first session on my first surfboard

[43patrick]

I just got back from my first session on my first surfboard build and I am full of questions...

The board is a thruster 5'7" x 19.25 x 2" :

I rode it of about a half hour as a thruster (PG3's) and
1. it felt very stiff when turning and even more so when on the rail with power in the kite.
2. when riding toeside the "wake" of the board really wraps around the board and would sometimes catch my back foot and knee.
3. it seemed to pop of of chop well and stick to my feet but maybe that is just wax vs traction pad.

It was so stiff when turning that it made my think of a post from here at LTS (Stud or dud?) so i removed the center fin and the board came a live and rode much better. however I then could not really snap it in to the chop as well with out it sliding out so the amount of pop was greatly diminished.

Any thoughts on why it turns so stiff? why the "wake wraps the rail so far and is there any saving grace for this board?

here is a photo with A 5'9" surftech UFO next to my build for comparison.

thanks for any help

SS852078small.jpg (498.71 KiB) Viewed 73156 times

SS852078small.jpg (498.71 KiB) Viewed 73156 times

[tungsten]

Hi Patrick, first of all, this is a beauty. Nice work! No worries, a stiff board can be taken care of.

It's a bit difficult to judge a board from a picture only, as perspective plays tricks on you - taking a foto with a wide angle lens is bad for perspective. However, from what I see, the stiffness seems to stem from the fins, size and position.

1. If you measure your boards you will find that the "spread" of your thruster - the distance between side fins and rear fin - is bigger than the one at the ufo board. The closer they're together, the looser the board, the farther they're apart, the stiffer.

2. You didn't mention what kind of fins you are using. If a board is stiff and you can't change fin position easily (FCS plugs), you can still change the fins.
Side fins: go smaller until you like it. FCS3 is WAY too big. Get cheap fins and cut them down for testing purposes.
Rear fins: I like 2/3 of the size of the side fins for a nice agile board.

3. The side fins seem rather inwards of the rail. closer to the rail is looser. This again calls for fins with little lift, that is to say, thin fins.

4. You chose a toe in rather smaller than what a surf board carries, which is good for a fast kite board, but tracks better than the usual surf board toe in. Again, if you want to play, take a cheap FCS plastic fin, heat it with a hair dryer and twist it, changing toe in. More toe in is slower but looser.

So, play with the fins. Get cheap plastic ones and hack into them until you're happy. This is what surfers say:

http://magicseaweed.com/Shortboard-Fin- ... ticle/146/

cheers, tungsten

[43patrick]

Hey, thank you so much for the advise on fins...

I ground down an old plastic center fin and heated up the side fins and added cant. One of the side fins broke after 10 min if riding (I guess I tried to go to far) but when I put the PG 3's back in the side with the shorter center fin the board rides much much better. Thanks, I like it enough now that I may even try building another. It still is not as responsive as the UFO but it is an inch wider at the center and wider in the tail so I think that is to be expected, it is better up wind and fun in chop jumping so I will call it a success. Thanks again for the advice.

[tungsten]

Great! For the next board, put the side fins 1" rearward, on the same line and same angle as you have it now. On your current board, you could add another fin plug behind the actual ones. This is a quick solution and will greatly loosen up your board.

good winds, tungsten

[43patrick]

After riding the board just a few times it became my favorite board. Now I have put a crease in the bottom and the rail is cracked. I am planning to build another this winter, but is a summer of about 30 to 50 days of riding about all I should expect? or should I try to reinforce the next one more? This had 2 layers of 6oz on top and 1 on bottom. Maybe 2 and 2 next time?