Designing a flatwater 14 x24

[tobyha]

Hi guys,

I have been lucky enough to be racing a custom 14 x 27.5 for the last few months at our local Sunday morning 5.0km Sunday morning paddle. Got on a Fanatic Flatwater at 24 inches wide and loved it, the wideness of the tail and the stability it provided from the narrower shape are fantastic.

Got me thinking about going narrower and having a go as designing a board using boardcad or Akushaper.

What are thought on the best design programs to use for someone with limited experience?

Also does anyone have any good templates for at 14 footer they could point me towards as a starting point.

Cheers,

Toby

[Pierre]

What is your size and weight, Tobyha? because changing from 27,5" ( 70 cm) wide to 24'' (61 cm) is a big challenge.. if you are tiny and not too tall OK,   The key of glide on flat water is reduction of drag, means rounded bottom sections instead of flat and vertical rails., without going so narrow. it works great on flat and light dW conditions.attached a 14' which can meet those requirements for a light weight paddler.

[Pierre]

Oops no attachment, here a view of board sections and outline.( as example), that board is a little more"all-round, for flat water I way reduce rocker and have deeper steam.

[TallDude]

I shaped a similar hull on my old unlimited from a few years back. One of the problems with the rounded bottom is over steering. As the board rolls, and it will, do to the increased foil, you will get more board steer than you are used to. That zig zagging ultimately reduces any gains you would have had by reducing the drag. I did like how it softened the impact of side chop. Kind of just went with the bump, genitally rolling through the swells.  After going through a number of board designs and redesigns, I've come to the 'current' conclusion that a narrowed, flatter bottom across the beam is faster in the long run. Reduced board steer, and increased stability to maintain a cadence. Not too hard of a bottom rail, but a bottom rail none the less.
Let us know how she paddles.

[tobyha]

It is an interesting area of design. I am 6'2 and 200lbs and paddle generally in calm lake conditions. Chop gets up to maybe a foot at worst.

I have raced a 24" Fanatic flatwater over 5km and it was rock solid. A 2014 Starboard sprint at 24" is too tippy to be comfortable for me. I used to own a Starboard New (Ace) which was 12'6 and 25" and that was an interesting board, the primary stability never felt great, but good secondary stability.

Was thinking along the lines of the Fanatic, flat bottom, wider tail and boxy rails.

[tobyha]

Should say the board looks great by the way!

[SupTrip]

I shaped a similar hull on my old unlimited from a few years back. One of the problems with the rounded bottom is over steering. As the board rolls, and it will, do to the increased foil, you will get more board steer than you are used to. That zig zagging ultimately reduces any gains you would have had by reducing the drag. I did like how it softened the impact of side chop. Kind of just went with the bump, genitally rolling through the swells.  After going through a number of board designs and redesigns, I've come to the 'current' conclusion that a narrowed, flatter bottom across the beam is faster in the long run. Reduced board steer, and increased stability to maintain a cadence. Not too hard of a bottom rail, but a bottom rail none the less.
Let us know how she paddles.

Tall dude- do you have any pics of the S.S. Phallus that "genitally" rolled through swells?
-just busting your balls-

[55NSup]

Nice design Pierre.  It will have low initial stability and high secondary. The flare in section will allow board to float over chop if its not loaded up over the chine.

I built a low rocker flat bottom rounded rail board, 16-5 x 26 that works really good in flat, but needs more nose volune and / or deck crown to reduce water over the deck. Down wind ( only been out in mild conditions)  it works good by standing back, and i even ride small wind waves at beach. But up wind into chop it gets a lot of water over the deck.

[55NSup]

Another photo showing plan shape. I used Shape3D to design it.