I thought it was about time I did a review on this board since I have been using this site to research my next board and value the input of other users.
Ive had the board for a couple of years now and I'm ready to downsize and go a bit more performance based. In saying that this board performs really well in most conditions.
I went from a 9'1x27 Starboard Pro ( approx. 130ltrs ) to my 102ltr Vbox and straight away the balance was fine. The wide tail makes it super stable even in windy conditions.
Straight away I noticed the extra speed you get especially if you pump the board and it was really loose.
It took me a while to get the fin set up right and once I did it transformed the board.
I had it set up as a quad for while which was great for speed and turns in small waves but once you got too much speed it would spin out so you had to draw out your turns to burn off speed.
I then tried it as a thruster and while it turned ok it felt like I was dragging seaweed! It lost all its drive.
Someone suggested a nubster fin but I didn't want to outlay $50 and find it didn't make any difference so I set it up as a normal quad and stuck a small trailer fin from another quad set in the centre fin and that's when it was transformed. I still had all the drive but was now able to lay into turns at speed!
My theory is that the board having such a wide tail with the 2 pronounced points is like having 2 tails with a thruster on each one. As you lean on one side that side of the tail is in the water and then the same the other way.
I have ridden the board in some pretty solid waves (about 6ft/ double overhead) and it handled well.
Some of the other great things about this board is the construction. The board is very light but super impact resistant. I'm pretty hard on my boards and they usually end up with pressure dings all over but nearly 2 years and not 1!
Its also got the Gortex breather valve so no worries about delamination in the heat and the short size means you can easily fit it in the car.
The other thing I like is the paint job. I'm a sucker for bright orange.
All I all its a great board!
Tried to add 3 photos to this and some added about 10 with lots of double ups. Went in the Gallery......WTF!! I shouldn't touch computers.
thanks Traff
what weight are you ?
so you are saying it went best with five fins ? what is difference between v box and gambler ?
I also found out that it is a mistake shapers often do with wide tailed boards, to put the rear fins so much on the rail like:
The logic seems to say "Board is so wide, I must put the fins on the rail for them to have some bite" but I guess it may end up either with no fin acting as a stabilizer, or the issue well known on planes when 2 foils too far apart will undergo wildly different relative speeds in turns and become unstable?
Boards set up this way tend to behave like shopping trolleys in the rail-to-rail transitions: you feel the board "floating" in the yaw axis...
Things I have found that work well to counter this:
- move the front fins backwards, for a more "Simmons"-like ride, but you lose looseness.
- use the McKee setup (pull the back fins towards center). The rear fins should act as a splitted central fin rather than splitted side fins. On the Gulliver it could mean having the boxes inside the channel, with reduced toe-in
- use a trailer fin, like you did. Note that the knubster can not work: I had some boards where a nubster worked well, and others where it was always in turbulent flow (I could feel the wobbles in the rear foot, adding drag but no hold), but a trailer fin was more efficient and didn't stall. You can omit the trailer for small waves to add looseness and speed, and add it for bigger waves. So it is great that the gulliver have a central box, but anyways it is quite cheap to have a central box added in any case.
Note that nubster are very easy to make. Just get hold of some ultra-cheap plastic fins and sand them.
Hey Normster
I weigh about 70kgs. Yes 5 fins is the go. Everyone said there would be too much drag but it doesn't slow the board up at all.
As to your question about the gambler v the vbox I cant really comment as I haven't even seen one in the flesh let alone ridden one.
Hopefully that helps u.
I've recently got the latest version of the V box and running quad and not noticing issues with turning on decent waves when at speed. Out this morning on clean fast head high and once my foot was planted on the deck kicker it was turning as sharp as I wanted to. Wondering with the update in design it been improved. Do notice slight 'fluttering' when you've got speed but are riding straight ahead waiting for a section but once turning or running along the wave the board is solid. So maybe a nubster/trailing fin would improve that, not that it bothers me.
I'm intrigued now if the turning will be improved further with a nubster so visiting the surf shop later.
Not run the board in thruster setup yet. Funny enough on my surfboards i prefer thrusters as find quads make the board too stiff and was expecting to be the same on the gulliver but no complaints at all with the quad so far.
Not sure exactly but its a fairly small rear fin from a quad set, so it has a slight camber on it but doesn't seem to effect the performance. Its a lot bigger than a nubster tho.
