EPS STRINGERD SLOP ROD TRI FIN
INTRO
The new 2020 Slop Rod has been slightly modified in that it is now a dedicated thruster and only comes as a squash tail design. The demand for high performance short boards is still alive and well. Not everyone has retreated to the fish design in order to master small waves, indeed there are many particularly above average surfers who just need a little more width and float in their high performance models in order to tame the smaller waves. It is this portion of the market the Slop Rod has in mind.
PLAN SHAPE
The Slop Rod being wider in the girth is also wider in the nose and tail as a result. Coupled with being shorter and sporting a pronounced hip in the outline in line with the trailing edge of the front fins; this model has some whip. Shorter flatter with a defined release and pivot point the Slop Rod does not need a lot of power to light up.
ROCKER
The consensus in the last decade if not even earlier is that to surf smaller waves excess rocker will push water and deny the board the speed to be free. The secret to planning speed under the front foot is a much lower nose entry and the secret to keeping the board loose and active is late tail lift and the hip in the outline.
BOTTOM SHAPE
Another key element to create speed when there is no power in the wave is the addition of concaves that lift the board through turns. The Slop Rod has the accepted single double concave which is well over 5 mm deep enabling it to lift and run in gutless surf.
FINS
To give this small wave thruster even more squirt I have used future fins which have proven to have less base roll because the whole base of the fin is embedded in the box which in turn is imbedded inside the board.
LAMINATION
The Slop Rod is a stringered Eps reinforced again by an 8mm solid carbon strip running nose to tail top and bottom. You will not see the stringer, but it exists under the carbon strip. The bottom is glassed with a 6 oz and the deck with an insert of biaxle inegra and a wrap of 6 oz making it tough as nails and still an acceptable weigh for an epoxy.
DIMENSIONS
5.8 x 20 x 2 3/8 = 29.5
5.10 x 20 ¼ x 2 3/8 = 30.7
6.0 x 20 ½ x 2 7/16 = 32.9
6.2 x 20 ¾ x 2 ½ = 35.35
6.4 x 21 x 2 5/8 = 37.7