I’m working on my new longboard. It is a traditional singlefin. I’d like some advice on thickness (floatation).
I am 6’2" and weigh 160lbs.
My board (to be) is 9’9" x 18" x 23 x 17 5/8"
As i am pretty light weight what would be an advisable thickness, or better yet a good method for determining thickness according to weight.
Cheers.
D
Really isn’t any guidelines other than if your a fat bastard than you need a fat board.
You are skinny my friend. So you do not need a fat board. However, that length requires a fair amount of volume at least in the middle. If you went much under 3" then the board would lose a lot of structural srength do to it’s length and be very prone to snapping in half.
What you can do though if you like, is to really thin the board out at the nose and somewhat at the tail if you are concerned about weight. But hey, it’s a lonboard, it’s supposed to be heavy. Thickness under your chest and stomach is where you need it for flotation and structural strength.
Drew
Weights not a problem. The heavier the better. All my boards get double glass on top and a thick hot coat. I like my boards heavy.
Thanks for the advice. I’ll think i’ll shave it between 3 and 3 1/8". That should do the trick.
Cheers.
right on man.
Drew
float should be a problem with a board that long unless your like 50 or 60 pounds heavier then what you are. 3 to 3 1/8 is defiently what i would
Bench presses, shoulder presses, and lat pull downs. Heavy weight, low reps. That’ll increase your thickness. Mike
I want to get ripped. Big muscles. If I increase my thickness will i float better?
Cheers
i am going to step out on a limb and say you have probably always been tall and skinny for your entire life. and you can probably eat all day and never gain an ounce. i could be wrong but as a fellow skinny lanky person 165 at 6’4 the chances of you getting ripped are very very very slim, its all genetics and chances are you probably just dont have the muscular genetic build up to have big muscles. i ate right took protein and all that other crap and lifted a lot. and i never got ripped. even if i am totaly wrong which i could quite possibly be. BUt i am pretty sure i am not you wouldnt want to get ripped. can you name any surfers either then laird hamilton who are overly muscular. probably not, big muscles dont lend them self well to surfing. you need to be flexible through the arms for fast and easy paddling. its hard to paddle fast when you cant put your arms down.
as for the real question at hand increasing thickness will defiently increase the amount of float that the board will have. but then you got to think how much desired float do i really need and how much is to much. a board that long and 3 to 3 1/8 would probably float someone over 200 pounds pretty easy if the thickness is in the right area. i personally make all my long boards no matter 9’0 to 10’0 no more then 3 1/8
That’s a huge tail…
If you go down to somewhere between 14 & 15, it’ll hold in in much more wave conditions. At 17+", you won’t like it in anything over shoulder high or in dumping beachbreaks of any size…
Otherwise, your other dimensions - including 3 1/8 - sound right on.
You are right, one skinny mo_fo. As for getting ripped, i was being ironic.
Good advice on thickness though. My board wont be surfed in anything over 5 feet so a lot of strength isn’t necessary. 3" should be good then. Cheers.
D
This board is designed for underhead high surf. When its 1-5 feet my first choice is a traditional longboard, a real log, 65 Hap Jacobs for example. Anything over 5 feet and i ride a shortboard. My main board is a 6’4". Cheers.
D
I’m working on my new longboard. It is a traditional singlefin. I’d like some advice on thickness (floatation).
I am 6’2" and weigh 160lbs.
My board (to be) is 9’9" x 18" x 23 x 17 5/8"
As i am pretty light weight what would be an advisable thickness, or better yet a good method for determining thickness according to weight.
Cheers.
I too am ‘a skinny kid’ [welll… grommet in MY mind, anyway !] who WILL eventually get my mal finished. I’ve never made one before… I’ve ridden a few of other people’s though, over the years.
Pardon my ignorance, and it may just be your preferred size, but is 9’9 with that wide a tail a tad oversized for both you and 5’ waves ?
Would something like 8’ not be considered a longboard in America ?
I get confused as to what constitutes a longboard… I think ‘traditional’ ones for contests here are 9’ and over…is that right Bert, or am I way off …is it the same in America ?
What is called a mini-mal seems to depend on who you talk to here…7’- 8’ [?] seems to be around the mark. But, of course, my friends [20 y.o. s ] think my 7’ single fin is a mal [compared to their 6’ thruster toothpicks, it must look that way to them!]
Sorry, I guess it’s a bit off your original question, and just a case of different countries’ semantics…I just wondered the ‘mal’ [longboard ] sizing guideline / definition , if there IS one ?
re : The thickness : -
I also have been told 3 1/8 " plus is advisable as boards get into that sort of length [8' and up, in my case]. I guess , as previously mentioned, to help lower the chance of board snappage. Of course, it sounds, from the strength evidently inherent in the vacuum bag process ? , as though Bert is in a different 'category' ...he can go thinner and lighter and still have good strength in the board, by the sound of his previous postings. Which, if the float is still the same as a thicker board [? IS it ?] , sounds a GREAT option to me....but that's probably because I , having Rob Machado's build, find it a bit harder to crank around an 8' plus board into a cuttie than say a 'Shwuz' sized guy [no offence intended Jarrod].
Anyway, if it doesn't hijack the thread, I'd be interested to hear about the length / thickness of mals [ / 'traditional longboards ?'] in America and elsewhere, as people here seem to say the 8'er I'm making is a 'funboard' , 'mini mal' , 'small longboard'. [ Not that it matters heaps, I guess...it's just I wondered if the 'categories' [man made, of course] could be clarified ?
thanks !
ben
This board is for anything under 5 feet so i think the size should be fine. I particularly like the feel of 60’s boards. I like to ride logs, boards that require you to drop your back foot off the board, I love the glide and feel of old boards and that of big boards as well. Check out Skip Fryes 12’, I’ve seen him out on it and it rules. A few other guys at the cliffs are riding them too.
My design is basically an old board modified for my personal taste. I think i will, however, shave another 1/2" out of the tail, taking it down to 17 1/2". I was concerned with thickness because i dont want it to float too much so it makes it harder to turn for my light weight frame. I think by keeping it at 3" and thining out the rails a little should suffice.
As for your question. Its a good one. I only surf/shape traditional longboard shapes in underhead high waves, anything overhead and i ride a shortboard. I cannot speak for the realm of performance longboarding because its something i choose not to pursue. I would say that the minimum length for a longboard would be 8’6". This isn’t a strict rule, however, traditional boards rarely go below 9’0", 9’6" is about average. My favourite board was an old 9’4" Hap Jacobs from the 60’s. If it is under 8’6" and retains the fuller template of the longboard i would consider it to be an egg or mini-mal. Cheers for input, hope this helps.
D
My cousin Is 6’2 160, he says he has SMS ( Stickman Syndrome)
I say 2 7/8.
my light friends have been happy with their 2 7/8" longboards… nothing as long as 9’9" but…
I would imagine that with multiple stringers you could go thinner without having to worry about the snappage factor. I had a 10" that was 2 5/8 and she snapped like a chip under head high. I am sure there were other factors involved…Like the really light glass job…
I say somewhere between 2 5/8 ( if you beef it up) and and 2 7/8. But you say you like logs… so … go 3"
Equation wise… can you figure out someone elses personal preference??
Turbo and others,
I was kidding about the weights although a sensible strength program for surfing will enhance your surfing. People used to make the same argument you did about overly developed muscles and baseball players. Look at them now. Steroids, powerlifting routines, record breaking homeruns I never imagined could be possible. The vitamen S boys should be banned in my opinion and their records erased. Mike
There is actually a formula for figuring out floatation. You must first determine how you want the board to paddle based on your paddling strength. If you weigh 160 then you will need to displace 160 lbs plus the negligible weight of the board. A gallon of water weighs about 8.3 lbs. So 160 divded by 8.3 = is about 19.25 gallons. So if you wanted to be entirely above the water line your board would have to have enough foam to match the same volume or area as 19.25 gallons. 1 cubic inch of water weighs about .036 lbs. Therefore a gallon of water has about 231 cubic inches.
231 x 19.25 = 4446.75 cubic inches. So then 4400c.i. will put you above water line, 3300 will put 3/4 of you and your board above water. 2200 1/2 way, etc. Make sense?
Those are some good maths. By any chance do you know how to roughly calculate board volume?
Cheers
Yes you are right in saying the comp longboards used in oz are 9ft minimum, but thats for comp surfing, not for the traditional old skool 60’s style of surfing. Usually a ‘log’ for an average 15-35 year old australian male, would start from 9ft 4 upwards (well thats from my experience taking into acount bach breaks, points, river mouths and reefs). With that size board, the thickness is just usually scaled up to the size board you are riding.
Length x width x thickness. You’ll have to guesstimate. Break the board up into known areas.
Chip fish
in USofA a longboard is one of the following at least in contest terms…9’ minimum or at least 3 feet taller than the rider. But the latter isn’t really used anymore.
Normally a longboard will start at 9’. A mini-mal depending on the rider can start at 7’. A lot of mini-mals for ladies these days are starting at the 7 - 7’6 mark. Normally between 2.5" and 3" in thickness.
To me a mini-mal should literally be a scaled down longboard. Some might call it a funboard, but then it really isnl’t a funboard at all. Just a smaller longboard.
The funboard was an interesting concept several years ago. More a marketing term that an actual board design. A board that was in the 7ish to 8ish foot range that borrowed elements from a thruster shortboard and a longboard…It was used to market towards kooks who had limited experience surfing and were told that they could catch the waves like a longboard, but turn it like a shortboard. In the end these boards really didn’t do either one very good and are all but gone from shops these days.
The funboard may be gone, but it’s legacy was parlayed into the fact that you had a choice between the longboad and the thruster to ride. So now the funboard still exists philosophically but in a few not-so-new- iterations…such as the “big fish”, the "fun-gun, the Minimal, and the speed egg. None of which are new shapes but we are realizing that varriety is a good thing to have .
Drew