Volume versus length question

[Swimmy Tim]

Yes I've noticed the length adds glide principle and you're the first to mention it so thanks. Also for specific feedback on the Joe as well.

I ended up getting a board made from my local shaper, Stefan Aftanas ( http://www.aftanas.ca/surfboards/ ), the Spork: 6 foot 4, 40 liters, nice little nose rocker too. Been out 10 or so times in waist to head high beach break and it is wicked. Paddles as easy as my 6-8 Pumpkin Seed, and noticeably easier to turn.

I had a good look at the 5-11 Joe at the shop and it felt like a pig for that length. So thick and fat, it barely fit under my arm. The 5-9 Joe felt better, but at that length I was thinking paddling might be pretty slow. Never tried either of them in the water though.

At this point, as much as a part of me enjoyed the adventure of figuring out what board I should get and doing all the comparisons and research, I'm glad the search is over for now. New board is really everything I was hoping for.

Cheers and thanks for your help.

[Monkey4450]

I have a CI average Joe. I kept it fairly long, wide and thick though (6'6x23x3) because of my limited abilities, I didn't want to sacrifice too much paddle speed. And I don't feel like I did. Flat rocker and lots of volume makes it go fast, it feels as fast as a much bigger funboard.

But it's sensitive to chop, especially since my board's a very light epoxy model and very floaty. The low weight doesn't build much "momentum" to plow through more difficult conditions. Overall super happy with the board, great fun in small and fairly clean conditions, but it has its limitations(more so for a guy with my limited skills than others I'm sure, but steep/hollow waves are diffcult on that board).

[Iniquitos96]

Hey guys curious on some feedback on this I know it’s an old post but am currently riding a lost Uber driver 5’10 x 19.5 x 2.44 squash tail (original shape before they flattened it out for a more groveller approach) wicked board paddles great, rides well etc but is on its last legs. Looking at getting a new one but adjusting dims slightly .... as I would like to retain the great paddle ability but squeeze a touch more manouverability out of it.

What would be the best dimmension to adjust to achieve this without affecting the paddle ability? Eg Length?width?rocker?rail profile? as only needs a small tweak I don’t want to reinvent the wheel or anything just refine it a little bit And am interested what impacts a small tweak to each or any of these would affect the rest of the attributes of the board

[waikikikichan]

.... as I would like to retain the great paddle ability but squeeze a touch more manouverability out of it. .............. as only needs a small tweak I don’t want to reinvent the wheel or anything just refine it a little bit

Then leave the board alone and switch out fins. More upright template, more rake, less volume, different material make up, etc.

[dtc]

As waikikchan says, fins first. I guarantee switching fins will be noticeable - you may have to experiment

Then add a bit of tail rocker, that will increase maneuverability without changing volume etc (will slow the board a touch).

Depending on the board, you could also look at changing the rails. Harder rails will help sharper turns (not so good at long sweeping turns); however your board might already have hard rails

The above wont change your board dimensions/volume by much if at all. There are always trade offs, however, the changes wont make the board 'the same but easier to turn'; for example, harder rails have less volume and are not as good for smaller/less powerful waves.

Then reduce width. Potentially you could increase thickness a very small amount to offset the width change.

Then length, but this starts having more substantive affects. Still if you went to a 5'8 version of your exact board, thats a simple change (you can get off the rack) and you will notice it. Will be less stable and not as good a paddler, of course.

[Iniquitos96]

Hey guys thanks for the feedback, yeah I have already alternated through 6 different sets of fins and stuck with the ones that give me the best performance for that board however it’s still just a little lacking and if I’m going to have to replace it soon I would rather fine tune it a little. Thanks for the great advice so I’ll probably look at adding a slight bit more tail rocker and reducing the width a tiny bit maybe 1/8th of an inch and see how that goes

[Naeco78]

Hey guys curious on some feedback on this I know it’s an old post but am currently riding a lost Uber driver 5’10 x 19.5 x 2.44 squash tail (original shape before they flattened it out for a more groveller approach) wicked board paddles great, rides well etc but is on its last legs. Looking at getting a new one but adjusting dims slightly .... as I would like to retain the great paddle ability but squeeze a touch more manouverability out of it.

What would be the best dimmension to adjust to achieve this without affecting the paddle ability? Eg Length?width?rocker?rail profile? as only needs a small tweak I don’t want to reinvent the wheel or anything just refine it a little bit And am interested what impacts a small tweak to each or any of these would affect the rest of the attributes of the board

Hey man, I've been looking into the same type of tweaks for the typical dim's that I was using.. and I found the shapers rule of thumb below helpful.
Let us know how it works out, if you make the change.

“Every board and every surfer is different,” says short/fatty-board master Matt Biolos of …Lost surfboards. “But, to put things simply, for every inch you go shorter, you should add a quarter-inch of width. So if you ride a 5’10” long by 18” wide, you’d go 5’8” by 18 1/2”—pretty basic stuff as far as length and width. The rocker gets trickier, as we like to keep it low since you don’t really need that extra kick on boards like this. Thickness is similar to the width, depending on what kind of rails you like, about an eighth of an inch thicker for every inch shorter works for us.”
https://www.mensjournal.com/adventure/s ... t-is-good/