The Diamond Cutter has the same dimensions as the Silver but is a little thicker on the stringer, but has the same rail thickness which has been achieved with a little more deck roll. Although I believe that quads can handle thicker rails more paddle can come from extra width rather than thickness and we know quads bight regardless of their width. I guess the Cutter fits between the Fat and the Silver but moreover is the one you would go for if you were leaning more toward larger surf and paddle was paramount.

The Range

6.0 x 20 x 2 1/2

6.2 x 20 ¼ x 2 9/16

6.4 x 20 ½ x 2 5/8

6.6 x 20 ¾ x 2 11/16

6.8 x 21 x 2 ¾

6.10 x 21 ¼ x 2 13/16

7.0 x 21 ½ x 2 13/16

7.2 x 21 ¾ x 2 7/8

Contrary to my beliefs – along comes a new generation, led particularly by Dane who has been absolutely shredding on these short and very wide tail thrusters, and as a result the retail world has been going ballistic over them. To me they were quad plan shapes, but these guys were ripping on them nonetheless. I have resisted jumping on the bandwagon and modelling up with one for a couple of years now, but they will not go away so I have finally c apitulated and introduced one into my range. It will come (to play it safe) as a five finner PRIMARILY to be surfed as a thruster.

I have used my Ledge Tamer design as a starting point since it has area forward ,lower nose entry and a deep vee the last 6”popping out of the tail albeit a swallow.

The tail width has been widened keeping with the models mentioned, but I have made them a little finer and the little tail vee out the tail helps decrease the tail pressure which in turn reduces the pressure on the fin holding capability- meaning that this wide tail will sit down better at high speeds. Perhaps compared to all the other versions that simply run a Grand Canyon right through and out the tail I am hopeful that these little pressure relievers will allow this board to sit down at higher speeds particularly in thruster mode, even though it is wider- and do what it is told.

The tail shape is one that I have plucked from the past but I believe to be one that has duel functions. It has the round socket feeling of a round tail but also has a corner to push off. I do not know what you would call it- so I will call it the cornered round tail or CRT. This tail shape should be smooth and free off the top and very positive off the bottom with a corner you can drive off.

Like the Dumpster the idea is to ride these boards short because they are great paddlers, so here is the opportunity to prove you can handle a shorter board.  Since I wrestled for a year or two over following this trend in shorter thruster design, I decided to call it the “Fashion Victim”. I would say however even though the Victim is a tail end Charlie (late out in the market) it has had the time to observe and  correct some of the shortfalls of its predecessors.

The size range is….

5.8 x 19 x 2 5/16

5.10 x 19 1/4 x 2 3/8

6.0 x 19 1/2 x 2 7/16

6.2 x 19 3/4 x 2 ½

6.4 x 20 x 2 9/16

If you are still riding conservative type thrusters, plan on dropping at least 2”or more in length, to get the full benefit. The Fashion Victim comes with the standard carbon reinforcement down the rear rails and has a carbon overlap at the corners to give them a little more longevity

I have been working on this left of centre design over the past 5 years and have made numerous versions. It was a struggle to design because of the slice variation at either end and I have had to go a little more subtle in order to smooth the bumps from the rail shoulder line
 

I can say that after all the testing and tweeking it is now ready for offering as one of my models.  The last prototype of the Fanger taken up by Ralf Faint of Lennox as part of my R&D Aliance Program  helped with the final touches.

The concept is to have a really thick tail that bights. The benefit of this is that you can keep running regardless of how deep you bury the tail. Tails that are too thin are easy to bury and pivot but they stay buried for too long and simply do not run. A tail which is too thick on the stringer more often than not will be too thick on the rail and be difficult to bight and hold. So the objective for this design was to have thickness in the tail on the stringer but not on the rail.

The design has a heavy vee into the bottom in the tail area as well as a heavy rolled vee on the deck in the same area. Both these vees squeeze the thickness out of the rail and make it easy to engage and bury. Having too thin a rail all the way through to the nose would make the rail bury too easy and make the board to sensitive so I have done the opposite to the rail slice up front.  That is,  made both the deck and the bottom heavily concaved on the nose slice, which squeezes all the thickness out to the rails in that area.

This radical slice would make the rails way too thick up front if I was to keep the stringer profile the same thickness as normal boards on the nose, so the nose profile has to be reduced right down in thickness to keep the rail thickness in check. Effectively this keeps the front half from feeling too front heavy, although it may seem it is if you were to judge by the rail thickness forward of centre.

This board looks and feels front heavy, but volume wise it is not. Having a very buriable back half is countered by having a resisting thicker rail forward of centre which in essence allows one to sink the tail rail and drive off the thicker rail forward not to mention the forgiveness that extra foam forward gives to a surfer that pins his heart on his front foot.

And all the time the board just keeps on running regardless because of all that rear thickness just lifts up and pushes forward.

Firstly I designed this as primarily a quad but by pulling the tail in a little more I have made it perform pretty good as a thruster also. Remembering that with this radical new design the tail rail is so thin that it automatically relieves pressure off the rear centre fin.

The thruster rear fin’s job it is to secure the tail rail to the face so as not to slide out when pressured through turns and when the rail buries easily the less loading there is on that fin. This is why even though the tail is widish for a thruster it is flying and holding to the face in waves bigger that it is meant to.

As I have said, I have made quite a few of these experimental boards and the feedback has been really good. Because the board looks a little weird it may take a wave of testimonials to have people believe that this rail warped concoction has merit.

One of its believers (Kenafakes) demanded the right to name it, and he came up with “The Fanger” …. so be it!

5.8 x 19 ½ x 2 3/16

5.10 x 19 ¾ x 2 1/4

6.0 x 20 x 2 5/16

6.2 x 20 ¼ x 2 3/8

6.4 x 20 ½ x 2 7/16
 ——————————————————

Lots to say. I love it.

Top of the list is its incredible versatility. Its crap when you hear people say certain boards work in an extensive range of size and  conditions but the simple fact is they don’t and the Fang does. I have ridden it in everything from full gutless one foot Main beach to Solid hollow 4 to 6 ft straddie.

In small crap it is super responsive, very quick to change direction and recover and easy to accelerate. It also has the ability to glide over fat sections if you know how to take advantage of the wide nose.

As soon as the size increases and a bit of  lip appears then you really see how the tail comes into play along with the front rail (warpy bit). You don’t have to be gentle with it because the wide nose wants to make you nurse your turn, you can lean  into it full on, get your turn started and know that the tail is going to take care of business no matter how steep, critical, hollow or fast  you a are going.

Whilst most fat nose boards are problematic in hollow straddie this guy seems to be unaffected, the concave under the nose and the back rail section let you get high in the tube, hold a line and go flat out. Apart from all this it seems to paddle just as good as any other similar length, style board i have ridden. As for fins, can’t comment  on four, but three (with a keel) is Fang heaven.

Kenafakes

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Hi Muzz
 
I proudly made a quick answer regarding the Fanger .
First of all this one is maybe or surely one of my 5 best boards I ever had ! .. most notorious points are :

Very easy and comfortable in paddling , excellent transition rail to rail, a continued acceleration and speed even in poor power waves.
Finally a very close radical of a shortboard !

But the most remarkable is this one keep a maximum of drive in any circumstances down the line, and offer a  surprising fluidity !
The hook of the rails is excellent and his commitment in short arc turns is radical and incredible.
This model will be for sure a great success and must be continued !

Chris Polony

———————————————-

 Hi Muzza,

I launched the 6″3′ Fanger  set up as a quad at Snapper today.  I took a couple of waves to get used to the feeling of the board but once I did I loved it.   It’s very manoeuvrable and responsive and easy to go vertical on especially for a quad. 

Because of the thinness of the rail near the tail it has heaps of  bite and feels very direct coming off the bottom, more so than the round tail quads I have been riding. As with all quads you have made me it flies. 

I think you were definitely right about not going to thick as the rails at the front of the board would blow out and make it feel to boatie, 2 3/8ths was perfect for me, even though I dropped about 1 litre or so in volume the board is easy to paddle.  You have been making me boards for 20 years and it amazes me how you continue to come up with so many different designs that work.

Thanks again mate,

Glen. 

This is the perfect big guy’s small wave board. I have had it under guys over 6.4 and 100 kilos and they still manage to be wave pigs. The fused pellet polystyrene again a big feature in this board, and in this file there is plenty of it- almost 40 litres, enough to float the whole family. The “Little Big” even though it has some meat on the stringer has lowish rails to compensate the corkiness of the EPS foam. With a bees dick over 4” in nose lift and with that 15 ¼” nose a meat head could paddle this with his index fingers. The Zappa pulled in tail gives it a drivable tail in thruster mode, especially with a bigger guy dominating it. Again as a quad it has all the attributes for a ten ton Tessie to get the thing up and running where the wave lacks power.

The shear extreme width and thickness in this board automatically gives it extra lateral strength, so much so, the board could do without a stringer to keep it lighter and more flexible.

The glass is again diagonal 4x4x4 just to be sure as well as some carbon strips to keep it flexing too much. The top strips are set diagonally to add extra strength but not to stiffen the flex too much.
This board has the power base boxes and will perform better with their ceramic fins that have no base roll and a very tensile tip that can deliver more reach.

I know there are plenty of short thick boards on the market aimed at this type of customer but this one WILL perform, so if you’re a guy that refuses to give up on your burgers but still knows how to surf- this board will forgive you!

I have been working on this left of centre design over the past 5 years and have made numerous versions. It was a struggle to design because of the slice variation at either end and I have had to go a little more subtle in order to smooth the bumps from the rail shoulder line. The concept is to have a really thick tail that bights. The benefit of this is that you can keep running regardless of how deep you bury the tail. Tails that are too thin are easy to bury and pivot but they stay buried for too long and simply do not run. A tail which is too thick on the stringer more often than not will be too thick on the rail and be difficult to bight and hold. So the objective for this design was to have thickness in the tail on the stringer but not on the rail.

The way this has been done is to design a heavy vee into the bottom in the tail area as well as a heavy rolled vee on the deck in the same area. Both these vees squeeze the thickness out of the rail and make it easy to engage and bury. Having too thin a rail all the way through to the nose would make the rail bury too easy and make the board to sensitive so I have done the opposite to the rail slice up front. That is- made both the deck and the bottom heavily concaved on the nose slice, which squeezes all the thickness out to the rails in that area.

This radical slice would make the rails way too thick up front if I was to keep the stringer profile the same thickness as normal boards on the nose, so the nose profile has to be reduced right down in thickness to keep the rail thickness in check. Effectively this keeps the front half from feeling too front heavy, although it may seem it is if you were to judge by the rail thickness forward of centre.

This board looks and feels front heavy, but volume wise it is not. Having a very buriable back half is countered by having a resisting thicker rail forward of centre which in essence allows one to sink the tail rail and drive off the thicker rail forward not to mention the forgiveness that extra foam forward gives to a surfer that pins his heart on his front foot. And all the time the board just keeps on running regardless because of all that rear thickness just lifts up and pushes forward.

Firstly I designed this as primarily a quad but by pulling the tail in a little more I have made it perform pretty good as a thruster also. Remembering that with this radical new design the tail rail is so thin that it automatically relieves pressure off the rear centre fin.

The thruster rear fin’s job it is to secure the tail rail to the face so as not to slide out when pressured through turns and when the rail buries easily the less loading there is on that fin. This is why even though the tail is widish for a thruster it is flying and holding to the face in waves bigger that it is meant to. I have print screened a few 3D shots of the design, only it will not allow me to put in the swallow, as shaping machines eat themselves up if they try to cut in a swallow tail- so we do that ourselves. Also supplied are a few PDF’s showing the different slices at both ends as well as a profile showing how thin the board is on the stringer up front, as well as the thickness in the tail. Lastly a good depiction of the planshape showing the hip in the tail.
As I have said, I have made quite a few of these experimental boards and the feedback has been really good (some testimonials attached). Because the board looks a little weird it may take a wave of testimonials to have people believe that this rail warped concoction has merit. One of its believers demanded the right to name it, and he has come up with “The Fanger” ….so be it!

The Fanger Test Pilot Position Has Been Filled & the board is being  created.  Keep your eyes out for the Next Prototype  

Become a Test Pilot in the  Bourton Shapes R&D Alliance Program . Heres How It Works:

He will present a 3D Computer Model of his new shape online that needs to be trialled. He will then detail and outline the concepts behind it and other info relating to the design. As part of being involved with  the R&D Aliiance Program he is offering to make this for you at a Very Reduced PRODUCTION COST PRICE of $550.

All you need to do is to be the first in contacting to tell him you want to be the TEST PILOT for the prototype being detailed. He will discuss it with you and make one to your specifications and size ect.

Once you have surfed the board in a few conditions, you will then need to put together a review which will then be featured with a profile of you, the test pilot, on the website.   You never know, you may very well end up being the proud owner of board No1 of a whole new model..

You will need to keep your eye out for New PROTOTYPES being posted at www.bourtonshapes.com

PROTOTYPE 1 – The Fanger  (Testing Completed By Ralf Faint)

The fins are the Power Base Ceramic DL fronts and the DS trailers. The low profile mini keels are used as stabilizers when in thruster mode due to the widish tail. All the rear fins have 1” of adjustment.
Read more about the model here  THE FAT BULLET.

After the success of the Scarper model I needed to give Mitchells V2 idea a run on the little Zappa which was a model that I have ridden regularly. I shaped it out of a Core Fusion fused pellet blank so I dropped the rails down a tad and applied the same construction as the scarper with the BDX glass and carbon taped up tail. Also used my favourite Power Base boxes so I could alter the arc by shimmying the rear fins.

The board sat around for a while until the right test waves appeared and that had to be on a weekend. We all know what the Super Bank is like on a weekend, there were 500 guys out at 5.30 am and it was a bloodbath. Regardless I threw myself into the maelstrom on the little Polly. Have not felt that much ping through a turn ever, and after the session I was left wondering was it Trotters ceramic power base fins, the diagonal stringers or the carboned up stringer less tail? I am still wondering, but odds are- it is a combination of them all.

By the time I had had my fill that morning I was sporting some collateral damage sustained from a picket fence of flesh that refused to yield as I threw myself down the face. Two fin slits in the bottom almost right through to the deck. This occurred early in the peace of a 2 hour sesh and when I came in I baked it in the sun for a half hour then filled them up with an epoxy mix. The board had not sucked in a fricken molecule and the next day it was as lively as the day before.
This new medium is an exciting new medium for me and as I have said previously it is only because this foam seems to fit in between the PU and the more aerated forms of polystyrene.

Add to that it has the same custom ability as PU since it is fabricated exactly the same way- machined, hand finished then laminated and sanded. There is more labour with epoxy resins as there are a few extra processes in between, nonetheless it is not that much that it has to be outsourced to Asia.