Mutant size

I'm going to have a crack at building my own mutant. Ive always thought along the lines that length gives more carvability. I've ridden tt's around 135 to 140 & found them lacking some thing. Not quite sure what it is but I think it has to do with length. Is there a formula. How long works. When does a board become too big & doesn't work. All info greatly appreciated.

Yes. I'm the weirdo that builds mutants.

What are the conditions you want to use this board in. What features are you looking for.

Ok,

Check out the Axis twin wave. 148x43. It has a tucked rail. That helps with carving.
http://www.axiskiteboarding.com/product/twinwave/#.VD4zx2ccSAg


The axis tucked rail is real difficult to do at home. So I used a similar method to the carved boards 3d carved rail.

www.carved.de/products/imperatorVse/carbon

Shinn speedball is also worth looking at. Its quite short and wide 132ish x48ish. Its a nice concept and definitely a super fun board for small slop for jump and slash style of riding. But it gets over powered quickly and also because of its short length its a pretty nervous board. I wouldn't want to take this thing into big waves. It would be scary.

www.shinnworld.com/#!speedball/c1rvt


Ocean rodeo Mako series is the undisputed ruler of production mutants. These boards are supreme carving weapons. But they are also very stiff, mostly because of the huge concave. They slide through chop but can be slappy and harsh in some instances. I've ridden the 140 and king. In my opinion the kite is too big. It carves beautifully but is just too much board underfoot for standard TT style antics.

The 140 is and awesome wave tt for small slop and small waves. It its too urgent for larger waves. I haven't ridden the 150 but all my research points to the fact that the 150 is the best size in the mako range.


Mako's a quite narrow boards for there size. My call they are a bit too narrow by todays standards.
King = 165x44
150 = 150x40
140 = 140x40

www.oceanrodeo.com/products/mako

Franz Olry is one of the pioneers of TT wave style with his alkita brand.
Take inspiration from his designs.

www.alkita.fr/?page_id=355

My board is a combination of ideas from all of these boards plus a few more with my style added in for good measure.

Its 145x45, has radiused rails like the carved boards,
Rocker is quite high on my board 55mm plus I have a micro kick on the front taking the noser rocker to 80mm.

I've settled on the quad set up giving the best carvability while still being able to hold huge power.






You will notice that all these boards have longer length than standard TT's. Wave shaped boards are all ellipse style shapes as apposed to rectangular compared to a standard TT. My 145x45 board has a similar surface area to a 134x43 rectangular TT. Surface area is a major factor in light wind performance. If you build a wave TT the same size as a normal TT it will be wowfully power hungry compared to the equivalent normal TT.

Any way ponder these designs and start formulating ideas on what you want.

Then copy my board because its the best!... hahaha..Not its not!. But it is fantastic for my conditions. I built mine to tackle well double head plus monsters. And it owns the monster swell I get here. But its a tad power hungry for riding small slop. You don't need mega rocker for smaller surf.

Bto, the alkitas have a dyvinycell core so you can forget size comparisons as they have a lot more flotation, they are a completely different ride compared to the shinn speedball and mako, a much more technical board to ride, you also need a faster turning kite IMO, watch franz olry kites Corsica on vimeo or you tube, these are conditions that we constantly get and where forefront in my choice of alkita, they do have a few downsides but the good points outweigh them,

I agree with Plummet on the Axis Twin Wave. I've been riding one for about 6 months and are very happy with it.

Select to expand quote

BTO said..
Last summer I watched a guy on an rrd toxic wave. It was like a sb shape with lots of nose rocker, squared up tail like a tt & about 150 long. It looked like it went well in both directions & on the wave it looked great. Cant buy them anymore but some thing like that is what I have in the back of my mind. Maybe round off the tail a bit more like yours Plummet but have the front a little bit more sb shape. I'll start looking back through the older forums. I remember seeing some pics of some of the home made jigs people used to build their boards. Cheers.

Don't go too pointy at the front. You will loose surface area combine that with the additional front rocker it will be power hungry going backwards and suck going upwind. If anything make it more square edged like the firewire vanguard.

Next time your at the beach take a look at any kiter riding a surfboard. The nose never gets close to the water. Essentially pointy surfboard shaped noses are not required. The vanguard proves this as does my board.

PS that rrd toxic does look like a sweet board.

Here's my press.

^
Same as mine :)

But this is a garage :)

I'm ok than, no carbon just a fiberglass dust

BTO, if u are thinking about building it, I've got Paulownia (1800x46x5mm and 10mm planks), bamboo 1800x500x5mm and Corecell 1200x410x5mm on stock.

Thing of beauty