Volume legit or just the new marketing hype?

Seems since the vast majority of boards bought by the masses are machine
shaped, the new market hype is know your volume for the best ride.

Now I get the ‘science’ of volume.  if I tell my shaper that I want that 7’8  step-up 2 7/8" thick, keep a lotta beef from knees to chest and across the middle 2/3, then foil the nose and tail and break the center foil to medium rails, that would certainly be expressed in volume on a shaping program.  I get that with a ‘magic’ 7’6, one component of it’s mojo could be perfect volume, so know to repeat.

And I get the big box shapers hype.  Gotta sell the advantages of machine shaping, so sell it as ‘science’ vs. ‘art’, right?

But it’s just one variable, not a magic bean.  Different shape plans require different volume
just by the nature of their outlines alone.  And obviously it’s volume
placement as much as volume itself.  So when I glance at detailed discussions of “maybe you should try that model with 28.5L instead of the 29.5L” as if there will be a magical performance breakthrough with a liter of volume change, can’t help but think someone is trying to sell ice cubes to Eskimos again…

or are their advocates on Sway’s that can explain why this has become an absolutely valid criteria instead of just a good general referrence point, like knowing all the dim’s on your rides.

And to be clear, have no problem at all with machine shaping.  Among it’s other positive qualities, it’s let many older shapers having health problems continue shaping when they just can’t stand on their feet grinding foam all day any longer.

Hi lcc - "But it's just one variable, not a magic bean."

I completely agree. 

It could be that the best results will be obtained once consumers learn the programs themselves and keep their own files so ANY changes (including volume) can be carefully controlled.  The day is here when surfers can haul (or simply email) their files to a cutter service and have a custom board made exactly the way they want it. 

 

I’m with the “good general referrence point.”

I think there was discussion years ago about coping a board - and, given a good quantity of quality data points, one will come very close to a reproduction, and, in the midst of that discussion, the question of volume came up.  The point was made the volume is represented in the data already (Thickness points along and across the board being key - bottom contures, and volume distribution being represented.)

I’ve said it before - I’m a anamolous kook, I’m not sure I’d notice a liter of volume unless the board was 5’10" etc…  Ha!  I do believe in volume placement, Ha!  Just look at my last board!

If I went back on shore and left my board for a minute, and you suddenly took 1 liter of volume out of my board, I probably wouldn’t notice. Maybe if it was taken out of the tail, or one small area, then relatively it would have some effect. The board will sink the tail easier in maneuvers of that sort I guess. But if you made the whole board some small fraction of an inch thinner to kill 1 liter of volume, probably not. 

I’m about done with my second shape, I attempted to keep a similar volume (who knows if it ended up that way) but it’s distritbuted differently and over more surface area. The new one is shorter, thinner but much wider. I kept more in the nose, the rails near the nose are very boxy, and then I took some out of the tail becuase the first shape has too much in the tail. It feels corky. It’s also eps insteady of PU

So I think it’s the distribution that’s more important than the overall number. A 30 liter board could be 100 different things without describing the distribution of those 30 liters. So I agree with you two I guess.

 

Once you are on your feet volume doesn’t matter much.

BINGO !

It’s all my fault.

 

lol…if so, love to hear the explanation why.

 

as it is, really like your shapes and construction methodologies, and if you made them over 7’ would be really tempted to order one.

Only wouldn’t know my volume, just my dims… :slight_smile:

yes, it is, Mike. It really is. We were just fine with 9-6 or 10-0. Then some rocker scientist decided we need to know the width before we could buy. Ok, no biggie 9-6 by 23. Hey, how thick is that thing? OK, 9-6 by 23 and 2 7/8. Happy now?

No. Not happy. Let’s measure the volume. No, wait, let’s measure the surface area too! How about counting the stringers in those Coils? Ha! gotcha there, buddy. So just let it go. You’ve done enough damage already.

Next thing you know we’ll be counting the fins.

[seriously for just a moment, I got a 5-6 Chum Lee from Dan Mann a while back. I was worried that these old arms wouldn’t be able to catch with it. But I knew I needed a minimum of 1.3 FT3 of volume and about 7 FT2 of area. I knew this from previous boards and made a point to calculate it. He promised and delivered and while he didn’t write anything about it on the board, I have the design file and I know he got it right. Board works for me. I think that within reason, I could ride most short boards with those minimum criteria, whatever the shape. Mostly. And when I build boards for others I always try to calc those numbers off another board the customer was successful with.]

Mike is the one that had Coil start noting volume on their boards. It sort of caught on.

 

like this one

Ive swapped from a 5’ 10" twin fin to 9’6" log in one session…also borrowed friends boards that are substantially differnet in volume…(lol)…the obsession with volume is because AKU tells you at the click of a button…personally , I regard it as a myth…floatation due to various types of core materials used these days is far more relavent…

Water density due to warm or cold temperatures, changes things too.

Boards float better at high tide too.     Or so I heard!

C.G. is more important to me.  I think we should publish that too. hehe

 

ATLANTA—The Coca-Cola Corporation held a press conference yesterday to
announce that its soft drinks will soon be available exclusively in
30-liter plastic bottles. “The three-liter didn’t fail because it was too big, but because it was
not big enough,” Coca-Cola CEO Vic Hertner said. “With our new 30-liter
size, that won’t be a problem. Two liters is nothing. I could urinate
two liters for you right now. But 30 liters? That’s untouchable.” Coke stressed that the new 30-liter bottle would not be merely a new size option, but will soon be the only size option. The new size is ready for the public, and the public is ready for it.
After considering “Coka-Munga” and “The Shitload,” executives settled on
“Family Size” as the product’s official name.

I argue volume placement matters quite a bit once on your feet.

Two boards, all the same, even the volume, but one has more volume (thickness) in the tail - It makes a big, bad, difference to me.

volume placement is everything… 

That 6’2 beachbreak foil with a lot of foam left in the rear third for drive support through summer mush will do nothing but get you in trouble in hollow reefs…

but then that 6’2 reef board would have more rocker built in anyway, and that foam would have been removed with the addition of the rocker…

so two 6’2’s with different volume for different tasks, the volume the outcome of shape and desired foil, not the driver…

speaking of 6’2, interesting how that is now considered a step-up by so many these days…

so yet another thank you to Kelly Slater.

First Kelly took the lemmings over the cliff a couple of decades ago with his hyper rockered, utra thin and narrow boards, and my personal wave count flourished for years during a time the average surfer struggled to make a wave so spent a lot of time caught inside.

And now having taken them over the cliff once more, this time on his micro board quest, this older surf dude’s wave count flourishes yet again during a time when average sufers are relegated to the inside on their 5’6 and 5’8’s  just trying to catch a wave…perhaps discussing their board volume while doing so… lol

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Having the info and knowing what you’re shooting for takes some of the guesswork out of it.  Less room for error.   I hate depending on someone else’s guess at what I need; and I don’t do that to the people I build boards for.    

usually the only things I tell my shaper is the following:

Height/Weight/Age (Hopefully this is done in person where the shaper can see me/that’s wht buying local is always the best)

Surfing ability or kind of how I surf or like to surf

Where I will be surfing most of the time

and a basic Idea of a model I am requesting that they make that I like and maybe material choices if available.

from there I strongly believe that you should just leave the rest up to the shaper and their creative capability.

I think that’s how the exchange should be to give them the greatest flexibility to do their best cause that’s why I came to them in the first place.

My only caveat I always place on the request is that based on my age, weight  fitness(water time restirctions) and ability to paddle, the board must be able to catch waves with ease. Cause if you aren’t catching waves its a complete waste of time.

That’s all I request, just get me into the wave without any drama and leave the rest to me,

I’ll figure the board out on my own sooner or later.

If It doesn’t work out then I’ll sell it and probably won’t come back as another lesson learned/burned.

Kind of why I like GG’s old school approach because the whole package is complete from board design to the hand made fins included, no monkeying around. You’re given the keys to the car and you are expected to learn how to master driving it on your own. 

Volume helps, but it mostly for making it easy for remote mass production and off the shelf purchases.

I think that’s why allot of older experienced riders can pickup any board and based on looking at its lines in details and “feeling up” the board can generally tell if the board will work for them based on all the 10’s or hundreds of boards they’ve owned and surfed in the past. With todays high end materials and fickle “need one too” mass market buyers its a gold mine out there for old timers to pick up still decent used boards at bargain prices on Craiglist or consignment shops.