Author Topic: Review: SUP Sports Custom Hammer 8'11"x31"x4"@140 Liters on Flat Water  (Read 2487 times)

Night Wing

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The review below is long overdue. With my bad spider bite and ragweed problems I've had this Summer, I've only been able to spend about 3 weeks riding my custom Hammer on flat water since I received my Hammer on July 22nd. The review below is a combination of quite a few paddling sessions over a "combined" 3 week period.

My custom quad + 1 Hammer came with 6 fins (2, 5") (2, 4") (1, 2.25") (1, 8.25"). My Hammer weighs with pad, a little over 17 pounds. The prevailing wind direction where I live is from the south/southeast. Most of my paddling sessions were early in the morning about 30 minutes before sunrise when the wind was dead calm. I'm also a lightweight at 145 pounds and I'm 5'8" in height. The paddle I use is an all carbon adjustable (74"-81.5") Werner Trance 85.

I wanted to see if I could paddle in a straight line from one side without switching over to the other side to compensate from drifting off my straight line. I found I could paddle a straight line quite easily, by paddling on one side for about 50 yards using a 1 fin, 3 fin and 5 fin setup. The 1 fin setup was with the 8.25" fin placed at the back end of the 10" fin box towards the tail. The 3 fin setup was with the 2, 5" fins and the 1, 8.25" fin and again the 8.25" fin was placed at the back of the 10" fin box towards the tail. The 5 fin setup was with the 2, 5" fins, 2, 4" fins and the 2.25" fin which was place in the back of the 10" fin box towards the tail. Incidentally, my favorite setup for flat water paddling is the 5 fin setup.

As for the glide, the 8'11" Hammer glides quite far for what is considered to be a short sup for flat water cruising. Keep in mind this is on flat water in calm wind conditions. She doesn't glide as well as my Hobie 12'2" because the Hobie has a much longer water line length. Distance wise, the glide is about 85% of my Hobie. I think the weight of the Hammer at 17 pounds has something to do with also since my Hobie weighs 29 pounds so I'm thinking inertia comes into the equation too.

As for turning, I'm not one of the those who do racing type turns where you step near the tail of the sup with one foot thereby raising the nose of the sup way out of the water for a tight turn (as in rounding a buoy). If I want to make a 180 degree turn from a dead stop, I put my paddle far back of me on one side, push forward and the Hammer will start to turn pretty quickly because she is much shorter than my Hobie. I usually need 3 paddle strokes to turn 180 degrees. (This is modification of a paddle technique I learned when I had my 14'9" SPTW kayak although that was 2 strokes on one side and 1 stroke on the opposite side). I can do the same thing if I want to make a 90 degree turn, but with much less effort and usually only 1 paddle stroke.

With a wind speed of about 12 miles per hour, paddling with the wind is no problem. But it takes a little more effort going into the wind since the curve of the Hammer's nose is curved upwards and it catches some wind, but it is not too bad. It is much better going into the wind than my longer Hobie because the nose of my Hobie is curved upwards much more than my Hammer.

With a crosswind of about 12 miles per hour, it is much easier to paddle my Hammer than it is to paddle my Hobie because I can control where I want to go with my Hammer in spite of the wind. With the Hobie, since the Hobie is 238.5 liters with 4 5/8" thickness, the wind steers the Hobie where it wants to go because of the thickness, the nose of the Hobie is curved more upwards than the nose of my Hammer and my Hobie weighs 29 pounds. The Hammer is much less affected because the nose of the Hammer isn't curved as much upwards as my Hobie is and I think the 17 pounds with 4" thickness plays a part too. The Hammer's rails are also lower than my Hobie's rails, again because of thickness even though both my Hammer and Hobie have curved rails.

Last but not least. The pad of my Hammer looks to be 3mm in thickness and it is so comfortable. I never get sore feet even though I've been paddling for a 2 hour session. The pad on my Hobie is much thicker and one would think it will be just as soft or softer on my feet. Wrong! The pad on my Hobie hurts my feet after about 30 minutes on the water. Come next Spring, I'm seriously thinking of selling my Hobie. And I've got evil thoughts about a 9'x30"x4.1"@142 liter quad + 1 sup if I do sell my Hobie.

Oh, almost forgot, when needing to carry my sups, the Hammer is a dream to carry if the distance to the water is 75 yards or more. Love the 17 pound weight of my Hammer. My Hobie, if I have to carry her 75 yards or more to the water, that 29 pound Hobie weight feels like 45 pounds by the time I get to the water.

Hopefully, this will help a lurking newbie on the Zone site or change a few minds when it comes to flat water paddling with what is basically a short surf sup. Like I've mentioned before on this site. I'm not one that follows conventional wisdom.......or runs with the pack.  ;)
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

mik911

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Re: Review: SUP Sports Custom Hammer 8'11"x31"x4"@140 Liters on Flat Water
« Reply #1 on: September 28, 2016, 09:42:21 PM »
Very nice. Thanks for the write up.
Is yours a Carbon fiber model?  17lbs--nice!   If yours is not, I wonder how much a carbon weighs?
Mike

Ron House Coastal Cruiser 12'6"
Hoe Nalu surf sup  10'6"
BARK 14' custom carbon SUP
Fanatic Fly Race 12'6" carbon SUP
BARK 14' prone custom paddleboard
BARK 12' prone Surftech paddleboard
Longboards: Harbour, Becker, Local Motion
Kneeboards: Cleary 5'10"
Handboard: Brownfish

exiled

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Re: Review: SUP Sports Custom Hammer 8'11"x31"x4"@140 Liters on Flat Water
« Reply #2 on: September 28, 2016, 11:11:09 PM »
I think there is something to be said for paddling a short sup on flat water. If my goal is just to get some exercise in rather than covering ground I often grab my 7'0 or 8'0. Also when cruising with less experienced paddlers I find it more fun and easier to match pace on a small board.

Badger

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Re: Review: SUP Sports Custom Hammer 8'11"x31"x4"@140 Liters on Flat Water
« Reply #3 on: September 29, 2016, 04:58:27 AM »

Your 12' Hobie is heavy, wide and slow, so it's not surprising the two boards have similar glide.

I sometimes take my 8'4 or 8'10 for short flatwater paddles of a mile or two in all kinds of conditions from glass to heavy chop. It's a good opportunity to practice proper stance and paddle technique. Usually about an hour of steady paddling is all I can take because it really wears me out.


« Last Edit: September 29, 2016, 05:30:12 AM by Badger »
Kalama E3 6'1 x 23" 105L
Axis HPS 980 / PNG 1300
Sunova Flow  8'10 X 31"  119L
Me - 6'0" - 165lbs - 66yo

SUP Sports ®

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Re: Review: SUP Sports Custom Hammer 8'11"x31"x4"@140 Liters on Flat Water
« Reply #4 on: September 29, 2016, 10:33:25 AM »
Quote
Hopefully, this will help a lurking newbie on the Zone site or change a few minds when it comes to flat water paddling with what is basically a short surf sup. Like I've mentioned before on this site. I'm not one that follows conventional wisdom.......or runs with the pack.

Aloha Night Wing,
Nice review...definitely in line with our experiences...

Thanks to guys/gals like yourself...we're over 102,000 views on our SUZ Hammer thread...mahalos...

http://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php/topic,19674.0.html

http://supsports.com/standup-paddle-boards/hammer-series

If you are not stuck on being the fastest SUP paddler on your lake (ALL SUPs are relatively slow...;-)...then as you point out, you can get a great workout in a shorter amount of time paddling smaller SUPs...we've been of this philosophy for years...

I know that you have been fighting off a spider bite and haven't been able to get a sesh...so, here's a new vid clip I put together from a paddle sesh we had on a gorgeous lake in Oregon this Summer...hope you can get a little vicarious buzz from it...;-)

https://youtu.be/qjs4HYCzbqw

I paddled my 8'11" Hammer...my wifey, Deb...and, college surfing bro, Mike...were on 9'2" Stokes...
These boards had small surf fins since we ended up going surfing afterwards so were too lazy to change them out...;-)...

We also have a number of other vid clips of the Hammer SUP models being paddled on flat water and surfing on our You Tube channel...also, Hammers being windsurfed and windfoiled...

https://youtu.be/LuzphSmeTpo

https://youtu.be/2DDTq1xHsIo

https://youtu.be/SFN2l0FDPMY

https://youtu.be/yhnlEeILjH4

https://youtu.be/fbUsAXhO3Lc

https://youtu.be/mPoktHI3oHo

https://youtu.be/eY0CVCSmKYY

https://youtu.be/4gu52jjYGRk

Mahalos...{:~)

WARDOG ®
Owner/CEO  StandUp Paddle Sports®  &   SurfingSports®.com, Inc.

(805)962-SUPS (7877) store
(888)805-9978 toll free

Retail Store:
Standup Paddle Sports, LLC
121 Santa Barbara St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Night Wing

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Re: Review: SUP Sports Custom Hammer 8'11"x31"x4"@140 Liters on Flat Water
« Reply #5 on: September 29, 2016, 02:00:17 PM »
Is yours a Carbon fiber model?  17lbs--nice!

My Hammer 8'11" is all carbon fiber.

On a sidenote. When it was being built, before the deck pad was attached to it, it weighed 16 pounds "bare naked".  ;)
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Night Wing

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Re: Review: SUP Sports Custom Hammer 8'11"x31"x4"@140 Liters on Flat Water
« Reply #6 on: September 29, 2016, 02:13:15 PM »
BTW, I did leave out one important oddity.

Even though the Hobie is 12'2"x32" and 238.5 liters and my Hammer is 8'11"x31 and 140 liters, my Hammer is more stable than my Hobie. I think the reason being is because I'm too light in weight at 145 pounds for the liter volume of the Hobie. When I'm paddling my Hobie without carrying any gear on the deck (tent, camping stove, dry bags, etc), the Hobie feels like I'm trying to stand on a round ball. It feels real "tippy" to me. With the "stuff" I carry on the Hobie for an overnight camping/fishing trip, the Hobie does not feel tippy to me.

The Hammer does not give me that "tippy" feeling at all. I'm thinking the liter volume of my Hammer is more in tuned with my 145 pound weight.

Lastly, even though I'm right handed, I like paddling on one side when I'm cruising on flat water and I paddle on my left side most of the time because I can easily paddle a straight line with both the Hobie and Hammer.
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

Night Wing

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Re: Review: SUP Sports Custom Hammer 8'11"x31"x4"@140 Liters on Flat Water
« Reply #7 on: September 29, 2016, 02:44:58 PM »
WarDog,

I've seen some of those videos before. The one with your wife (Deb) paddling in that flat water lagoon in central America is the main reason why I chose the 8'11' Hammer. Before seeing her in that video, I was leaning towards the 9'5" Hammer at 160 liters. Also, dropping the liter volume down from 148 liters for your production made 8'11" Hammers, to 140 liters for my custom 8'11' Hammer is much better for me at my 145 pound weight. It was your suggestion to drop down to 140 liter volume so I thank you for that.
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

 


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