The fun of unlimited boards

[PaddleSpot]

This looks familiar. Here's mine 18' UL when I was cooking the hot coat.

Do you have other pictures, TallDude ? How does it look now ?

[TallDude]

I've been paddling it for about 3 years now. Here are some pictures. I'm also including a picture of one of my old unlimiteds that I designed about 7 years ago but Hobie glassed it for me. It was my Albatross in many ways. It had way too much volume and a very rounded bottom. I think only a 15" wide flat area in the middle of the bottom. The quartered wind was brutal on that board. I took all that  wasted volume out of my current unlimited as you can see in the photos. And look.... no wake even at race speed.

[PaddleSpot]

Work in progress...

[TallDude]

Looking good. It's nice to see the birth rate increase for the unlimited board species.

[supuk]

very nice did you manage to lay the deck up in one bit without relief cuts using the twill? Im read to glass mine however hit a small road block with the new vac setup I have just built so want to get that perfect before bagging it.

[PaddleSpot]

very nice did you manage to lay the deck up in one bit without relief cuts using the twill? 

Yes, no cuts, no problem at all. One layer of 5 oz carbon, then immediately one layer of 3 oz fiberglass, then a peelply.

[supuk]

nice i take it you used twill glass also? would love to see some more pics of the standing area when the peel ply is all of

[PaddleSpot]

nice i take it you used twill glass also? would love to see some more pics of the standing area when the peel ply is all of

The glass is  not twill, it is Hexcel 2116 : http://www.hexcel.com/resources/datasheets/fabrics-data-sheets/2116.pdf

 But this is not the standing area. The standing area will be :
- 5 oz carbon
- Hexcel 2116 fiberglass
- 0.6 mm oak wood
- 6 oz fiberglass
- Hexcel 2116

[SUPflorida]

Supuk...you home yet? been holding off on my decision of going 14' or 16' on a new upcoming "all-water" board to hear if the 16 was everthing you thought it would be...or if you were going back to your tried and true 14 length? Quit messing around and get that thing glassed and on the water😉 You would normally pop three of these baby's out in this amount of time😎

To all the unlimited guys out there...any of you have something other than a pin tail on your current unlimited board (or ones you have owned in the past)?  If so, does it negate some of the benefit of going longer?

I noticed the wake of a bunch of different shaped boards in Robert's downwind race video. The SIC 17's were putting out a much more turbulent wake, even as narrow as that snipped off tail is ...compared to a Fanatic pin tail that was in the mix. That said from strictly appearance sake I like the tail blocked off a bit rather comming to a point...all thing being equal.

So what's the buzz? Never saw a surf ski with anything other than a pin tail...how about an unlimited SUP with a rounded pin tail? Any of those out there? Remember, looking for all water board performance. Spending as much (or more) time going up wind and cross wind as downwind.
What's been your first hand experience? Appreciate your insight.

How do you turn one of those beasts from down wind to into the wind without a rudder in 15+ mph? If you move back to sink the tail...all that nose in the air is going to send you heading straight down wind... What's the secret?

[Pierre]

some views of unlimited fun capacities for my plywood 18- footer, thanks to mr Luds "photofr" for the nice pics ..
https://photofr.smugmug.com/FindYourPhotos-1/2016-Event-Photos/2016-Jun-09-Tour-de-Groix

[Area 10]

SUPFlorida - you turn fixed fin UL board by moving well forward on the board to minimise the fin, and use rail steer. It works well - as you pass the centre point of the board going forward you make the length of the rail behind the pivot point (ie. roughly where you are standing) longer than the rail in front of you. This means that as long as you minimise the anchoring effect of the fin, side winds and chop will tend to act more on the tail than the nose, and will help you turn into the wind.

When I was on my UL fixed fin board yesterday, I was struck by how much easier it was to turn into the wind than my 14.

Soon, shapers will start building UL specifically designed to a fixed fin rather than a rudder. This will mean some changes from current designs I think. Most current designs with rudders presume very little or no weight movement forward of the handle. But moving forward is essential on a UL in certain conditions and can be HUGELY advantageous.

[supuk]

Supuk...you home yet? been holding off on my decision of going 14' or 16' on a new upcoming "all-water" board to hear if the 16 was everthing you thought it would be...or if you were going back to your tried and true 14 length? Quit messing around and get that thing glassed and on the water😉 You would normally pop three of these baby's out in this amount of time😎

yes got home Tuesday sorry for taking so long on this one unfortunately its going to be a little longer too as i am now going over to France next week  to surf in the euro championships and i have a 7'4 to Finnish before then so not much time to work on the unlimited but it is next to get glassed when I'm back but i think being so long i am going to try and make a rocker jig for it to make sure it stays were i want.

[SUPflorida]

SUPFlorida - you turn fixed fin UL board by moving well forward on the board to minimise the fin, and use rail steer. It works well - as you pass the centre point of the board going forward you make the length of the rail behind the pivot point (ie. roughly where you are standing) longer than the rail in front of you. This means that as long as you minimise the anchoring effect of the fin, side winds and chop will tend to act more on the tail than the nose, and will help you turn into the wind.

When I was on my UL fixed fin board yesterday, I was struck by how much easier it was to turn into the wind than my 14.

Soon, shapers will start building UL specifically designed to a fixed fin rather than a rudder. This will mean some changes from current designs I think. Most current designs with rudders presume very little or no weight movement forward of the handle. But moving forward is essential on a UL in certain conditions and can be HUGELY advantageous.

Thanks Area10 ...makes perfect sense when you described it that way...exactly what we do to get an overturned cat headed into the wind to basically "water start" it with minimum effort...walk to the bow on the lower hull when it's knocked down on its side...mast turns 90 degrees to the wind, wind gets underneath the sail and pops it right back up on its feet (so to speak). Bill Roberts the designer of Supercat & ARC catamarans would right his ARC 27 like that and it had a 15' beam.

That's good to know,  as my 14' gives me enough of a fit in over 20 mph as it is...I was anticipating 16' plus being pushed downwind with little recourse.
Strike another excuse off the list to avoid building a 16'.

[PaddleSpot]

nice i take it you used twill glass also? would love to see some more pics of the standing area when the peel ply is all of

Standing area :

[PonoBill]

Supflorida, the Speedboard has a squared tail. I think that's a bit of a mistake. When you move forward on the board there's a point where the tail releases and suddenly gets fast. I don't consider that a benefit. With my weight (240) I'm standing on the edge of the pad, and going upwind I'm generally past it.