Does anyone know what the general rule is for compensating for thickness through width?
everything in moderation, just try not to go to an extreme on either side
Of course, KLF is correct.
Gotta balance the wave speed with your power and weight vs float, planing, and ease of paddle.
If you are light and surf in juice, narrow is the call. If you are old, decrepit, and can’t paddle, add thickness, not width.
OTOH, if you are huge, paddle like a seal, you will get more response and glide from a wider, thinner board. If you’re huge and can’t paddle, go wide and thick.
You give us nothin to work with, so all you get is nothin.
Extreme in three sides:
Rob Machado Fish: 5’6" x 20" x 2" (Surfline - Quiver of the month)
Extreme in three sides:
Rob Machado Fish: 5’6" x 20" x 2" (Surfline - Quiver of the month)
yup; short narrow and thin.
My main board is 10’6" x 24.5" x 4".
Now Rob has a lot more tallent than I do, but I can probable still hang-10 better on my board than he can on his 
sorry, just had to dig-a-lit’le
and you prolly don’t surf 6 daze as week for the last 15 years, or weigh like 143 lbs., or even 30 years old…
Vivitron15 for a long board to get the same float if you add 1/2 in width, you can take away1/8 in thickness. You don’t want to go too wide so by adding 4 inchesto the over all length, you can take away 1/2 in width or take away 1/8 inch in thickness. Now none of this works on a short board, and we are only talking about float.
10’6x25.5x4’’ woah thats huge i would put a motor & maybe even go with a center console on that…thats just crazy…if i end up in a wheelchair one day ill ride a board like that…but whatever floats your boat i guess…what was the question.? oh yeah,wider /thicker…um my opinion is wider cant turn as sharp as a narrower board…thickness plays a part also ,(this could be made a long story)…ill try to make it short, so narrower is and thin is slow in weaker waves…fast and turns fast in powerfull waves…narow and thick,paddles catches waves better…still turns good ,dosent ride so good in fast waves…this is gonna get confusing, once your up and going at planing speed the bottom surface area is what really counts…paddling or going slow thickness comes into play, but also width somewhat…uhhhh get it?..just think about it or experiment or something…
and you prolly don’t surf 6 daze as week for the last 15 years, or weigh like 143 lbs., or even 30 years old…
6 daze a month in the winter for the last 2 year (15yrs without), 200lbs and 36yrs old with a desk job and reconstructed heel.
Sure more board than I need, but it gets the job done. I can catch a ripple or tandem with my 4 year old. Nice early entry, great glide and still can thread a needle in crowed SoCal point breaks.
Getting back on subject…
It sounds like your wanting to adjust 1 dimension to make up for the other and maintain approximately the same displacement?
Displacement is a function of volume. Volume of a cube = LxWxH. Volume of a surfboard can be approximated as an elipse wich is approximately 3/4 the area of the enclosing rectangle. So …((LxW)x.75)xH) will get you close.
With that you can fix 1 dimension (in your question L), vary another and solve for the third.
Just a rough approximation, but will definately be in the ball park and give a feel for how much or little you have to vary a dimension…
I attached a simple little spread sheet that does the comparisons for W vs H (thickness).
LeeD is on the money and there is no surf in the 4est.I’m riding a 6"1" 20 1/2" hybrid fish ,(that I made of course), and its 2 3/4" thick. I’m 6’1" 195 lbs 36 yrs. old and this is the best board I’ve had in years! Figure out your talent and go with measurments that work for YOU. maybe in the end, width and thickness are best for YOU.
hmmm…if you reduce width but add thickness you can end up with the same volume. This does not mean, however, the same planing ability as this relies upon surface area alone - length, width and rocker - the only variables important here.
However - wrt wave catching I’ve always found a little extra thickness in the tail (but still thin rails) coupled with a thinner nose helps tip you down the face of the wave earlier. In another post - someone wrote that removing extra thickness from the nose of his board changed how the board caught waves - ie made it catch them easier. …thoughts anyone?
if you try the aps3000 program you can see the volume calculations of the boards. you can then change the measurments and see the volume changes. this is a great aid to up and downscaling. also for repeat customers as thier weights fluctuate. i have a couple of rugby league players who go up by 15 kg(30+pds) for the football season. these kind of calculations help a lot.
Isn’t it also volume rail to rail? That can be deceiving. If a board is more of a flat bottom and runs thick, compared to a board which has a thick center but is concave. I’m no expert!
I’m 6’2" 170 pounds and have a 5’10 Frye type fish. It works wonders and paddles better than my 6’5" 2.5" CI which has a lot of concave (It’s the tri-plane hull). I believe the fish is 21" and 2.625" with a 16" tail.
Deke, your fish is bigger than your CI. Warren Sapp is bigger than Michael Jordan, even tho he’s shorter!
I’ve always believed, for a lighter surfer like myself, that thinning the nose help catch waves earlier, but does not paddle better.
Since I ride boards than can plane up easily, reducing nose volume allows me to paddle from further BACK, meaning less paddle speed. But when the wave picks up the tail of my board, I can drop my puny head and chest and drive the front of the board downwards, something I can’t do with a thicker nosed board.
If I were heavier, the physics involved might be different. I don’t know, I haven’t surfed with added weight successfully.
As an aside… my 6’8" x 20 x 2.5 crowned deck tri fin rounded squash floats me about belly button 3" underwater, so sternum always underwater.
How the heck am I going to ride a 6’2’ x 18.5 tri fin???