@stoneburner thanks for your patient and clear responses here. It’s all really helpful stuff.
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Regarding your weight, calculate the elliptical surface area for a 23.75” X 10-6 ellipse.
Your desired loading rate range will be a little less than 230 and 250 divided by the surface area for 23.75” X 10-6 ellipse.
Now if you want to look at different width X length combinations keep the estimated elliptical surface area constant and use a thickness of 3-5/8”.
EDIT: Or use the width, length, weight and thickness recommended for the 230-250 weight range on the Harbour SanO or Banana cruisers (etc.).
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It’s interesting that some shapers are really pushing shorter, wider boards. But for my weight, they would have to be über wide to keep them in range… or thicker
The first one comes out at 19.1 lb/ft²
The next one is nearly 9ft and 26” so not exactly short 
and it’s 4” thick
This is one heck of a rabbit hole for me and I’m very appreciative as I have been going round trying to understand it for some time.
OK, IMO I think the Harbour cruiser group would be a good longboard for you.
So I averaged surface area for the Banana, SanO and the Rapier combined using width and length recommended for 230-lb to 250-lb riders. I got an average elliptical bottom surface area of 16.122 ft^2 for a SB 3-5/8” thick.
So if I weighed 250 lb, I would be looking for a longboard that is 3-5/8” thick with width X length dimensions that created a bottom surface area = 16.122 ft^2.
The following dimensions at 3-5/8” thickness would give the elliptical surface area of 16.122 ft^2;
25.1” X 9-10
24.63” X 10-0
24.4” X 10-1
24.23” X 10-2
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That really is above and beyond, thank you. Very much appreciated.
Add rail profile shape to the discussion, and things get even more complicated.
For now, focus on a specific bottom surface area and a fixed thickness. Pick a shape that you like. That will be enough of a challenge for finding a suitable longboard.
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So many minor variations aren’t there…
And none of them I would probably even notice when actually out there riding (or trying to ride) a wave.
Thanks once again. This thread has really started to clarify things for me.