Looked everywhere and can’t settle on a definition of a “tri plane bottom”… what is it? What’s it best for?
Thank you!!
I agree with this guy's assessment. Essentially, a double concave through the middle of the board's bottom. Googled "tri plane hull" and this is one of the first entries:
Back in the late 60s, when deep V was the rage, there was a ''triplane'' bottom that was a variation, basically it was V with a flat spot along center.
The more modern double concave version was popularized by Al Merrick, but legend has it that Michael Cundith brought it to Santa Barbara from Australia. Terry Fitz's ''spiral V'' has to figure in there somewhere. The early 80s versions had a small flat out on the rail, Stewart beveled that and called it the ''hydro-hull''.
don’t forget greenough in all this either, or the (early)hull guys…
edit - FWIW this is off Mandala’s site and explains it a bit too:
In my humble opinion; “Tri” means three, “plane” means flat surface. Tri-plane bottom means the bottom of the surfboard is made up of three flat surfaces. A cross section would be like: _/ only squished down flatter.
A lot of the “hull” type boards (Liddle, Andrieni, Fineline, Hilbers/Putnam, Point Conception, Mandela, etc) use this type of bottom. Flat in the middle with flat “chines” blending into the bottom of the rail. The three planes would be the starboard chine, flat middle and port chine…to use nauticalese.
Al Merrick used the “tri-plane” bottom in the early days of Channel Islands. His version was a subtle variation of Ted Spencer/George Greenough/Wilderness boards with dual concaves in the flat middle portion of the bottom. I think that is where the double concave definition came from. For me; if it has concaves then it is hardly a plane anymore. But that’s just me and I call round-bottomed boards “hulls”. Go figure…
I never thought of a hull as a triplane but I'll take George Greenough's word for it. ''Plane'' also means flat, so three flat surfaces with distinct breaks makes more sense as a ''triplane'', hulls have too much blending. But when you shape 'em, the breaks are there before the blending.
Think of it as a continuum starting with sharply defined flat planes progressing to the fully blended “hull” ala Liddle. I know where I draw the line but I can’t speak for others. A rose is a rose, except when it’s a turnip…
hey mike,
you’re right on the blending aspect for sure. I just meant as for where it all came from “originally”…wink wink nudge nudge…
I think this photo of Andreini shows a nice version of the blended type of which Lee speaks... the shadows show the three panels pretty clearly?
All of Steve Waldens boards have this variation. The bottom is flat through the middle and the last 4-5 inches before the rail is planed at a 5-10 degree angle. I own a 6'6" CD and I like the way it rides.
well… in my internet reading i came across those explanations distint explanations…
"tri-plane hull
double concave planing surface,
consisting
of a shallow concave on each side of the stringer from the centre to the
tail of the board.
Possibly by Greorge Greenough/Michael
Cundith, Sky Surfboards 1978."
from : http://www.surfresearch.com.au/agt.html
and
from the link i posted before.
The tri-plane, meaning 3 flat planes makes more sense to me… can’t really tell why!
this placee rocks… i should have asked before… i just didn’t wanted to throw “silly” questions without searching all i could.
the Andreini shot is a very subtle refined one give Bob Duncan a call at [Wilderness owner] i am sure he is still shaping also Dennis Ryder could give you info ,they were around before Al Merrick, they were great in point surf , flex Greenough fin .The Wilderness shop at the old ice plant thats where it was all going on.Magical times a dream now. Aloha…
I have couple of questions regarding this design.
If you lay a flat edge on the bottom of a tri plane hull, does the stringer touch the flat edge?
Does a single lead into the double?
Does the double go right out the tail, or to flat?
That shot of Mark Andreini’s shape has always been a good reference point for me. Here is another variation from Gene Cooper.
[img_assist|nid=1053244|title=8’8" Cooperfish|desc=|link=none|align=center|width=480|height=640]
Thanks tomas,
But that looks like a single with beveled rails.
Can anyone one describe what Al Merricks “tri plane hull” contours are??
here’s a tri-plane…
saw it on craigslist - look like the triplane is 3 pretty flat planes contoured on the bottom -
thanks for the posting tip MikeD.
[img_assist|nid=1053367|title=triplane3|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=37]
[img_assist|nid=1053356|title=hobie triplane|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=36][img_assist|nid=1053368|title=triplane4|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=75][img_assist|nid=1053369|title=triplane 5|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=75|height=100]
Hey, thank you for posting that board on this thread. I'm not sure anyone would have otherwise believed my story about the board I had in 68. That bottom is just like the board I had, the flat panel ran out at back of box, it was explained to me as a deep V with the flat cut down the center. Three flat panels.
OK-
Try this link:
You’ve got some of the best from Sway’s showing their take on a Triplane Hull. You won’t find any two alike and they all have a specific purpose in the mind of the the shaper. Look closely at examples from Paul Gross, Dale Solomonson, Spencer Kellog, Manuel Caro, Andreini, Greg Liddle and last but not least PamHullaAnderson
TS
Would a tri plane work on an egg shape???