SUNOVA EXPERIENCE

Post by **surfercross** » Tue May 13, 2008 9:38 am

I finally got my sunova today!Looks damn good to.The quality looks amazing.I hope it rides as good as it looks.Thanks Josh your a craftsman for sure.Later Karl

Post by **Norman_Gunston** » Tue May 13, 2008 9:42 am

Hey Wanto

What Models did you get? Compare and contrast....

Post by **DV8** » Tue May 13, 2008 1:30 pm

Norman_Gunston wrote:Hey Wanto What Models did you get? Compare and contrast....

Sorry bout interrupting Norm before you have an answer off Wanto,
but have a Question for Speedy ......the answer which may have to be tiptoed around for legal reasons etc)

Josh !I would normally hassle you directly for an answer(but you have been hassled by me enough) ,but this may satisfy some other viewers out there .
"Q" given the link Bert and Yourself have with Sunova and previously with Firewire , In regards to design dimensions , can you explain why a Sunova shape has gone wider and thinner than whats viewed as normal ( ratio to weight ) compared to same board in a Firewire which seems to have kept its dimensions at a more " public acceptable/recognised ratio .......?

Post by **wanto** » Tue May 13, 2008 2:18 pm

Garry McDonald: my boards are totally custom - in fact i can't remember what models they were based off - josh might be able to fill in that blank there, but they are both 6'4, 18.3/4, 2.1/4. my requests were to go thicker in the rail, add concave and add rocker esp in the tail.

Post by **PeepeelaPew** » Tue May 13, 2008 2:22 pm

Post by **wanto** » Tue May 13, 2008 2:33 pm

my desire to go more traditional was driven by the need to pocket surf - wide flat boards just don't do it. they don't hang in there. the first board i got didn't work for me - mainly the flatness. i didn't go much (or any) wider from memory, but the flatness really threw my surfing. the board i'm currently riding is much more traditional in terms of flex, rocker, width, conc, and to some degree thickness - and the other one i haven't surfed should be somewhere in between in terms of conc and flex.

my goal for sunova is to get a board i can ride in the waves that usually snap my boards. these boards need to hold in thick, square pockety waves. curve is a must. width is a hindrance.

Post by **DV8** » Tue May 13, 2008 3:14 pm

wanto wrote: my goal for sunova is to get a board i can ride in the waves that usually snap my boards. these boards need to hold in thick, square pockety waves. curve is a must. width is a hindrance.

I had the same goal with my first board and although I'm happy with it , it could do with more rocker throughout and a touch more flex ( got standard glassing )
I've now ordered a Boosta for semi grovel but am having the rocker tweaked and going a lighter glass job mainly to alter the flex some ...and to reduce the weight that a 20" wide board could be associated to.
STILL CANT GET MY HEAD AROUND I WILL BE OWNING A BOARD 20" WIDE .............but as Toby said " I'm going all the way and trying the new tech "

Post by **PeepeelaPew** » Tue May 13, 2008 3:52 pm

Post by **DV8** » Tue May 13, 2008 4:07 pm

Toby wrote:. If/when I get another it'll be more along the lines of what wanto's getting. Prolly the "Extractor" in a 6'6". Maybe a fraction thinner and a fraction wider to compensate.

I should have used my noggin a bit more and made my first board one of the more novelty models like I'm ordering for my second board, just to get a feel for the shapes before delving into a high performance board ......the width doesnt bother me its more so the PRO models rocker does have limitations when surf gets a little steeper on the takeoffs , doesnt fit the curves that well .

Post by **PeepeelaPew** » Tue May 13, 2008 4:16 pm

Post by **DV8** » Tue May 13, 2008 4:51 pm

Toby wrote:'ve read the original swaylocks thread where Bert put concave into the bottom. But my old board has no concave. And neither does daryl's from earlier in the thread. And neither does paulcannon's by the look of it. And IIRC it's discussed in the Sunova pdfs that the bottom profile changes as it's loaded/unloaded, not just longitudinal flex but the presence of concavities.
So despite the Pro looking a little flat, does it actually load up enough to flex the board to fit the wave shape to a degree? How much? Not enough for wanto apparently, but how much? I don't have enough time on my old one to say ...

Hmm I would have to say mine is bare minimal to flat in the concave department also but still goes like its got a deep single hacked in .
I've found myself on a few occasions doing a turn in the pocket where I've thought I'm not going to fit in here or my nose is going to go through the floor given how flat the rocker is , but surprisingly the board has " twanged" and I've come out of it ........presume this is the different flex taking hold...

Post by **daryl** » Tue May 13, 2008 7:32 pm

There rails seem t ohave a bit of hook in them, and that's how it feels, the way the board vacuum grips the surface. That reads funny, it's like a combo of planing and traction

.

Post by **DV8** » Wed May 14, 2008 6:47 am

guard wrote:I was hoping someone would comment on that sort of thing.
I was really interested in whether flatter boards could get more rocker in the nose/midway with the flex in those situations and i guess its true.

Would they twang on those on rail takeoffs? nose pulling up and out of bogging..Seems like a great thing.

Haven't experienced the "twang" on takeoff yet , havent been in those sort of waves really, and not sure if It will with the strength of standard glass job I have . Feel it may need a decent amount of directional change to get that sensation. Will find out I guess.

Post by **surfercross** » Sun May 18, 2008 5:48 am

Finally was able to ride my sunova this week.The waves were about head high and the wind was on shore.So in florida it basically sucked.My first couple waves were sketchy but I attributed that to riding a quad for the last 2 months so going back to thruster can be weird sometimes.After a couple more waves on it I did get some good ones though and I could really feel the board project out of turns.Some times the board was getting ahead of me and that seems to be my only complaint and that really is me needing to use this projection in a positve manner.Oh I forgot to mention that the board is the nitro model it is 5 11 18 3/4 2 1/8 with balsa bottom corcell deck.It also has a flat bottom which would be the only flat bootom board I have ever owned.All my boards have deep single concave from nose to tail.What have been some of other peoples feelings about their board.What fins are people using also

Post by **paulcannon** » Mon May 19, 2008 7:11 pm

hey toby yeah thin is best
like all wood ones you want really thin like 2 inches
these are the real experience
insanely light,heaps of twang farkin sick
BUT
they are more prone to damage

then you got foam decks wood bottom
way less twangy so you can get away with more traditional dimensions
deck skin is primary stiffener so wood ones are stiffer but also have more POP
foam deck skins are more flexible and more dampened ride
so you can increase the thickness 1/8 and have more dome in the deck
you can also load on the glass so they are plenty durable
the one i posted was 6oz colan with full laps and its got polyboard feel
its not stiff at all
but the same shape in all wood would be a lot stiffer

all my boards are no more then 2 1/4 and flat through the deck
you can carry volume well forward cuz it doesnt weigh any extra
you dont notice the thickness
i think wide boards are good for me personally
but then im not happy unless i get at least 30 waves a session
so im a greedy bastard
id surf a 7 6 if i had to

i built it for a specific break that snaps boards and the board hits debris and the bottom all the time
the board was slammed into dry shingle at least 15 times in the first week
with only minor cosmetic bruising on the rail

you should calculate what you need mimimun for volume for any given conditions
for me up to head and half i like about 30 odd liters
and heaps more if its bigger
so if you designing boards that are shorter or thinner you need to go wide to retain volume

youll find that fat/old guys and tall guys may prefer the wide thin ones
where midgets (average pro surfer) may be in the normal realms of thickness and width

i sponsor a local grom
he can do airs and reverse and rail grab airs
this is his old one
its wide through the nose as well
many would say this is an unconventional shape
but it works for him
just after i built i noticed KS surfin something very similar at snappers and bells

Post by **PeepeelaPew** » Mon May 19, 2008 7:26 pm

Post by **paulcannon** » Mon May 19, 2008 11:40 pm

lol
well im old and tall at least
i been going 3years on it part time
maybe 35 boards and to much money for my wife to put up with
i had a couple of epic failures recently using urethane glues
that was really disheartening almost gave up

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