i am trying to work out a new shape, and would be good to hear from you guys with good design sense. i want to expand on a board i like which has a 10" base and is 16" a foot up. the board is 6’4". it is 22" at mid. knowing that i like the wide features i want to expand this into something longer…its already a good wave catcher, but without going full longboard, to have something i could wait even further outside, and the shape im workin out might have some nice surprises, or could suck. the outline of a reed canoe up front. something like a backwards mini mal, or a square tailed nugget. my rough template is 7’ long, 11" base of tail, 17" a foot up, 22" wide a couple inches back from mid, then it curves gradually up to a blunt sqaure nose, 8" wide. so its something like a skate-type double ender, with an extra foot of nose. sorry no pic only basic phone internet at the moment. i am asking for any feedback on the premise that there are no untried shapes in the world of practical surfboards. the template has an unfinished look to it which is fine with me, anyone done this shape and had fun riding it? thanks, D
Geez, 17 in for the tail. Pull it in a bit. If you don't want to do that, then a convex bottom is crucial to aid in rail to rail transitions. thin the rails out in the back, add rocker, do something to compensate for that kind of width. Things could feel real tracky when you surf it
thanks, i’ll think on that. also forgot to say, current template has me at 14" a foot down from the 8" nose.
Not much design sense except what I’ve ridden (a lot of Nuggets - McCoy/Horan etc.). Wide tail will require a dome-ish bottom for a single fin, or use multiple fins with a flat bottom or single concave. My preference is a dome with a single but the McCoy dome is hard to copy (not impossible, of course but nothing I would attempt as a pure beginner). I also ride a couple of V-tailed Coops that are nearly 17" a foot up from the tail. You get the point - (in my opinion - for what it’s worth) single will need a central pivot to go rail to rail, multiple fins take away the need for that - but might make it harder to turn with all that area (a bump in the outline would help with that). You should get some Nuggety folks chiming in on this soon. Sorry to be so basic but you are well ahead of me in that I haven’t mowed any foam yet. My first one is coming soon but it’s more of a Simmons-esque thing with some funky bottom stuff. I’m getting help from an actual shaper so I think I’ll be okay. Whether the design works will be a mystery though.
Good luck and please post some progress pics. Nuggety-type boards are a blast. Remember that McCoys keep a boatload of foam throughout the board - all the way to the rails and especially thick in the tail (contrary to logic). They flat out work.
Hmmm....
I don't know how much easier rail to rail surfing would be by slapping 3 fins on a tail that is 17" wide. If anything it would be the opposite, and the cant from the rail fins would cause too much lift on the rail and make things even more difficult than if you left it single finned.it would surf flat and tracky. Single concave? i'd steer away from that in a wide tail too. Convex and single would be the way to go on a 17 incher.Also, 17 inches in the tail is cool on a noserider where you drag your heel on frontside cutbacks, but i don't know if thats what youre going for
@astevens: you’re right - don’t know what I was thinking there. I’m a big guy so maybe all that weight and power makes up for a little resistance. I believe that Calvani has been experimenting with multi-fins (A lot of Revolutions have the Probox system - but those are all domed) on nugget shapes and taking the dome out in the forward part of the board and going concave up there - not sure what he has done with the tail though. McCoy thrusters are domed too, of course… You know, my foot doesn’t taste so bad after all.