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scumbo · Joined: 30 May 2004 Posts: Location: Friendswood Texas

I live in Texas and only get to surf mainly 1 to 2 foot windchop what would
be a good length width and thickness for a bellyboard foam and glass. I am 5'10" and 190 lbs. Any input would be great. out here Im on my own on this subject. Thanks.

Poobah · Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 8:28 pm Post subject: Bellyboard Size

I'd start with a long bellyboard. About 5 feet. In that size range you don't really need a custom board, because you might be able to pick up a used kneeboard. Were you planning to make a custom board?

Poobah · Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 9:22 am Post subject: Bellyboard size

A custom bellyboard would allow you to have less nose kick than what's usually shaped on a kneeboard. After taking off and catching the wave, you should be able pull yourself forward on the board for maximum speed. Too much nose kick and the board will mush...plow the water.

doc · Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 9:54 am Post subject:

Ok, let me disagree with all of the above-

Go with something under 4', wide and thin. Initially, making something out of plywood would be a good move. It's not about floatation, it's about planing area. See http://vagabondsurf.com/PaipoNewportConcaveReplica.html for one plywood copy that you can make quickly, easily and relatively cheaply. Just paint it, no glass, and mess with shapes until you find something that works well for ya. Then go to glass and foam, not before.

A used kneeboard....well, look, I run a surf shop, and I have personally bought every decent used kneeboard that I have seen come through in the past 25+ years. And I still own it. Note the singular tense. I see more good used Greg Noll Cats than I see used kneeboards of any description. The only thing rarer is good used paipos. A kneeboard is meant to be used differently - it's like driving nails with a hatchet: you can do it, but a hatchet is better used for hatchet stuff, just as a hammer is better for hammer stuff.

Also, and this may be heresy here, for 1-2 foot windslop ( and we get it here too, all %$&*# summer ) try a mat: you might be very happy with one - see http://vagabondsurf.com/SurfmatHome.html and http://neumaticsurfcraft.homestead.com/NeumaticSurfcraftwebsite.html for more. They also work in bigger stuff, of course.

hope that's of use

doc............

Poobah · Posted: Tue Jun 01, 2004 8:48 pm Post subject:

Flotation is important to paddling back out to the waves, and so there's often a direct relationship between flotation and the number of waves you ride in a session. I've been to Texas. Things are bigger there. Shower heads are seven feet off the floor, and I had to stand on my toes to pee in some of the urinals. Scumbo, how about replicating the Gunther Glass twin fin about 58" x 23" x 1" with fin boxes?

http://www.larryobrien.com/guntherglass.htm

scumbo · Joined: 30 May 2004 Posts: Location: Friendswood Texas

That Gunther Glass is incredible. Anyway to get all the dimensions? Would any surfboard shaper be able to duplicate it?

Poobah · Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 9:54 am Post subject: Bellyboard Size

What a wonderful world it would be if any surfboard shaper could do it. Ask Troutman's son since he shaped your last board. I need to get over to my friends house again to get those measurements. Going just on memory it was about 5 feet long, and very wide under my arm, like 23 or 23.5 inches wide. Generally speaking...you need a shaper with the skill to remove rocker from a blank, and who can also resist giving the board the nose kick of a thruster. Go for a strong glass job to compensate for the softness of the inner foam of the blank (thin board.)

Nels · Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 4:30 pm Post subject:

Poobah · Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 9:29 pm Post subject: Bellyboard Size

The rider also needs to be considered. In my case I sometimes have trouble with my right knee and/or my left ankle. So I rely on arm paddling more than some folks would, and I almost always wear webbed paddling gloves. So I tend to ride floaty boards. I have one board that is mostly submerged when I paddle it. It has enough flotation to stay against my body, and allow me to paddle with both arms. I can also drink a lot of chop that way. If you intend to be in a lot of choppy water, then I say have enough length and flotation to have a bit of the nose of your board out of the water to break the chop. Unless of course you're one of those people that can kick with your fins all day long.

rodndtube · Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 12:57 pm Post subject:

Check out the Big Ass Paipo:
http://www.larryobrien.com/bigass01.htm

It was too big for my "everyday" paipo riding but scales nicely for getting into those small waves. If you have one custom made then just add a tad less rocker. Click on the specs sheet at the bottom of the page.

P.S. My similar template board is 50" long, 20" wide and 2-1/4" thick.
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Nels · Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 1:05 pm Post subject:

I suppose I'm one of the few Californians who actually has gone to Texas and the Gulf and East Coasts on surf trips. All very worthwhile! Last time to the Gulf and Texas I took a bodyboard for convenience. The waves in some places like South Padre, Mustang Island etc. (while I was there that time) seemed to have an outside breaker, then whitewater, then reforms (sometimes more than one). For long rides like that length and float would be optimum...although not so much that it was a struggle to get back outside through endless whitewater - better something much longer for that which you could primarily paddle like a surfboard, some version of the legendary El Paipo Grande in my book.

Gotta say seeing El Paipo Grande over on Swaylock's was a real mind opener for me. It's longer than my longest surfboard. Don't know if I'd like it, but it obviously came from free minds.