Snowboarding Forum - Snowboard Enthusiast Forums banner

DIY surfy powder board shape inspiration?

5K views 18 replies 9 participants last post by  Lad Stones 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello!

I picked up a Lib Tech Matt Cummins blank and some demo Flow NX2 GT hybrids on super sale for a Summer DIY project. Got the blank cheap enough that I want to do something kind of fun with it: thinking short and surfy with a swallow tail for powder days and spring skiing.

What are some good board shapes and sizes that would be good for inspiration?

Here’s are some shapes I've been liking so far:

Kind of into the idea of the asymmetrical fish and if I'm going custom, might as well go weird. FYI the final shape won’t have metal edges and the blank is rocker so that should limit the kinds of conditions it'll work in. Thinking I'll just use the computer to trace and print an enlarged and scaled shape out on a plotter and then make adjustments on paper by hand.

Any advice? Thanks in advance for the ideas!



--

Current all mountain setup:
  • Jones Aviator Ultra 158cm
  • Union Forces
  • Size 10.5 boot (Nike Kaiju)
  • 6’0 185lb

Home mountain:
  • Squaw Valley, Lake Tahoe
 
See less See more
1
#7 ·
Very personal opinion here: an edgeless asym pow shape is kind of useless, as far as I am concerned, unless all you are going for is a funky look. The main goal an asym shape has, is to make your toeside and heelside carves similar. So it is really effective on groomers and hardpack. And for that to really work on a directional shape, the board has to be designed around a particular stance. Heavy duck angles, mellow duck angles, mellow double positive angles, heavy double positive angles, big splay, small splay, are the main things that should influence sidecut shape and position on each side of the board for an asym board. Since yours will be edgeless and strictly a pow and soft snow design, I would not go through the trouble of designing an asym shape. I would rather work on one that would maximize float with the given blank specs.
 
#8 ·
I second Mig, I wouldn't mess around with the asym profile on a board with no edges. Then again, I must add, the whole point is to have fun with it, so do whatever you want.

If it were me, I would add four t-nuts (two pairs, each set 4 cms back from the last inserts) to shift the whole stance back 4 cms, then I would cut it in a shape that is essentially the nose of the Spring Break Powder Hole with the tail of the Spring Break Sick Sixty-Six. I would leave as much nose as possible, set it back, and then pin the shit out of the tail.

Then, get some decent snowshoes and poles, strap it to your pack, and surf the shit out of some low-angle pow.

Should be a fun little project. If there is a maker space near you, you could likely plot out your shape, clamp it down, and cut the fucker out with a water jet, depending on the degree of precision you're aiming for.

Good luck.
 
#10 ·
Thanks for the feedback everyone!

The point about lack of edges is really good and it's something I was concerned about and discussed with the shop before I bought the blank. They still advised to go for it but only as a specialized board for a perfect kind of day (no ice, no crud). It was super cheap so i went for it.

I have a call out to a couple local shops to see if anyone can do the edge work. Since the base is already assembled, it would basically be a retrofit kinda project (routing a channel and epoxy). Not sure if it's a good idea to DIY but might be worth trying on a scrap piece just to see. Edges are cheap enough to experiment! Sounds like the asym fish would only make sense if I can get edges installed (since you'd be floating not edging in pow anyway).

I do have access to a maker space so this was gonna be my first summer project.

FWIW, I have a message thread about this going with Matt Cummins (Lib Tech blank designer) right now, lmk if you have any questions I should ask him!
 
#14 · (Edited)
FWIW, I have a message thread about this going with Matt Cummins (Lib Tech blank designer) right now, lmk if you have any questions I should ask him!
Ask him if he has an extra top shop of kink with the hippy van overlooking the waves he can send my way so I can relive the hopes and dreams of my youth thru nostalgia please.

As for your original question. I'd go for a fat but pointy nose for sure, the nose of the Coho looks really good, the 420 works really good and the nose on it is great too. As for the tail that would change for me with a rail. I've always liked swallow tails and I'd do something similar to the Asyn fish, but just the right ride and mirror it but maybe not as deep. Like a nice clean symmetric rounded triangle kinda shape.

With edges I'd go more traditional rounded style tail because I'd imagine my self more at a resort having to do the penguin on flat groomers every so often. And it will work just fine in pow too.

I'd also just to the more specialized swallow tail and forget about the edges and save it for those super special days and places you need to hike out to. linvillegorge is kind of right tho, your pretty much going to encounter something groomed at all resorts. I'm sure you can power through it though.

The Jones board just looks like a silhouette of some old granny titties I cant stop unseeing.
 
#15 ·
So, that thing is a wide as hell 165 true twin. I'd make a true twin fatty pow surfer out of it. Maybe go with a similar shape to the Marhar Lumberjack and just go with regular blunted tips to keep it simpler.



I'd probably start it out around 162 and that way you still have a ton of board left. You could end up having the thing evolve into a couple of different or even several different boards. If you tried it out and didn't care for the true twin feel, I'd chop it up again and go with a shape similar to the Ride Warpig.



I'd keep it wide though and after playing around with several different iterations I'd eventually end up with some type of short fatty.
 
#17 · (Edited)
My first attempt at mocking up a few shapes. Ditched the full asym profile but kept the asym tail on a couple mainly because it looks cool. I'm still optimistic I can get edges on whatever shape I cut using the DIY splitboard retrofit technique I've been reading about, but a couple of these shapes could still be fun if I keep it edgeless.

 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top