SURFBOARD VOLUME

If you are regular DIVERSE Customer you would have come across a volume measurement on your boards or heard us talk about it before, or you have been browsing our models and noticed the Litre figure after the reccomended board dimensions. I would like to explain some more about it, to help you get a good understanding of how i arrive at the measurement, what it means to you and how to use it to your advantage when choosing a new board.

HOW DO YOU WORK OUT THE VOLUME?
The volume calculation/measurment comes from our shaping software. As i Design the board the software calculates the surface area and the displacement volume. It cannot be worked out as a sum of length x width x thickness = volume. As you can see in the illustrations of boards below many shaped boards with differing volumes can come from the same dimensions.

HOW DOES THE VOLUME AFFECT FLOATATION?
It is important to note that different board contruction methods with give you a different floatation. For example and EPS/epoxy board can have 15-30% more floatation with the same volume and displacement. So as you read this information please understand it is a general guide for the traditional PU style surfboards we make and you see everyone riding day to day here.

WHAT IS THE BEST VOLUME FOR ME?
Ahh, How long is that mythical piece of string? Ok i will tell you what i have discovered over the last few years. i took the time to find out the weights of my pro riders & advanced surfers that i make boards for, then went thru all the boards they were having the most success with & collected the volume data... i came up with a calculation of .35 litres volume per kilo of body weight. Eg: 100kg = 35litres. So grab your bathroom scales type in your weight on the calculator on the right hand side and times it by .35 = your answer! now you can test yourself and see what is the ideal volume for a PRO SURFER riding a high performance shortboard in everyday to good conditons is. Now is the time to start thinking of what your skill level is... Unless your at the peak of surfing, just maybe you will need a little more volume than that answer you just calculated!

HOW MUCH DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE?
If you can see the pics below of the 6'2" sprint shortboard, you can start to see the effects on your boards design. all 3 boards have the same pencil dimemnsions on the shape but quite different volume, floatation & most importantly performance characteristics. Regularly at our shop in Tugun we have people come in who have put on a few kilos (most of us do at some stage..) These surfers will want to go up an inch in length. Did you realize that going up longer by 1" on a 6'2"x18 1/2"x 2 1/4"=25.9l short board you will increase the volume by 300-400ml. Yet if you go thicker by 1/8" the volume jumps up approximately 1.2-1.5 litres. Going wider by 1/4" will give you a 700-800ml increase in volume.
Here is some more cool information. That 6'2"x 18 1/2"x 2 1/4" shortboard we have been using as an example with 25.9 litres floatation is very close to the same volume as a Magic mullet
fish 5'6"x 19 1/4"x 2 5/16" =25.7litres or a Twin fin at 5'0"x 19 1/2"x 5 5/16"= 25.9litres.

Which board is too small for you?