Author Topic: Shaped a new board for bigger waves  (Read 4574 times)

StarboardSUPMan

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Shaped a new board for bigger waves
« on: July 15, 2021, 07:21:41 PM »
I wanted to build a board for bigger steeper waves.  Most of my boards have relatively low rockers and I wanted to try to build something different.  So when I went after this board I was thinking steeper hollower waves more rocker.  So the experiment began.

I started in Shape 3D (I've attached the Shape 3DX file at the bottom of this post) and wanted to stay in my safe zone for liters so I could ride this board in all conditions.  That meant I wanted to stay between 90-95 liters.  For some reason I really like boards 8’ long so I put that in as a parameter and 27” wide seems to work good as well.  That gave me a basic outline of what I wanted.  I wanted pulled in tail and nose for performance.  Finally I wanted a lot of rocker.  I researched other boards posted on here, one by SUPTheCreek with 7+” of nose rocker and 4+” of tail rocker.  If I hadn’t seen that board I would’ve thought that was way too much.  I settled on 6.7” of nose rocker and 4.2” of tail rocker.

This was my first board I truly started from scratch on.  Normally I would ask my local shaper for a foam block to start with, but he had gotten COVID and was way behind on boards and didn’t have time for me.  So this time I headed off to Home Depot to get some EPS foam sheets.  I could only find EPS in 2” thick 4x8 sheets.  So I knew I had to glue them together, and based on my board shape I would need 3 of the 2” sheets stacked ontop of each other and on the last few inches of the nose another sheet to make up for that 6.7”.  I also purchased a 1/8” sheet of plywood for the stringer.

First step was to cut the stringer out.  I printed out my Shape 3D board specs and cut 3 identical stringers out of the 1/8” plywood.  Then I cut up the 4x8 foam boards into 16” wide strips.  I lined those up and put a thin layer of epoxy between each sheet and stacked them 3 ontop of each other.  Then I ratchet strapped them together and let them dry.  Once dry I glued the stringer onto the ends and middle of the foam blocks and strapped them together.  Then I had my blank. 

I took a hotwire cutter and ran it down the board to get the profile.  Using the stringers on the end and in the middle kept my hotwire cutter on track.  Things were shaping up, I had my rocker.  Next up I cut out the template of the board.  I was getting excited I could start shaping the bottom contours.  I went with the tried and true concave in the middle, going to a double concave and finishing with a vee at the fins.  All of this I kept to 1/8” very subtle.

Rail bands took me a bit of searching.  In my last board I made knifey rails and I didn’t really love them.  They held well but they made recovering form a hard turn very difficult.  I like a fuller rail in the middle of the board.  I went on green light surf supply and they have rail templates.  This time I went with boxy and made them even a touch more boxy than what their template called for.  Since their template was for surfboards 2-3” thick and this was 4.1” thick SUP.  I compared the rails to my other boards I liked and they lined up pretty close.
For the fins I went with a more aggressive approach.  I did ¼” toe in on the front fins and 1/8” toe in on the rear fins.  For cant I put 9 degrees on the front and 5 degree on the rears.  It’s got a pretty aggressive look to it.  I put a 10” center box in for lots of adjustment as well.  I like thruster but want to try out different quads so I made sure to put those rear quad boxes back a bit further for extra grip.  Front fins I put at 15.5” off the tail.  Rears I put at 8.5” off the tail.  The center fin box I put at 4.5” off the tail with plenty of room for adjustment.

For Glass schedule, on the bottom I put on a layer of 8oz with a layer of 4oz ontop.  For the top I put a 8oz deck patch, 8oz and 4oz top layer. 

My hope for this board is that with all that rocker and fin toe it’s going to be able to stay in the pocket on bigger waves.  I’ve had trouble with my boards generating too much speed or being hard to turn once they get going too fast.  Paddle boards have a lot more glide then surfboards so I’m hoping that I can get away with all of this drag and still have a board that performs.  I don’t expect this board to be good on mushy summer waves this was designed to carve on chest+ waves.

I took the board out for it’s first run in small sized surf maybe knee to waist (I know I couldn't help myself).  As expected it didn’t fly down the line but I was able to pump it for speed and keep up with most waves.  I really enjoyed the ability to step on the tail and put the brakes on.  I was able to cozy right up in the pocket on a few waves by doing this.  Then when the wave picked speed up I could weight my front foot and off I went.  Honestly I thought I was going to experience a lot more drag and speed issues from this board.  I’ve shied away from anything this extreme expecting it to be a dog, but the board does good.  Turns are a lot easier I think the combination of fin cant/toe and tail vee all work together to make this board super easy to whip around.  I hope to get some video of it soon.

Let me know your thoughts.  Everything I said above is basically a guess I don’t really know if I just lucked out, or maybe this shape isn’t as extreme as I was thinking?
« Last Edit: July 15, 2021, 07:29:47 PM by StarboardSUPMan »

surfcowboy

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Re: Shaped a new board for bigger waves
« Reply #1 on: July 15, 2021, 08:36:26 PM »
Nice work and true garage shaping.

Seems like that’d work pretty well in Hawaii. What size surf were you targeting?

supthecreek

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Re: Shaped a new board for bigger waves
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2021, 03:42:36 AM »
Dana, you have been busy!
Great to see a backyard shaper in the old school tradition  :)

I like your free thinking creativity on the blank (s) and stringers!
A good project is always fun to tackle.
It has to be very satisfying to see and surf your own creation come to life from a stuff you got off a shelf at a building supply store.

It certainly has a lot of outline curve, so I am not surprised that it turns easily.

Sorry I wasn't there to check out the progress and watch you bring this together.... congratulations on your new board! I can't wait to see it  :D







StarboardSUPMan

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Re: Shaped a new board for bigger waves
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2021, 07:43:55 PM »
@Surfcowboy.  I'm on the East Coast of Florida.  Wish I had Hawaii waves, maybe someday.  I shaped it for chest high + waves.  I waited to shape a few others since I thought I wouldn't be using this board as much.  Turns out it's not too bad in knee-waist high waves either.

@SupTheCreek.  Yeah I had it on my mind for a while and just went for it.  Looking forward to you seeing it in person and telling me your thoughts!  Hope you are getting some good waves up there!

I finally got a chance to get my GoPro mounted on it and took it out.  Today's waves were knee to waist high, but for a little while the wave had some curve and push to it.  Made it fun.  I really enjoy how the rocker lets me pull up and sit right in the pocket and kindof stall the board out.  It can also speed up when you work it and I can throw some spray in a turn.  Nothing too serious today if I went at it too hard I would just fall off the wave.  Can't wait to get it into some bigger stuff.

https://youtu.be/2xh4tfgOP1w
« Last Edit: July 16, 2021, 08:06:55 PM by StarboardSUPMan »

supthecreek

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Re: Shaped a new board for bigger waves
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2021, 08:48:59 PM »
You are killing it Dana!
The board seems to suit you perfectly... snappy turns and cutbacks.. and it looks like good speed.

Nice backside lip smack!  :)

StarboardSUPMan

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Re: Shaped a new board for bigger waves
« Reply #5 on: July 17, 2021, 10:30:35 AM »
@SupTheCreek.  I'm using that screengrab now to send to all my friends.  Didn't realize I got it on rail that hard!  Thanks.

I took it out today for another session.  Waves about the same maybe a touch smaller.  Put quads in the board and I liked them!  My biggest gripe about quads has been their lack of hold, I would also feel uneasy on a hard bottom turn.  I would feel like I could only push so hard or I would spin out.  On this board they grip like a dream, I can blow out the fins on a snap if I want, but I don't even need to think about nursing them on a hard turn.

Having said that I started to wonder why.  I think it's a combination of things but here is my favorite board vs my newly shaped board.  On my favorite board I cannot use quads I blow out the fins every time.  This isn't a problem on my new board I think due to 2 reasons.  1 the tail is narrower putting the rear quads closer together giving the fins more hold like my thruster setup.  2. I put the rear fin boxes 1" further back adding addition grip and hold.  Here are 2 pics with the dimension.  Orange board is the one that slids, white is the new one that grips.

Fin box placement
White board
Front 15.5
Rear 7.5
Middle 3.5
Run center fin at 7” loose
6” stiff
12” tail width 16”

Orange board
Front 17.5
Rear 8.5
Middle 7
Run center fin at 9” loose
8” stiff
12 “ tail width 18.25”
« Last Edit: July 17, 2021, 10:50:52 AM by StarboardSUPMan »

Stew

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Re: Shaped a new board for bigger waves
« Reply #6 on: August 21, 2021, 11:53:49 PM »
Looks cracking!

I had popped over here for the first time in a while in the hope to find inspiration on a shorter SUP suitable for river surfing. I had given up looking and have just been browsing around - this looks like it could be great for it!

How jealous am I on that water & weather? (I'm in the UK so a bit chilly!)

Is the orange a self build too?

TallDude

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Re: Shaped a new board for bigger waves
« Reply #7 on: August 22, 2021, 09:41:41 PM »
I had missed this thread... Nice board SBsupMan and nice ripping it up video!!
It's not overhead to me!
8'8" L-41 ST and a whole pile of boards I rarely use.

StarboardSUPMan

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Re: Shaped a new board for bigger waves
« Reply #8 on: November 19, 2021, 09:39:25 AM »
Stew - Thanks glad you got inspired!  The orange board is a 8'0 x 27 - 95 Liter Brusurf.  I blew out the fin boxes day 1 so its a repair.
TallDude - Thank you! 

supmmmm

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Re: Shaped a new board for bigger waves
« Reply #9 on: November 26, 2021, 05:24:35 PM »
Nice board - looks like my imagine 7’10” shape n rocker wise.

 


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