Please tell me what I want.

[dogtowatch]

I fancy a board in the 8 to 9 foot range plenty of float and to ride in chest and below range. And not a nose rider! Anything specific you guys would stick me on.

[flacky]

where do you surf? Think about a 8ft hull, or tri-plane hull. Amazing boards at that length.

[dogtowatch]

Thanks Flacky, Saunton,Polzeath and Bantham. I'm affearin that I'd find a hull too advanced, as I only go out in tiny tears surf and need the bulk of a full bodied long board.

[flacky]

Hulls being hard to surf is a myth. They're just different. I'm 14st and ride a pretty foiled out 6'10. I love it!

There's a heap of foam through the middle of them.

[kayu]

Suss out the McCoys........if it feels good under your arm , it should do what you want in the water.........

[lecky94]

Go and chat to some shapers,fluid juice,empire,blacker,gulfstream ... even if they make you something as a one off shape to suit you it could end up being that magic board you were looking for, be honest about the standard of your surfing though cos that could make or break the love for that perfect board.

[VillageIdiot]

No brainer, Hull.

[slipslide]

This will get you a million different opinions, and well heres mine. Been riding this size board for years got or had mccoys liddles triplanes bonzers fish singles quads twinzers i ve gone through most. My mccoy was a single fin nice board personally i found it was better in bigger surf, not huge but chest high plus. Hulls are an aquired taste, i keep one 8ft but if i was only keeping 1 or 2 boards it would not be the hull fun but for me no daily driver. The big Fish are good fun, i prefer quads/twinzers to keels but they all work. V bottoms are great, infact i really really like v bottoms. But to be honest depending how you want to surf you cant go wrong with a well shaped egg, good dependable fun boards that (shaper dependent) just work. They have good wave size range, and are not quirky to ride so progression should be good.
Blacker, gulf stream, fluid juice cant go wrong with any of these, but as has already been said talk to a shaper and come up with something with them.Be honest and you will get something that works for you.

Oh and remember these are just my opinions, they work for me but may not for you. Were all different, experiment and enjoy.

[Chris F]

No brainer, Hull.

Just to clarify; the boards not the place.

[VillageIdiot]

Definitely not the place.......................bring it.

[dogtowatch]

Thank you for the heads up so far gents. Slip slide, when you say v bottoms would that include Chop's Acid Drop? He also does a hull that Chop's on his short films on you tube places them between his Cord log [very pigish?] and the Acid Drop.

[dogtowatch]

Should say I've got a GS Saunton Foil that needs to be a keeper even though I will never spend much time at the pointy end sadly.[my excuse is not enough water time] That'll be kept for those waist/chest windless Saunton days,so the new stick will need to go out on the other days with me sticking to the tail/mid section.And plenty of float.

[Welsh Kook]

http://www.trimsurfboards.com/product/5 ... brid-/2-1s

[flacky]

That's 1000 quid right?


Errrrrr

[slipslide]

The v bottoms that i ride are more you fat arse boards like the gordie assasin. I ll try and find a pic , but they have a big wide square tail, heavy v kida pigish. The acid drop whilst it looks like a nice board (in fact i would really like one) seems to me to be a hull/vee hybrid type thing. heard a lot of good things about them and chops knows his stuff. Again i rekon it would be a fun board but not sure about it in all conditions, you would have to ask someone that has one. But in my opinion (again free advice is worth the price you pay) if you have a 2 board quiver they both need to be pretty versatile rather than luxury boards.
That board at trim looks like fun to me loadsa of foam though, i have a secret weapon quad in 8ft x 23 x 3.75 nice board only surfed it once so far but seems to go great, lots of foam . £1000 though lot of money.
Still rekon egg or maybe a von sol shadow kind of board in 8ft would be interesting.

[poodleparlourpam]

If you decide to head down the hull route Dogtowatch I am now teamed up with hull extraordinaire Tim Mason!. We are now taking orders for Mason & Miller boards....this will be Tim designing and shaping and me taking care of pretty much everything else (under the expert guidance of the man himself ). Same superb Mason quality, same great designs. (plus plenty of new stuff entering the mix!) Im dealing with all orders/enquires etc from here in north devon, and we will have a website up pretty soon, detailing just some of the array of delectable goodies on offer!. Plus if we get the time to make them, i plan on having a few demo boards available here too.

Even though i will be working with Tim, I'm still designing / shaping / glassing my own stuff too under 'Miller surfboards'. So if you are in the Saunton area, im always available for a board chat and a cuppa. As well as the specialist hull side of things Tim has a wealth of knowledge up his sleeve extending to all aspects of board design, so if you have a particular thing in mind, im pretty sure between us we build something to suit you

just a thought

[Archy_is_God]

Thanks Flacky, Saunton,Polzeath and Bantham. I'm affearin that I'd find a hull too advanced, as I only go out in tiny tears surf and need the bulk of a full bodied long board.

^^^Good to hear Pam!

I have a Mason (seasofcheese) shaped 8ft vee bottommed hull, influenced by Hot Generation - style boards.

It is hully, but has hips and tweaked outline and rocker, making it very user-friendly. A skilled logsman could also get quick trips to the nose on it, but not me. It has a feeling of inertia and smoothness that you don't get with mals and works really well in all surf up to chest high, then it gets a bit of a handful

http://www.masonsurfboards.co.uk/ Mine is third from right at the bottom.

Custom from the ground up, including the fin.

[Archy_is_God]

BTW - the fin placement in that pic was before I had ridden it.

It now sits in the middle, pretty much.

[poodleparlourpam]

That is without a doubt going to be my next personal board! (so maybe one of the first demo's? ) Just thinking about the hot gen / v bott gives me goosebumps head to toe.....

[VillageIdiot]

Got a lovely 7'6" Slide 65 'Foil' that I could be persuaded to part with. Subtle v-bot, based on a Tak flow-egg apparently.

[Philchapman]

/\ /\ Wow archie you got a fin out of Tim??? I've only been waiting OVER TWO YEARS for mine, which is PAID FOR.
Week after week and month after month the same empty promises, and still no fin.
Even a reasonable chap like myself could get pissed off with that shit eventually.

[Archy_is_God]

I don't think I'm speaking out of turn by saying he's had a lot of things on his plate over the last couple of years, but he always seems to respond to PMs thru MSW

[VillageIdiot]

Phil, I'm sure if you knew what Tim has been through recently you wouldn't be saying that.

[slipslide]

If your interested in the hulls try to ride one first, as I say in my opinion not the most versatile. If your going to a shaper be it tim, chops, Adrian (they all shape hulls amongst other things) ask for a loan board. I know Adrian has a loan hull and I think either chops or down the line have one to, I'm sure Pam would know if tim does. Just to try out. Not trying to be negative about hulls as I have one and enjoy it. Just not all the time. But everyone is different you might get on it and it be instant or................. Not.
Mrkmrk on here had a Liddle smoothie for sale a little while ago. Nice board from the hull master. It is designed for beach breaks that one. Google Greg Liddle and check out the boards. Fluid juice does a tri plane speed egg which might be a good middle ground.
Borrow as many boards as possible and talk to a few shapers. If you like your foil talk to Jools. Nice bloke and very easy to get along with.
As I said its all just a matter of taste.

[dogtowatch]

Thanks Slipslide thanks Pam thanks one and all. Yup be nice to have a punt on a hull to see if its my bag.Seen the Trim board before and got all unnecessary over it.Did some diggin,but apparently I'm too light at 135lb's as its built for the bigger lad/lass.Mad wedge but this will be me last board at aged 51. Well done Pam on getting it on with Tim. The board in my minds eye is 8'6 with a thick stringer and an off white resin job. It has a diamond tail pulled in nose single fin. But as for rocker rails bottom contours I aint got a Scooby. If anyone has said board and wants to re home it, I've got hard cash.

[Archy_is_God]

Ah, the internet; the surfing version of the Dulux catalogue...

http://vouchsurf.blogspot.co.uk/
http://peathead.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/ ... onder.html
http://kpsroundup.blogspot.co.uk/2011/0 ... ation.html
http://pcprogress.blogspot.co.uk/2012/0 ... shead.html
http://pcprogress.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/dbowls.html
http://id.deuscustoms.com/files/2012/12 ... ce_017.jpg
http://www.surf-longboard.com/sb068.htm
http://rephullmen.blogspot.co.uk/2010/0 ... ation.html

[flacky]

This is a board I've always fancied, never even seen one over here...

http://www.hobie.com/surfboards/Deadly- ... -33-2.aspx

I'd imagine the shorter they go the better they are, but the longer ones must be fun too.

[Cuttlefish]

Hulls are so flavour of the month.
V-bottoms are the hipster equipment must have as well.
What's ironic about the latest trend is the hipsters are now exploring the transition era...next thing is they'll hit on the shortboard revolution.
Wow.
Had a 7'6 cord acid drop a few years back.
Paddled and caught waves like a 9'er.
Happily spun out on chest high plus if not careful.
Small waves were it's forte....buttery.

[flacky]

I don't think Hulls have been flavour of the month for a long time really. I think those that bang on about them, me included, have just lucked into something that works for them. Same as Bonzer fanatics, twin fish fans are the same. It's all good, just another board. The worst thing is to not try alternatives. I know people who in 10 years have dismissed everything other than a bog standard 6'6 thruster.

[lecky94]

http://i1106.photobucket.com/albums/h37 ... 93f7b8.jpg
Steve at empire made this hull for me cos i was wanting something different from a 9ft board all the time,at 7ft its goes suprisingly easy in small stuff due to the volume, reckon it would be really nice at 8'6..