This anything along the lines of what you're thinking Piros?

This ones 8ft 7 inches by 4 and three quarters by 30

As you can see there is plenty of beef through the middle but the rail line is pure shortboard

Probably get Fordy to blend the top of the step with the rail a little more next time as it comes across as being a touch angulur

Overall totally stoked in the performance though. Hates to get up on a rail!

Last two photos courtesy of Phill
Cheers
Sparx

Probably not so suprising that Southpoint is responsible for some fine looking step rails. As I recall they were responsible for the "Bonga" model and that had the mother of all step set ups. My second SUP was a Bonga and it was definitely a board that could be surfed as well as cruised.

Cheers
Sparx

Bnaccas said...

The Bonga at 27.5" wide with the step rail was the tippiest board on the market when it was released.
My Bonga was a great board coming off a cheap china 10'6". I think the whole step rail thing is a great
idea but would no doubt effect stability.

I've just done up an 8'8" shape and played around with step rails but ended up going with a slightly thinned
out rail instead. I might have another look at it.

Sparx, did Simon shape the step rail or was it the machine?

G'day Brendan
As far as I know Simon does the finessing while the machine does all the grunt work. I saw my first shooter straight off the machine and while the basics where there it required alot of man hours before it was ready to be glassed. Fordy is something of a perfectionist!
As far as the step rail and stability goes I agree that the Bonga was a tippy beast. However I have found with my last two customs, an 8.8 and an 8.7 that they are far more stable than the Bonga. I know it's been discussed before but I subscribe to the theory that once the bottom part of your rail, or in this case the step, is under water, the board becomes far more stable. This I think is because of the added water resistance and effort required to tip the board from side to side. Obviously this is a bonus when paddling and once the board is up and planing you have the surfability of a shortboard rail profile. I'm no genius and I dont shape but it seems to work for me.
Cheers
Sparx

Piros said...

What's your thoughts on stepped decks ? This is a couple of shots of Billie Waton's on a Chris Garrett 8-2 x 27 not a board for everyone , but you need to see this board in the flesh .Super pulled over short board rails with razor sharp edges

This might be the answer for us larger units to get on smaller boards without the boxy rails. It's always a trade off , rail shape for stability but with a stepped deck you can still pull the rail over with a nice thin tail but keep the meat in the board to float your fat.

The Uber fish in the early days brought out a rough attempt at it and now Southpoint of all people has brought out a really nice looking performance 10 footer with a great looking stepped deck.

My next custom will be stepped for sure around the 8-6 mark and would love some input into it for my 90 keg frame.

Rob

They played around with stepped decks on shorboards for a while and my mate has one with a stepped rail so the deck is thick but the rails are knify<is that a word? Cant remember the brand but they were in Margaret River and they also do windsurfers and kite boards. It was UFO or Alien and they are a tufflite construction. Ive surfed it a few times and it goes well

CMC said...

I've got a 6'0 Twin fish that Murray made for me with step rail. Floats so well, concave deck for quick reaction times underfoot rather than rolling your foot across deck roll. Kind of like a skateboard.

The great thing is you can increase volume litreage than with a rolled deck, have a nice flat or concave deck for comfort while still having nice low rails for bite.

I usually ride a 9'3 x 28, I borrowed a 8'6 x 29 flat deck step rail and I think it floated better and was greatly more stable than my 9'3. The flat deck is far easier on your feet than rolled also.

Hey CMC can ya take a pick of it please? I would love to see that the 6.0 fish that is..

doggie said...

CMC said...

I've got a 6'0 Twin fish that Murray made for me with step rail. Floats so well, concave deck for quick reaction times underfoot rather than rolling your foot across deck roll. Kind of like a skateboard.

The great thing is you can increase volume litreage than with a rolled deck, have a nice flat or concave deck for comfort while still having nice low rails for bite.

I usually ride a 9'3 x 28, I borrowed a 8'6 x 29 flat deck step rail and I think it floated better and was greatly more stable than my 9'3. The flat deck is far easier on your feet than rolled also.

Hey CMC can ya take a pick of it please? I would love to see that the 6.0 fish that is..

Doggie door:

Here you go mate. Not the right place for a shortboard although it does reinforce my thought that performance SUP are really just big shortboards. If I told people it was 8'6 x 29 they might not even blink.

This board is tweaked beyond belief. Concave deck, step rail, Shortboard rocker, deeeeep concave into extra deeeeeeeeep double with drop flyers accentuating it.

Getting old now but the fastest board I have ever ridden. Got me back into surfing daily when I was very ho-hum a few years back.

Oh and forgive the metro gay waxjob, I have let my brother in law ride it of late. Says a lot about a person i reckon the wax.

doggie said...

Is that the trippin fish? Very nice board, Murray loves deep concaves

Trippin fish.....

When Murray made this board for me another shaper and I designed it on the concrete floor with pencil and some recycled templates. I worked with him for a long time.

The other fish including the trippin he makes came long after this one.

They are better than this one now, it's about 6 years old.

Nice looking boards great shots love the stepped rails I know where I'm going for my next custom design.Thanks for the input. That last shot is sick

Rob

Oliver we are sitting here now still trolling through the videos on the editing suite , another few weeks and it will be done also available on blue ray , thanks to all for your patience and the web site will be up dated next week so you can place an order.

Thanks Rob

I'm surprised that some of the Imagine sups haven't had much of a mention on this forum...seeing as we're talking about shortboard or more performance related sups?

imaginesurfboards.com/eng/cutback.html

I think there's 3 models which look to be very shortboard and performance orientated. I've been looking at them for a while and would love a demo on a few models to see how I go on them (as oposed to 'how they go', intimating i'm worthy of that kind of statement lol).

I don't know much about step rails except my Bonga had them but am I on the right track here?

I'm thinking the step would be through the middle and feather out towards the tail and nose as the
thickness (or lack of) won't allow the step.

I saw Chris's(Just Wrong) new "Secret Agent" shaped step deck yesterday morning and the board looked really good.

Peasy shaped it, and it is 9 ft rounded pin.Chris came in frothing about the turbo channel at the back behind the rear fins.

Only thing to make it better is it could have been a quad

Maybe Peasy could shed some light on the design?

Can't wait to have a ride on his return from Bali.

Waz

Seen the new Bonga 9'6 at the salt water festival , it looks good they also have a 9'0 , nice thin rails.


"This new design is based upon Bonga's ultra-high-performance, wave riding stand-up. The most noticeable feature of the design is the step-deck and rail. This unique configuration creates a full volume board with disproportionately thin rails. The thinner rails allow the board to bottom turn, carve and fit in the pocket much like a standard longboard. This is an aggresive board for riders wanting to extend the boundaries" - Carl Schaper

teatrea said...

Seen the new Bonga 9'6 at the salt water festival , it looks good they also have a 9'0 , nice thin rails.


"This new design is based upon Bonga's ultra-high-performance, wave riding stand-up. The most noticeable feature of the design is the step-deck and rail. This unique configuration creates a full volume board with disproportionately thin rails. The thinner rails allow the board to bottom turn, carve and fit in the pocket much like a standard longboard. This is an aggresive board for riders wanting to extend the boundaries" - Carl Schaper

Hey teatree - the smaller bongas look really nice and the 9.6 surfed really well when I surfed it at tugun a while back. I was really shocked because I had previously surfed the new 10'6 Bonga and thought it was without a doubt the worst sup I have ever paddled/surfed. The 9'0 looks insane too but geez its little !

Yeah i reckon it would surf insane , i forgot what the guy told me the price was but it seemed pretty reasonable.