I'm no brilliant surfer... but I do like it !!
Bad photos, but here goes. They are all fairly replacable, and nothing that is too collectable....
Really bad photos.... not a proper quiver photo shoot....
Photo 1;
Top Left - a photo of MP in the barrel, but all you can see in photo is the curtain...
Left to Right;
1* - 6'3 Merrick Fish (Purple) with big timber keels. Twin Fin, very wide tail, really fun in down the line waves.... (off the rack)
2 - 6'6 Merrick Black Beauty, glass on fins (shaped for me)
3 - 6'6 Keyo Egg shaped by John Gill (shaped for me)
4* - 6'10 Wayne Lynch Squash Tail (off the rack)
5 - 6'6 Merrick G2 (Generation 2) Single Fin, Machado Model (shaped for me)
Followed by 3 big guns!
6 - Royal Blue 8'6 McTavish G2 Gun (shaped for me)
7 - 8'0 Doug Rogers "Golden Dawn", triple stringer fun gun (x21"1/2 x 3") - a favorite, better pics are on my profile here) (shaped for me)
8 - 9'0 Merrick Big Gun - no excuses on this one! Double Plugged! I have used some Orange Chord in a special custom arrangement, so that the leash pulls on both plugs equally, but if one plug was to pull out, the orange chord and leash is still attached to both plugs.... extremely fast board down the line... also a dear favorite (board is 'off the rack' x 20"1/4 x 3")
9 - 9'1 Billy Hamilton Tufflite Mal - Hyperform. Don't ride her much.... good for visitors. Very good board though. Progressive/aggressive longboard surfing.
10 - Brewer 9'6 Nose Rider Mal (Red), Tufflite - ride her a lot in smaller surf
11* - McTavish Original Mal (light blue), 9'1 - snapped, but fixed (off the rack) I bought her new, I rode her heaps... I snapped her!
12 - I had to think long and hard... this is a Billy Hamilton 9'6 Stylist. Tufflite. This board is to be sent to Noosa, and will reside in Noosa, just for me, so I don't travel there with a board....
13 - Tropical Blends SUP Fish, original shape is by Jeff Bushman, reproduced / production board.
(more to come....)
14 - 6'6 Merrick G1 Single Fin (Light Green - off the rack)
15* - 6'3 Merrick Flyer (shaped for me)
16* - 6'6 Fish Experiment - Flyer Fish Thruster, shaped by my brother
17 - 7'0 Merrick G1 Single Fin (Blue - shaped for me)
18 - 7'10 McTavish Dream Machine - better pics are also on my profile, shaped by Bob for Bob, now I get to enjoy.
19 - 6'0 Merrick Tow Board (off the rack), but this board came from America, and was an "example" board, to show the glassers the desired rail hardness, and weight, etc.
Not Shown;
20 - Naish 17 SUP, Downwinder.
21 - Naish 14 SUP, Downwinder.
(*) mean not ridden for about 12 months, but the only 1 that will go, is the Wayne Lynch.
Thanks I needed that, I knew that you had an arsenal of boards, that Merrick single fin looks great!! So want a single fin shortie!! Maybe even a channel single!!
Cheers mate
Aresenal, & Board Whore !!
Doggie, The Merrick Singles are all brilliant. Green one has a green fin, white one has an opaque cream/clear fin, and Blue on has a Blue fin. They all have relatively deep single to double (spiral) concaves.
Even when I had 10 boards, the 3 singles were in those 10.... and I would commonly go through 3 month periods just choosing between the single fins.
Single fins are not quite as forgiving as thrusters. Plus, thrusters can generate speed on more parts of the wave. But that is a good thing about singles.... they teach you where to position the board on the wave, to generate speed from the wave, rather than from the thruster fins. http://www.cisurfboards.com/sb_msfg2.asp
www.cisurfboards.com/sb_msf.asp
Available on order, by phoning 02 9997 8266. All you need to do is decide, a Visa Card, and wait about 3-4 weeks, and it will be on your door step !!
Big Merrick fan, Ive had a couple and they have been good boards
I think I will go local with my single tho, I wanna have a bit more input and some of the boards that I have seen Pco produce some fine quality boards so I think I might go that way.
I do want a Black Beauty tho I love those things and I would get fixed fins as well.
I got Glyndon Ringrose to shape me a single with a fin box....**** me it took some ****ing around to find the right fin but once I didi it was all worth it....6'6 x 21' x 2 3/8
Merrick are mostly computer shapes.
Some of their boards are even 100% designed on the computer!
I think it is actually a good thing. That way they pop out 2 almost identical boards... 1 board with 1 minor difference. Then 1 design change is isolated, and tested! (In theory)
When it gets double overhead plus, this is a "go to board" for me. 9'0 x 20"1/4 x 3. But it has nice volume through the chest, and in the chest rails, for nice float with a winter wettie.
I actually ride this when the sets are double overhead plus, and sit deep and wait patiently for the prime sets. So other guys look twice with their 6'6's under arm... but they sit inside, and I sit outside for the bomb sets.
1/2" stringer (it ain't painted on either! - red wood). Pic was taken about 2 to 2.5 years ago, as a new board.
Doggie, you asked... you opened a can of worms !! 1 by 1 I will get pics... this thread could last a while !!
Here's my 6'2"1/2 x 21 x 2"7/8 Fish.
I promise I will ride her more. Such a fun board. I should have sat inside at Bells today and rode her along the inside reef. But I rode the semi famous Yellow McTavish Dream Machine (outside)!
I remember a few sessions at Suck-Up North Avalon... you can park this baby on the top during a cutback, and just wait for it to wall up, then race on down the line again....
(iPhone4 pics.... not too bad hey! Not bad for a pin hole camera anyway!)
Rhino Glassing from Brookvale. Very good. 9.5 out of 10 on dark tinting.... But the tinting guy down at Force 9 in Cronulla is 10 out of 10. Sorry, can't remember your name buddy!! Most of the Merrick tints were by Rhino & Force 9. Not sure now.
Bennie the dog... White poop when it dries... which means he is the pack leader! King Bennie!
This photo was taken in the Bells carpark the other week. I was telling AliCat from the SUP Forum about the pink seaweed we get here, especially in summer. Also told her about the bright green weed that is only exposed at super low tide.
Anyway, within a few days of her leaving, the Pink Seaweed showed up big time. Heaps at Bells right now. Plus we had a super low tide that same day, and plucked some green weed.
I took this photo, and MMS'd it to her.
The yellow board is actually an overload of colours !! Sorry !! White board would have been better.
The Pink weed is in abundance down past Cape Otway at this time of year too. At the 12 Apostles, etc.
PS - I ate both, and they both taste delicious. These 2 "sea grasses" are the best. Pink one wins because she looks so tasty too !! (sorry for saying weed above!) I confess, I graze on sea grasses during a surf sometimes!
(iPhone shadow in photo... school boy error !! )
Nice fins too. What are they?
I heard Laurie is implimenting 2 new "buttons" / "features".....
1 - "private chat room" so the public don't have to put up with us...
2 - similar to green and red thumbs, but the button is called "you lot should get a private chat room!" Votes are registered!
This is a 9'6 Billy Hamilton Sylist, Tufflite. I rode a grey & red one up in Noosa, and I was really happy with the way it went at TeaTree, so I sourced one for myself. This board came from a bloke called Scott in Cronulla.
It has quite a pronounced "V" in front of the fins. Single concave up at the nose. Nose rides quite well. The "V" lets you feel like you're doing those beautiful clean drop knee turns that Billy can do. Quite fine rails, for very good performance. Really good paddler. Round Tail, or Fat Rounded Pin is really smooth.
I haven't spent enough time on her to stuff around with fins. Centre Fin is a carbon surftech Hawaiian Designs, with some little GL sizes Fibreglass side biters, in smoke colour. You ride this board off the "V" and off the fine rails, whichs leads me to think that fins are not super critical on this particular board.
A sweet ride. Tufflite / Surftech gives the usual durability.
Tail pad came with the board. Seems to be a Surftech Tailpad.
Poor light quality. Better photos later. iPhone needs good light for good pics.... it is a "pinhole camera" afterall !!
I like the thin nose & slight rocker on that mal. I recon that would be the way for small beachies over here
The one is a little beauty! 6'3 x 21 x 2"7/8. Keyo Egg by John Gill who is Denny Keogh's son-in-law. Shaped and glassed by John.
keyo-int.tumblr.com/#_=_
This was my 2nd surfboard (after virtually giving up on bodyboarding - and not counting knock-about 70's learner single fins), and my first custom. I found it a big step down from the 9'1 McTavish Original, at first. Then I sloted my 7'0 single fin in between. Hey presto !! Great decision... The 7'0 wasn't a massive step down from 9'1, as the 7'0 is quite beefy and is a Mal in disguise as a 7'0 !! Then this 6'3 was an easy adjustment from 7'0.
PS - don't knock bodyboarding too much. There are a few good surfers who really like them, and surf well on them.
(This board is tinted, with a normal shortboard "pro-finish", but Johnny spent some extra time buffing it up, and it comes up as a semi-shiny finish, without adding the weight / extra coat, for full gloss. A good result, and I highly recommend it.)
Great bunch of boards you have there. Must be a bit of a dilema choosing what to ride. I really like that egg and the CI gun looks really nice.