Howzit Swaylocks? I’m getting ready to work on HWS #2 and I am debating using crowned internal ribs or square as I have done with my previous board.
The questions:
1.) Why choose one over the other?
2.) How dose the wood respond during the warping/gluing process with crowned ribs?
3.) How would you adjust the crown at diffrent points along the length of the board? To scale drawings or pictures would be awesome!
I’ve only ever done them square because they are simple to do…
But there’s more rail building involved…
The questions:
1.) Why choose one over the other?
2.) How dose the wood respond during the warping/gluing process with crowned ribs?
3.) How would you adjust the crown at diffrent points along the length of the board? To scale drawings or pictures would be awesome!
The answers:
1.) Because you have the option.
2.) If it’s not to extreme, it’s easier than you might think. I like to laminate the interior fiberglass layer in the evening… The next morning i attatch it to the frame, before the epoxy/fiberglass has fully set up…Have lots of spring clamps on hand and some deck area weights ready if you do a step deck…
3.) Just use a fine eye to align the contact points, rib to rib, before you put the deck / bottom on…
I put in a domed deck using 1/4 in luan for deck and ribs with g-glue. It helped make my rails a little thinner. They are still boxy, but would have been worse without it. Still holding. I used pvc pipe in place of some spring clamps. They would have been better if I had enough.
A crowned deck s the opposite of a spooned deck. . . so you get the opposite of the advantages given by a spoon … . instability and loss of control for example.
HWS builders tend to use domed decks (IMO) to try and hide excessive thickness in the middle of the board… . . thick boards with thin rails are inherently unstable and hard to control.
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instability and loss of control for example.
thick boards with thin rails are inherently unstable and hard to control.
otherwise known as fast, sensitive and responsive.
excessive centre volume isn’t good; true, but I’d rather have a “tippy” board that went rail to rail fast than a boat like board that I could stand parallel on.
i just liked the look, not sure how it will ride. i did go to thick on the board, but i think that was just a beginner’s mistake.
Quote:instability and loss of control for example.
thick boards with thin rails are inherently unstable and hard to control.
otherwise known as fast, sensitive and responsive.
excessive centre volume isn’t good; true, but I’d rather have a “tippy” board that went rail to rail fast than a boat like board that I could stand parallel on.
Incorrect for the following reasons:
(1) Excessive thickness in a board inhibits rail to rail movement rather than making it go fast rail to rail as you imply. The syndrome is known as ‘stringer sensitivity’ and is similar to top heaviness in a boat… … . the board cannot get as far onto the rail as a thinner board because the centre of gravity of the rider moves outboard at much lower angles of roll than on a thinner board.
(2) Thicker boards are less responsive for the same reason given above. . . a high centre of gravity which leads to poor control.
(3) Speed in a board is not improved by more thickness in the middle of a board than is absolutely necessary for buoyancy.
(4) My surfing stance has little to do with the issue . . . . and I definitely wasn’t trying to say that all boards without domed decks have to look like my boards or be wider than normal, I was simply talking about how domed decks are often used on very thick HWS boards. and how the thickness is detrimental to board control.
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You can make any kind of deck you want in wood. Like Paul says use your eye. Geting the frame fair can be time consuming but not really that hard. I use long pices of foam and boards with psa sandpaper to fair the ribs. I glued this deck on today after work. 9’2" 2 7/8" thick I like the deck to blend into the rails just like any foam board would do. So some dome where its thick and flater where its not so thick.
I might still be trying to understand the question…
But if by domed you mean the crown of the deck, I’d go domed. Personally, I like the look of it over boxy. Plus I can’t really see any reason why you wouldn’t. It’s not like it takes a lot more work (besides the persuasion required to bend the deck planks.
If your going to put so much labor into a HWS, might as well do it as best you can.
As for real performance, I can’t really see how it would make a heck of a lot of difference (as compared to the bottom anyway).
you asked…
Hi Rich, aren’t domed decks stronger than flat decks because they are convex ?
BTW I think that my moan about domed decks was perhaps slightly misplaced, as it was more about maximum thickness really.
Who has some spare time and a scanner?
Although drastically disproportional and exaggerated, would anyone mind taking these basic
measurements for a rib at its widest point and create a to scale template that I could use as a
reference to create the rest of my ribs? Thanks.
This is how I plan my HWS, graph paper is brilliant!!!
The 3 figures on the right show, in order, distance from stringer to rail, total rail to rail, total with 2cm rail build up.
The numbers on the left are length in centimetres.
Drawing a rocker in profile will give you the depth of each of the ribs…
Absolutely stronger overall.
I also remember from my boatbuilding days, that a crowned deck tends to transfer force (weight) outwards, which in this case would be the rail joints. This might be a good reason to integrate the rails, or at least design some sort of “horizontalness” into the the glue joint (as opposed to applying them on with a vertical joint and counting on the glass for strength). This would provide a good surface for glue adhesion to do it’s thing.
Sorry, got carried away and a little off topic here.
…This might be a good reason to integrate the rails, or at least design some sort of “horizontalness” into the the glue joint (as opposed to applying them on with a vertical joint and counting on the glass for strength). This would provide a good surface for glue adhesion to do it’s thing.
Rails…
Vertical or horizontal…???..
They both work…
As for me, I’ve never had a rail “fail”…
Leaked once, but never a “break”…
Oh, and I do test mine in real waves…
Hey Paul,
Agreed.
As someone who has tried both horizontal and vertical, I certainly agree that both work. I was in particularly thinking about glassless situations.
And I only say that because I’ve had leaks too, in two cases it was at the unglassed deck-to-rail seam (once under foot). Maybe it was due to less-than-perfect workmanship, but I assumed it was due to flex, hence the concern. Then again, maybe it was the size of the fat-ass surfer. 
You guys have it good, that is a sweet wave, I WISH we had those more often. Today: sunny and warm (32 degrees) but flat 
Ok, so I’m guessing that the line with a low slope above the dramatic curve is what the ribs should look like, and the more rounded curve below that is what the rails will look like afteryou add them on at lets say 13.5 cm?
use the asp3k online software, its easy, free and allows you to print out full sized templates of the ribs(slices) and spines. glue them to your wood and cut em out. easy peasy(got that tip from Rich’s forum). it won’t print out the whole rib on for the wider ones(only about half) but i just printed two copies of those and flipped one sheet over and aligned the two halves in the center on a white surface and taped them together. go thinner than you think you need with the board, mine turned out a little beefy.
Having no luck googling asp3k. Do you have a link?