What do they mean by "Custom Boards"?

[oldmansurfer]

Floatation has zero effect on riding big waves since you are moving too fast for floatation to do anything except when you paddle for the wave. Once you get moving it really doesn't matter. The only time floatation affects riding a wave is when you go slow (mushy or small surf)

[drowningbitbybit]

Floatation has zero effect on riding big waves

The rails do though, and a big fat board with big fat rails will struggle to hold onto a face.

[oldmansurfer]

thickness has no effect on riding waves either except for rail shape. Width, now there is something that will affect how you ride waves, wider boards don't hang on a steep wall well, too much weight sticking out from the wall and wider boards don't turn well at high speed because of more planing surface pushing back at you (but putting your feet on the inside edge of the board helps with this) but a board doesn't need to float at all to ride a wave if you can catch it without any flotation at least until you go slow. When you go slow the planing of the board is less important and flotation comes into effect. If you stop then you need lots of flotation. As you go faster you need less flotation but the weight and width become factors in maneuvering the board (and the length as well). When you go realy fast and turn often most of the board is out of the water so essentially a long board and a short board end up with close to the same amount of board in the water on the turn but the long board has a huge amount of weight that sticks out of the water and this makes for more force needed to make a turn where shorter boards have less sticking out in front of them. It's all so freaking complex, it's amazing we can do it at all

[oldmansurfer]

My 8 foot fungun is thick but has tapered rails so the rails are not thick

[Tudeo]

Custom File..

From the Lost Indonesia website:
MATT BIOLOS: "Lost Surfboards are built in Bali, at a world class surfboard mfg plant. The boards are cut on the same AKU Shaper machine we use here in CA, using all my master files. For all custom orders, the order is sent to me via email and I create the custom file and send to Bali."

Some time ago, before the Lost-Indonesia webpages where up, I was looking at a 6'4" V2 Shortboard Domesticated in the Rip Curl shop in Bali. I noticed the dimensions were slightly different than the dims stated by the Lost website. The seller told me they were made in Bali.

I didn't like the difference in dims and bought a Firewire instead.

I like to select a board based on info from the internet and then go in the shop and buy that board, not a board with the same name but different dims..

[dtc]

Thanks for the comment dtc, that is a good question. However, at age 60, my wave range is 4 to 6 foot, so I don't notice any problem.

Is that the first board you have shaped? If it is, it's a great effort (and if it's not I'm very impressed)

[jaffa1949]

A good home shaped board that meets all the riders requirements is about as custom as it gets!
Aquamanufacture in reality, nice work!

[Aquaman2]

Is that the first board you have shaped? If it is, it's a great effort (and if it's not I'm very impressed)

This is the second board I ever made, after watching a John Carper DVD. I've been riding it for about 5 years and recently did major ding and spider crack repairs. I sanded off 1/8" thick of resin on the deck to remove the spider cracks which seemed to be about 1/8" deep. This tells me my last layer of sanding resin was 1/8" thick, too thick. These photos were taken after repairing dings and adding a few more thin layers of resin. My theory is that a number of very thin layers of resin makes it more resistant to dings and spider cracks. After applying a resin layer, I sand off about half the thickness. I made my first board in 1972.

[CutbackBretto]

About 3 months ago I went from a 7S Superfish to a custom board shaped by my mates uncle from the Gold Coast. Seriously I won't go back to mass produced again after this board.

We spoke on the phone for a while and I told him what I was riding, what I liked about it and what I wanted changed and he delivered it without a doubt.

Best board I've ever had and on top if that it's got a great quality glassing job. My mate got a CI Weirdo Ripper about the same time and he has pressure dings everywhere and mine is still pristine.

To top it off the board cost me $550 including 5 shapers fins and a deck pad.

[CutbackBretto]

Here's a couple of pics of the board

[dtc]

Is that a Simon Anderson? Looks like his logo but he isnt on the gold coast, so I guess not

Although....it pains me to say this, but the entire point of a custom board is so you can get your very own fancy spray paint design!

[drowningbitbybit]

Although....it pains me to say this, but the entire point of a custom board is so you can get your very own fancy spray paint design!

No no no! Anonymity is the way forward! Plain white board with a small black decal!

...anything else and people might start remembering me and there's a whole host of reasons I don't want that to happen!

[CutbackBretto]

Is that a Simon Anderson? Looks like his logo but he isnt on the gold coast, so I guess not

Although....it pains me to say this, but the entire point of a custom board is so you can get your very own fancy spray paint design!

It's a Spooky Point board. His name is Mick Roche. Each to their own, but the fancy paint job isn't for me

[CheaterFiveSurfBum]

I look at it like this. They are either real boards made by a human shaper or they are way, way over priced pop out and/ or made in china boards which should cost one third the price of a real board made by a real, human shaper. If you have it shaped for you by a local shaper, then it could be called "custom" but the word is really just an over used bull s**T word. Best way and often cheapest way to get a board is to have a real board shaped by your local shaper. Avoid Chinese boards like the plague.

[yoba]

Hey what about Firewire guys? It falls into category of mass produced branded product, I guess, however they seem to be getting positive feedback all over the internet.

[Tudeo]

I own 2 Firewires, a Dominator 606 FST and an Addvance 606 LFT, I like them both. Good quality build and there's a lot of choice in models and sizes. I'm still very interested in a smaller sized Unibrow for better waves and an 8ft Submoon for lazy/tired days, but not in a hurry to buy a new board.
I think there was an option to custmize dimensions for order on their site, but I can't find that anymore.

[yoba]

Nice, how would you describe the difference between Domi and Addvance?

[Tudeo]

The Dom has a wider tail, that makes it good for developing speed in weak waves but is hard to control in more powerful stuff from say shoulder high.
The Add is perfect in any way but duck diving. I (74kg) can duck dive it but just don't get deep enough when the waves are powerful.
On the Firewire website there's a very nice tool for comparing any 2 boards.

[kookextraordinaire]

A sage Hawaiian I know once told me that one needs only 3 boards: a small wave board, a medium wave board, and a gun. The last one can be substituted for a longboard if big waves aren't your thing.

Any more than that, he said, and you are just a show-off. At 60 he surfed heaving beach break better than anybody I've ever seen. I swear that guy spent more time in the barrel than I do in traffic.

[oldmansurfer]

Not everyone is going to want a big wave gun or a board for small waves but I bet what he calls small is different from what others call small. I guess you need to tailor the boards to your needs. For myself I have one board that I can use in most conditions and then another that I can also use in most conditions that I see but they are slightly different and one is better in larger waves and one better in smaller waves but both work well for what I usually surf. I have some other boards but they rarely see the ocean. My two boards are custom made for me by a local shaper.