Hi all,

I am looking to build my first Hollow Wood Surfboard. I have spent weeks trying to decided on my first build and am still yet to finalise what board I'm going to make. I have come up with the mini simmons inspired design on aku shaper and am seeking some feedback on this. I am new to designing surfboard templates but have been working with wood now for some years so think I will be able to produce a nice build if the design is right.

I am a intermediate surfer who mainly surf 2-5ft beach breaks. My weight is 95kg (190lbs).

I currently have 2 boards I ride -

- My larger board I own is an 7'0" Evolve 'Fat Boy' retro fish. Its quite thick (at a touch over 3' thick) and very wide at 24'. This is the board I learnt on approx 5 years ago. I still enjoy riding it but the extreme width is something I dont want to see in a board again. Fun in small waves but far too much volume in anything over 3ft.

- My smaller board is a Dick Brewer 6'3"x 21' x 2 5/8 Egg (with a square tail). Awesome board but needs a little more swell to get the board to shine to its full potential. It works alot better off a point break compared to a beach break. The volume is obviously a lot less than my 7'0" retro fish and def feel it in the shoulders after a decent paddling session. The surf needs to be a solid 3-4ft before I will really want to grab this board.

I'm really looking for something that will fit in between these two boards. I am mainly interested in riding classic/fun/retro style shaped boards so am obviously not looking for a high performance short board design.

To clarify, the 6'4 mini simms is a design I found on another forum. The 6'6 mini simms is a design I made up in AKU shaper.





Could anyone please provide some feedback/opinions on which design would/could suit me better? I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

Regards,
Michael

6'6? Call it a Maxi-Simmons

Looks like an interesting build though, keep us posted!

Will do but need to establish which design I am going to run with.

I would like to say I'm going to go with the 6'6" but I'm a little fearful that its going to be too large......

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

take a foot off it and you will be on the right track.........5'2 to 5'6 is mini sim size!

I agree with Dr Funk. That thing is way too big for a Sims. I'd chop off 10" and get some more volume through the rails to compensate

A 5'10" * 2 7/8 * 22 1/2 Sweet Potato has similar volume to your one - so there is lots of opportunity to play around and reduce the size of that board by a decent chunk as others have suggested. At 95kg one of those would float you a piece of cake.

Maybe something like this...

Thanks for all the help so far guys.
Def gonna chop the design after a few days thought.
Love the vid SP.
Might get around to making a dick board one day.

Mucksy
yep definitely go shorter - I did a 5'6" HWS a few years ago and at 80 odd kg it floats me fine. The design of a mini sim really does hold a lot of volume in such a short board. Also due to the build process of HWS it is pretty easy to get something that may actually feel pretty corky so certainly keep it short and take the time on your rails to get it right and not leave too much on the rails.
Here is a photo of mine

couple tips on construction here ..great bloke and a great surfer

Thanks for the heads up prawnhead (i'm actually going go with the stringer/ribs method instead of the chambered method) and CRF, thats one sweet looking board... Hope mine turns out to be something similar to that!!!

Hi Michael, have you got hollow board template maker (I think thats what HMTM stands for)? I used a design I found on the web, then modified to taste... was a blast making it... are you oiling or glassing?