I’m currently embarking on a project called the fish experiment. As the name suggests, the project is about shaping a fish board.
Visit the following website if you want to keep updated with the progress.
Cool stuff cameron!
Good Luck!
Josh.
Sorry about the page being unavailable earlier. Yahoo disabled the site due to high data transfer.
Website has been updated to use smaller images.
Great idea! I like the idea that it is a “here’s what I learned” as much as a “how-to”. I’ll be visiting the site periodically.
for me i would go a little thicker and a little wider. i just finished shaping my first fish and everyone that you will talk to on this site will tell you to go wider and maybe a little bit thicker. but you should definetly go wider then 20 1/2. either then that the site looks good and the design looks good to
Hey bro.
Sorry, don’t want to confuse things, but I wouldn’t go wider/thicker. Fish don’t have to be VERY wide, most are 20.5-21", and 2 5/8" is heaps of floatation.
BUT, I would definitely take out some of that tail rocker, 2" is excessive and will detract from that incredible feeling of speed that’s so addictive about the fish design. A tad over 1" seems to be the go.
Finally, 6’3 is very long, and while it may work fine, it wont feel like a fish.
Have fun
Maz
I am going to agree with Maz. I wouldn’t make it wider, i would make it shorter. I would shape a fish to be 4-6" shorter than my usual board or 2-3" shorter than the rider. Also, the tail rocker should be pretty flat. I shaped a 5’10" last year with about 1/2" of tail rocker and it was awesome. Good luck, your design looks great!
D
search the archives becasue everyone else is going to agree that going wider is better then going longer. a real true old lis fish is a lot wider then 20 1/2. i am not trying to criticize your board design as you might not be trying to build a lis fish but i would go wider personaly. if you type in bigger fish 6’9 A into the search box you will see what i am talking about. there is a lot of references to going slightly wider then what you have right now.
Thanks everyone for your input. the design is going to be tweaked slightly this weekend and I’m going to take some, but not all of your points into consideration.
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Width and thickness - I’m going to stick with a width of around 20 1/2" as due to the conditions I want this board to handle, I think any wider and thicker would have me pushing too much foam around. The waves we get in Victoria, Australia can get pretty challenging and while this will be more of a summer board in my quiver, I still want it to be fairly responsive… sorry turbohog, not having a go as I’m sure your board works well in the conditions for Oregon but things are a little different here in Oz being upside down and all
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Rocker - I agree the rocker may need to come down a little in the tail. One of the areas for tweaking this weekend.
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Length - Ditto on length, I spoke to the guy at Maurice Cole’s board shop in Torquay last weekend and we both agreed on going shorter. I’m a bigger guy, so at this stage I’m thinking of going down to about 6’ 1"
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Another point that I discussed with my friend Pete and also with the guy from MCs was rails… I’m thinking of going boxier on the rails with a sharper line right up to about midway up the board.
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Bottom contours are stay as is for my first fish… flat to flat
I’ll post again when the design is updated on the site.
hey no hard feelings i know that different boards wont work as well in different conditions, your right that the condidtions you get are different then the ones that i get. i still think a half an inch would serve you well in width but thats still my matter of opinion. as for the rest of the things your going to tweak i agree with you 100%
and i am from florida not oregon
how wide and deep is your swallow tail going to be and are you going to ride it as a twiny or as a thruster set up.
Tail width is 10 1/16 "
I don’t really have a measurement on depth at the mo.
Board will be ridden as a twin fin setup but I am still weighing up the options on the fin system. I’m either thinking Lokbox with Al Merick fish fins or hand made ply glass ins.
What do you think?
cant wait to see the finished board and all the processes you went through to make this fish
Sean
my width is a little wider and i am having someone build me some 8x5 old school glass on wood keels double sided, the but crack on mines like 5.25
What do you think about nose rocker?
Current nose rocker is as 4" but after taking the tail down to 1 1/2", the nose looks a little high
Here’s some - old - info that may help. Original Lis template, 5’5 x 21".
Have fun mate. It’ll go like a rocket at Winki.
Maz
http://jfmillbiz.home.comcast.net/swaylocks/Surfboard_Design_and_Construction_1977.pdf
PS! Look on page 28.
What has worked well for me is the “Skip Frye Rocker” on the 6’2C. Flattens out the nose -3/4.
Tail on the natural rocker is only 1 13/16ths and seems to be just about right.
I pulled out my 1971 Broomtail Fish template. The measurements are as follows. N 17", W 21", T 16", tail width 10 1/2". The notation on the template was for 2 5/8" thick.
EDIT: These figures are for a 6’0" board.
Thanks all for your input. Final design has been updated on the website.
6’3" x 20 1/2" x 2 3/4"
From your feedback:
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Length stayed the same in the end
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Width fixed at 20 1/2" after some toing and froing
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Thickness went to 2 3/4" : turbohog, I heard what you were saying and gave in a little to your argument
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Tail width got pulled out to 10 1/2"
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Rails got a workout and are now boxier and be hard right up to the mid point of the board. This is mainly from discussion with my friend Pete and the guy at MC’s boardshop.
Also, forgot to mention, tail rocker also got reduced to 1 1/2"