What would be your take on a short allrounder funboard?

General Discussion
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Aloha!

 

due to a knee injury I have been out of the water since the end of July and now it’s time to make up for it and build some surfboards while I recover.

I have shaped and build my first surfboard in 2017/2018: https://www.swaylocks.com/forum/80776/first-time-builder-needs-some-advice-specific-question-pics-included

Great board, I glassed another layer of 6oz on the deck and its heavy. I also used way to much resin, but that surfboard is almost bulletproof for a PU/PE.

Flat bottom to V out the tail. Too much rocker as I found out when surfing.

 

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I would like a 2 board quiver as a staple and for traveling. With these 2 surfboards, I might add another surfboard or two when traveling with the van like a longboard or a step-up surfboard.

One of them will be a fuller outline shortboard for waist-high to a bit overhead conditions. An easy to ride shortboard to really get a lot of waves and practicing maneuvers.

After that knee injury and other injuries from late 2019 I’m trying to get back in shape. I think a good physical condition is one of the most important things for surfing and for really enjoying it. 

So a bit more foam for both surfboards.

I have been riding longboards, funboards, shortboards and some fishes as well, so one day I felt like I needed a shorter stable board for travelling.

So for the other one I want it to be like a short funboard that has some potential for a quick walk up to the nose (noserides, cheater 5s etc.). Under 7’ and a board that I will surf when the waves are too small or weak for my shortboard. A lot of days I also like to grab a longboard for small and clean beach break waves. When traveling light and easy, I have found to miss a <7’ funboard/Mini Noserider for those days.

I ride all kinds of conditions, but that short funboard should work in weak onshore conditions up to head-high as well as in small knee- to shoulder-high clean waves (some breaks that I surf like Hossegor are also quite powerful even when small).

Currently I’m at 150lbs and I’m 5’9" (weight will go up to 160lbs). Sometimes I like to surf really mellow and trim a lot down the line. On other days I really like to walk up and down on longer boards and work on my turns or carves.

 

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I have been brainstorming a lot lately and researching the archives about shapes (and glassing), but I decided to create this thread.

For my first board I got most of my ideas and knowlegde form swaylocks and my ding repair (:D). Really informative and most importantly inspiring site! Thank you all!

I have been looking into different outlines and foils from diffrent surfboards like Greg Webbers Diamond, Beau Youngs Wombat (thanks Lemat), but I also found some interesting egg-like shapes with the widepoint back (Deadshaper posted some here, but I cant find them again).

 

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What would you shape for such a 6’4-7’0 small wave funboard that also handles some (fast) clean beachbreaks or point breaks?

I’m really grateful for your input and any inspirations :slight_smile:

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Check out Becker surfboards.a model named the lc3 I believe it is named that, is pretty darn close to what you want. Mid length full out line with a slight nose concave…

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I do some boards like this for waves around Hossegor, all are inspired from beau Young wombat, so with wide point forward. I don’t like full nose boards with wide point back look but why not…

For Hossegor keep a good amount of lift and thinned tail so you can match easier hyper curvy section with your backfoot.

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Bonzer Egg and copy a Donald Takayam Scorpion.  The Scorpion  great Board for quick trips to the  Nose lots of hang fives and is suprisingly nimble.  

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@Matt: Thanks, checking it out right now!

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@ Lemat: Thanks! I looked more into the Wombat by Beau Young and it seems to be the pretty close to the outline that I had visioned in my mind. Did you check my first board? I want to update that surfboard. On my first surfboard I kept a lot of design aspects simple like a flat bottom with a bit of V out the tail.

Now I want incorporate some more details and build a better version of it. 

Back to the wombat:

  • I like the diamond.

  • widepoint seems to be like 2" in front of center (I see this a lot)

  • nose and tail widths look great

  • Inspired by the wombat I created a 6’9 outline (*check the end of my post)

Lemat, thin tail sounds right to me, but how did you design your bottom for lift in the tail on this model?

I haven’t surfed a funboard with the widepoint back. I saw some interesting designs here, so I’m really curious on how they perform (especially compared to similar boards with the widepoint ahead of center). They don’t look that nice tough.

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@artz: Thanks artz! Do you mean a bonzer fin set-up on a Donald Takayam Scorpion?

In contrast to the diamond tail or a wide round tail I thought about the pintail as an option. Not sure if a pintail is the right tail design on such a board for small to medium mushy or small clean waves.

I checked the Donald Takayam Scorpion and found another version of it: the Scorpion II. Here: Scorpion II - Surfboards by Donald Takayama

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Outline no. 1:

  • 6’9 x 21 5/8 x 2,75

  •  widepoint 2" in front of center

 

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On wombat wide point is more 3 to 4 forward and outline have those heaps back like your’s. Scorpion have a wide flat nose a realy front wide point and thin and straight back, low rocker. Scorpion 2 is less extrem.

I find that flat bottom or double concave nose to tail work well for those boards, wide and thick, but you can do every thing you want.

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I think the Wombat has no hips. It’s a continous curve like mine. Do you mean that it is a bit pulled in in the tail?

Would you go with a outline like that (widepoint 3-4 inch in front of center)?

I’m playing around with BoardCAD and I still try to get a nice flowing curve. I prefer to do it manually with templetes of boards, but I dont have matching templetes. Hence why I try BoardCAD now.

I’m not sure about the dimensions yet, might go a bit shorter like 6’4-6’6.

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Regarding rocker and rails, what do you guys think? 

What about 4 1/4 " nose and 2 1/4" tail rocker. Hard edge in the tail. Modern tucked under rails for more performance.

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I’ve never ridden a mini-noserider that I’ve liked.  You can’t ride it like a longboard and you can’t ride it like a shortboard.  The end result is a board that rides like a dog.

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Thanks mako! I feel more or less the same way with noseriding on shorter boards. With my weight I do get some fun times on the nose, but it’s not comparable to dedicated noserider longboards (a noserider longboard will be a project for the future)!

I think my thread title was a bit misleading, so I changed it now. I’m looking for a short very versatile funboard that covers the range of small to medium mushy waves and small clean more powerful waves like fast punchy beachbreaks etc.

An allrounder that carries some volume up front for some front footed surfing when riding mushy waves and for some quick walks up to the nose for cheater 5s and so on. Not really a dedicated Mini-Noserider.

Thin foil at the rails in the tail with some tail flip to make it work in faster beach breaks. 

 

 

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Everything is compromise, for sure a 6’4 wombat is not a noserider and not a perf shortboard but it’s something else. I do many for french crowded always changing beachbreaks, even for advanced surfer that take many waves and have fun with.

Personnaly i don’t like riding them…

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Nose: 3 3/4th inches     Tail: 2 1/4th inches.       I’ve used those numbers, in the 6’ 6’’ to 6’ 8’’ range board length, with great success.     Same is true with the rail design you described.     Go for it.

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Thank you for chiming in Bill, really appreciate your words!

Your tail rocker is identical to what I thought would be a good fit for such a surfboard. The lower nose rocker must give it more paddling power and speed. I think I’ll go with it. Where have your surfboards been surfed (in the mentioned length and rocker)?

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Both reef and beach breaks, throughout San Diedgo County, California.       Also in Hawaii, west side Oahu, as well as smaller breaks on the North Shore.      ‘‘Smaller’’ being 8 feet and under.

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I met Bill Thrailkill several years ago on the north shore of Oahu. We had a nice conversation about surfing and life back when the surf was still uncrowded, and life back when he lived here. Bill gifted me a template of his 8’ northshore board and I’ve used the rocker from that to make boards from 8’ down to 5’10". The numbers he gave you are pretty close to what I like, up to 2.5" in the tail and 3.5" in the nose. I go with even less on some boards, 2" of tail rocker and 3" for the nose. When the waves get steeper a bit more nose rocker helps, but I tend to keep my boards relatively flat, or what they call low rocker.

I made a 5’10" x 22" fish with a modified version of his rocker and it’s good for waves from tiny to overhead. I made it as a Quad, but I’ve used large keels in the front boxes and it works great that way too. If you go with something closer 7’, I’d recommend an egg with the wide point forward of center. As an alternative, I like boards with a square, rounded square or diamond tail too. The blue board is 7’ and I’ve use that outline on several boards.

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THAT sounds really good!!! 

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WOW! Thanks for that cool post sharkcountry!

Really cool fish! I have a fish that I don’t really like. I thought about either going to build a fish that would work in the conditions you described or a 6’4-7’0 (egg-style) funboard. I’ll do the funboard first and sell the fish. Once sold I’ll get into the fish-project.

Why do you recommand an egg shape with the wide point foreward (as compared to wide point at center or back of center)?

Do you mean that you like a more pulled-in nose outline with a rounded square tail like the  blue board as an alternative to an classic egg outline?

I’m playing around with outlines at the moment and I think I might go with the following (I will post pics later today):

  • full nose outline with diamond tail like in post #5; either 6’4, 6’6 or 6’9. Probably one of the shorter ones.

  • or a more pulled in nose with lots of surface area in the tail, diamond tail too; 6’9 length.

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When the OP writes this:

  • One of them will be a fuller outline shortboard for waist-high to a bit overhead conditions. An easy to ride shortboard to really get a lot of waves and practicing maneuvers.

It leads me to think that he wants to actively surf the wave and is thinking more along the lines of a shortboard-derived design, not a longboard-derived design.  More about turning and less about trimming and shuffling to the nose.  

TO ME and going back to the 1990s, the term “funboard” has meant taking a longer “shortboard” shape and relaxing the rocker and template dimensions.    They were almost exclusively setup as thrusters but some builders now also set them up as quads.  Commonly sized from 7-0 to 8-0.  

A common setup would feature 15-16" nose, 21" wide points, 15+" tails, moderate rocker and rails.  Or similar.    

 

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Lots of shapers have been doing shorter versions of this theme.   Some shapers are doing them as small as 5-4 or 5-6, but the general shape itself will work into 7ft ranges if you’re willing to be flexible with the dimensions and curves.  A 6-0 in this shape will give a (young) 150# surfer lots of paddle power in day-to-day conditions, but the tradeoff with the widths and rocker will be a board that’s tough to handle in pitching or fast overhead conditions.    A 6-6 length would be a paddle monster for a 150# surfer, but any bigger than that and they’ll need a good duckdive technique to get that volume down and under a breaking wave.  

 

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I should also mention that if the OP is front footed then they should probably stay away from the wide-point-back designs because those favor a heavier rear foot.  Especially so in the shorter lengths.   They’re also less forgiving in your paddling position, and in your timing for your pop up.  If you’re paddling position is at all too far forward then the wave can outrun the rocker and bury the nose before you even get a chance to pop up.    They’re easier to work with in the longer lengths but even the 7-0 to 8-0 lengths are more sensitive to getting your paddling trim right.   

Also for front footed surfers on a wider template is you might consider moving your fin cluster further forward than is common in the retail boards.   Or perhaps using a staggered sizing on a quad with larger (twin-sized) front fins and smaller rear fins.  That will move the center of effort for your fin cluster further forward.  You won’t need to have your rear foot over the back of the tail block to turn the board.  

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My style of surfing is from riding single fin boards from the late 60s and 70s. I find myself prefering the wide point forward of center because I get more drive out of turns. The boards I have with the wide point behind center are great for quick tight turning, good for small days, or if I ride switchfoot. I think my switchfoot is much more rear footed because I used to skate goofy, but I surf regular. My regular stance is more centered or front footed but I can be rear footed when I want. I think this tends to favor boards with the wide point forward, which is what I am used to from the boards of the 70s. The blue board was an experiment using a 3" thick XPS slab, the shape is similar to an older style board. I made it years ago, and I actually never put fins on it for about a year. Then after seeing a video clip from Tom Wegener talking about his modern shortboard design, I realized I had created a similar board, so I stuck a fin box in it and used it a bit. It has very low nose rocker. That board is currently in storage.

I made this board (image) with 2 tails and no nose based on a design a guy I know has been doing for a while. The concept is to be able to have a board with the wide point forward or back depending on which side you use as the nose. I made mine 8’, but I think it would be better shorter like 7’ or less. I also made it a pig style one way and more of an egg style the other way. I found that I like riding this board with the narrow tail in any size, but only in smaller surf with the wider tail, smaller being shoulder high or less.

Everyone is different, and every break has different shapes and power in the waves. Don’t let any one person’s opinion sway you, you need to make a board for the waves you plan to ride. For me, a midlength “speed egg” works in a wide range of waves, and has the drive I like when it get’s bigger and faster.

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