blank and turning the rails. For the curve on the buttcrack some people use the curve from the nose.
Moving the widepoint around and playing with it will have a huge effect on your template curve. With that said, you can screw up a curve with a batten just as easily as you can on a CAD program.
It just so happens that I drew up a 5’8 x 20 fish template for ChrisP. I can send you a full sized PDF if you want it. Either that or give me your location/ city. I can send it to a blue print plotting company, and it can be waiting for you to pick up.
Surfding’s rendition of the Retro Fish:
Available as a PDF at this link:
http://www.swaylocks.com/sites/default/files/UNCLE%20CHARLIE%20FISH_0.pdf
It is farily simple to re-size templates using math (follow the link below). If you have difficulty re-sizing the dimensions using math, PM me.
http://bgboard.blogspot.com/2013/10/picture-to-template-to-resize.html
Dawn: If you decide to use this template just remember a couple of general rules. First, the width of the tail is the same as the depth of the butt crack. Second, the rail of the butt crack should mimic the rail up to that depth. Third, a nice curve (use a bowl, planter pot, etc…) looks better (and I think works better) than a straight line. (Sorry Greg, just my 2c…) Fourth, toe works better than no toe! Just my 2c…
Surfteach, Maybe I misunderstand what you said. So, if I have 10 inches between the tips I should have a 10 inch deep butt crack? Mike
If you are trying to reproduce an “old school” type of fish. Mike’s (surfding) template is based on old school fish types similar to the Lis & others fish we rode back in the day. The rule of thumb was as I stated. In your case, a 10" wide tail (tip to tip) would have a 10" deep crack. I still shape boards using this rule. Today, the rockers are different (a lot) as well as rail shape, bottom shape, etc. that time has taught us that work better in whaterver is our local surf. If I am shaping for a big guy who likes really short boards, I will put in a bump or “chine” in the tail a’ a’ Ben Aipa to reduce the width of the tail while giving width and float. Somewhere on here (sways) I have a picture of a downrail fish with a quad speed-dialer fin configuration if you have the time to look. Just my 2c…
That’s interesting. Thanks surfteach. I had thought the rule of thumb for old school type fishes was the butt crack depth was 1/2 the distance of the tips. I put mine at 6 1/2 or so regardless of the distance between tips. Tips are always greater than 10 for my fishes. Less than ten I call it a swallow tail. I may draw up a template using the old school numbers. If I like the look I might build one. Mike
This does not look like a fish, to me. The numbers aren’t easy to read, but it appears that the tail is wider than the nose. Plus, the buttcrack is too straight and too shallow. Looks more like a swallowtail shortboard than a fish.
Chapter 4: p. 61 (image zoom maintains reasonable resolution).
Lis Fish Template – use this link:
http://jfmillbiz.home.comcast.net/~jfmillbiz/swaylocks/Surfboard_Design_and_Construction_1977.pdf
I always thought the traditional Fish nose width is 1" wider than tail width. So if you chose 15",16", 17" wide your tail width is 14",15",16".
The fish tail at the block is half the width of tail block. Right or wrong, I went with 16 3/4" nose,21" forward center 3", 15 1/2" tail 2 5/8" thick by the time I’m done. Tail cuts 5" deep. It’s close enough. They usually go wider at wide point then 21", but for me 21" is good to go !