MyPaipoBoards Forums

Is it just me or has California suffered the worse 12-month period of lackluster surf ever?

Most of the major fin makers have a "Nubster" fin of some kind in their inventory. True Ames, Futures, Rainbow and Shaper's Fins (Australia) to name a few.

Sign of the Apocalypse...the SUP kooks will be all over it

With a new TBG2 just completed, I'm offering the original prototype G2 for sale. Price is $229 with quad fins (standard or Bonzer). Board is stringerless EPS/epoxy with VectorNet (Kevlar) bottom. Fins are removeable, ultra-light True Ames Hexcore technology. This board is best suited for riders 185-...

Most young people fear the judgement (and possible rejection) of their peers, who help to define their identity. It takes a pretty strong sense of self-identity to step away from the crowd, try a new experience, take risks. Paipo/bellyboard riders have that in spades...that's one of the reasons I li...

Yes, the hard edge is to promote sheer. I want the water to release off the tail as cleanly as possible. I'd include a set of composite plastic fins for the Paipo Forum guys. Price of the T-Belly has always concerned me. In fact, I always discuss the merits of a good pro-level bodyboard with prospec...

I finally found the time to finish-shape this TGG2. At 22-1/4" wide and 2" thick at the stringer (2-1/4" at the thickest part of the rail, the board is both narrower and thinner than previous models. Volume is 21.5L. I kept belly in the front half of the bottom and went flat, rail-to-...

Shabby-chic is the look you've got going. Becoming very popular in my area. I like what you've done with this shape. Thinner/lighter is definitely the right direction, smaller fins, too. My advice is dial in your bottom shape, rails and outline, and then bring the deck down to the thinnest level tha...

That shape is becoming pretty mainstream, with volume modulated to meet rider requirements by variations in thickness, width and length. Good stuff. What has he decided to do about fins? He's right on the money about using epoxy resin and micro-balloons to seal the blank instead of Spackle. I seal a...

The science is pretty interesting, and while I think some of it is applicable to surfcraft, my personal experience with the WaveGrinder was disappointing. This fin is pretty fast when paddling, and/or riding in a straight line. But not really noticeably (to me) faster than some of the fins I use. I ...

Wings or "bumps" are a way of quickly narrowing a wide tail. While turning, a wide tail exposes more rail to the wave face than a narrow tail. This exposure creates resistance to turning. Reducing the tail width, or "pulling in" the tail reduces resistance to turning by reducing ...

Rail fins accomplish two basic functions: (1) They create drag and (2) they create hold. The drag helps the surfcraft to turn, much like dragging a paddle while kayaking. The foil of the fin creates lift in the direction of the rail, pushing/pulling the rail into the wave face. You want the drag/hol...

When riding on a wave, the location of kneelo rider's center-of-mass is different than a prone rider's. Its further forward. That is why the fins are pushed up and why the outline curve on most non-fish kneeboards begins to accelerate at this point. I've found that in general, on multi-finned prone ...

...and, you have to pay a licensing fee if you want to save your files, and more to have access to some of the other cool features. It was free for the first 6 yrs that I used it. There are some tutorial vids on YouTube and the Aku site. Google "Aku tutorial". Shape3D Lite and BoardCAD are...

The typical charge to have an existing shape "scanned" is US$150, and then the shaper has to "prove" the board being scanned is their design. I've never had a shape scanned, because its cheaper to build a file from scratch. But then, I've been using Aku for over 7yrs, and I've le...

Nose rocker is the same at 2-3/8" but there is a lot of "belly" in the front third of the bottom. The belly raises the rocker out at the rail, giving the illusion that there is more rocker at the stringer (or in this case, the centerline) then what actually exists. I had this blank cu...

I happy enough with the performance of the G2 and now I need to refine production techniques aim at reducing cost. Despite its small size, the G2 requires hours of shaping due to all of the deck and bottom contours. That transfer directly into labor costs. The best way to reduce labor cost is to aut...

I love the simplicity of your approach JW. I gonna have to try the 2lb construction EPS myself, if its different from the Lowes/Home Depot insulation EPS, which is probably more like 1.5lb density EPS. At 3" thick, you could probably go as much as 2-3/4" NR with a 36g sanding block and a l...

All very instructive, but still not very interesting. To me, regardless of the specific technique, such "tricks" are simply a creative use of a finless board's tendency to loose traction on the wave face. Your argument that a finless board hold as well as a finned board is contrary to what...

Form should always follow function...