REMINDER: THE ARENA PLATFORM, INC. has no obligation to monitor the Forums. However, THE ARENA PLATFORM, INC. reserves the right to review any materials submitted to or posted on the Forums, and remove, delete, redact or otherwise modify such materials, in its sole discretion and for any reason whatsoever, at any time and from time to time, without notice or further obligation to you. THE ARENA PLATFORM, INC. has no obligation to display or post any materials provided by you. THE ARENA PLATFORM, INC. reserves the right to disclose, at any time and from time to time, any information or materials that we deem necessary or appropriate to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, contract obligation, legal or dispute process or government request. Click on the following hyperlinks to further read the applicable Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Lib Tech x Lost Puddle Jumper
- Thread starter Kade
- Start date
Seems fine just buying local I guess. These guys all scan each-other's boards, don't they?
So you puffed up a 5’ 9” to 39L? I like the C4 cork tech you went with. Interested to know if it makes the EPS more of a chop buster. ??
I’m 180cm... yes I’m in the US but one of the board builders just showed 5’ 10.9” as 180cm, and knowing I’m 5’ 11” with shoes on I’m sticking to it. Heh heh.
Anyway 5’ 11” 185-190lbs myself, and just ordered a stock 5’ 10” 36L Lib Tech PJHP. It’s an expensive experiment, but looking forward to it.
I think you're on the right track. I'm the exact same height and weight and the stock puddle jumper at 5'10 x 22 x 2.75 40.5 liters goes good for me.
Yeah maybe I should go longer and thinner. I can't really tell. It's definitely an experiment. The guy at Catalyst said,
Most HPSBs are about as long as you are tall, right, give or take an inch? Having too long a board in small waves is a PITA.
I'm definitely not getting a PU. I like epoxy fine on its own but for an extra $50 I can get the C4 so why not? I have long legs and high foot arches so I tend to be hard on decks.
Edit: Here's another option I"m considering: 3" longer, same width as before which is the standard width for this length, and not as thick:
On the 5'9", I widened it from stock by 1/2" and thickened it a ton.
Last edited:
All the research I've done has lead me to the answer that your performance shortboard should be 2"-4" taller your height, but I'm sure many guys HPSB's are even with their height. I'm 5' 11" and my shortboard I'd ride in head high waves is 6' 2". I'm intermediate at best.
So the oft used phrase for these newer alternative / hybrid shapes is: 'ride this X" less that your shortboard', and it makes sense, these are wider thicker designs, but I think we need to stop using the 'shortboard' term as a gauge and just call it what it is: 'ride this board X" shorter than your height', but can we even make that statement knowing we've got some short and heavy people out there..??..
The recommendations seem to be based really heavily on volume for a given length. Pros and advanced surfers like Salas need a lot less volume. Salas always reviews boards with stock dims so he gets tiny boards because he's light and fit and an advanced surfer. For the rest of us, the trick seems to be finding something that's not too long and thickening it to bring up the volume if you only need an extra 2L-3L at that length. The guy at Catalyst strongly recommended against widening the outline to bring up the volume. I was looking at a 5'9" Hydra that I widened by .25" and thickened by about an 1/8th. They said to instead get the 5'10", leave the width alone, and thicken it slightly. That's what I'm going to do. Maybe I'll have to drive more on my front foot. That's what I do anyway.
Shops probably have some.
Don't care for the dims on this or the Swordfish. I'd be interested to see if the new ones are lighter or any other differences in build vs the Short Round and Puddle Fish. IMHO the build before the carbon strip was my favorite.
Also, Puddle Jumper, Rocket Redux, Puddle Fish, Hydra...
They made some little Sub Buggies way back when and that's been about it. No shortboards seems weird, no step ups given the build characteristics, how it lends itself to travel, and the fact that these boards are coming from a place with grunty swell and cold water, seems implausible in the extreme.
Where is the El Patron, SaboTaj, RoundUp????
Its mostly a mushy affair in the PNW and when things get grunty in LIB Land they typically hide out on HH point breaks. Most of the models make perfect sense to me in this region. Quiver Killer, one of the few boards in Futures, would be a decent goood wave to step upish around here yet I would ride longer than the stock dims LIB has. Was kinda hyped on getting a Rocket, which would be a HPSB around here, but once again dims are just not quite right, and I have not really liked their build over volumed. Been looking for a used OG PJ. Had one like 5 years ago and was a great groveler to HH typical mush on the outside rampy on the inside beachey board.
Last edited:
I hear you; I did leave that one out. But I'm leery of the Quiver Killer after not clicking with the Short Round. The fact that Kento had one brand new after having the most abused and torn up beaters and didn't think it was amazing just by dint of how much more user-friendly designs are and it wasn't a wet brick was also disconcerting to me.
Yah Short Round was a turd for me too. Good point on Sabo Taj..... would be a good candidate IMO. My buddy has one that seems to work well when things get cooking around here and seems to work well around HH+.
I kinda had the same thought. Not really that familiar with their waves but I have the vague impression that they have some places to hide when it gets very big.
I still think it's kind of weird that they don't have a little more variety in their line for bigger surf though if they are trying to sell boards outside of their state. I see a couple guys from the next town South of me who have been riding the Lib boards for years and whenever it is pumping they are struggling on the PJ or whatever the model is they are riding. Quiver Killer looks like it would handle some juice and I have a friend who rides one (non-lib) as his decent wave board but he says when it starts to get a few feet overhead and he's wishing for something else.
Pretty sure Matt B somewhere I read or saw recommend that you can go successfully longer on this model. Beware the thickness. I have this exact board and it is THICK, foils a lot right at the rails tho. Fine with me, just thought I would mention it.
Also Matt recommended using the controller fins but even for mine at 44L was way too much fin. Boards super fun, makes average waves feel like they are better.
Boom.
Lib Tech x ...Lost - Puddle Jumper HP
5’ 10” x 21”w x 2.56” x 36L
~15” nose (measured 12" down)
~16.5” tail (measured 12" up)
Rocker shot. The newer Lib Tech builds are all coming with their new plastic rail tech. Kinda liked the old carbon style rails, but this is apparently 10% lighter and very durable. Material comes from recycled water bottles which is pretty cool.
Excellent attention to detail on this board. Lib Tech offers B-Grades with cosmetic blemishes for a lower cost, but this thing was full price and pretty much perfect everywhere.
Single, to a somewhat curved outward double concave, to pronounced vee off the tail. And a ...Lost shape made in the US. Gotta love it.
Special ordered so I could get the new Futures compatible boxes Lib Tech now offers. Rather than a fixed pin across the rear of the box its just another angled screw which seems to lock into the rear notch plenty solid. They claim you don't need to adjust the rear screw every time, but I do.
Pyzel 5 fin so I can swap out and combo things up with my other hybrid shortboard. Fins seem pretty springy at the tips, and though considered a neutral template, they are a bit more upright than others in the same category. Always start as a thruster for the first few surfs, but will probably end up as a Quad on this board.
The stoke is high! First surf yesterday in the heat at some uncrowded 2'+ beach break. Water is back up to 70* and the wind has been laying down in the late afternoon lately. First impression is the the board definitely has a bit more squirt in small waves than my 6' 2" of nearly the same volume. It impressed me with how well it caught waves and stayed up and planing in the flats and white water. It's going to be a fun summer to fall transition.
Lib Tech x ...Lost - Puddle Jumper HP
5’ 10” x 21”w x 2.56” x 36L
~15” nose (measured 12" down)
~16.5” tail (measured 12" up)
Rocker shot. The newer Lib Tech builds are all coming with their new plastic rail tech. Kinda liked the old carbon style rails, but this is apparently 10% lighter and very durable. Material comes from recycled water bottles which is pretty cool.
Excellent attention to detail on this board. Lib Tech offers B-Grades with cosmetic blemishes for a lower cost, but this thing was full price and pretty much perfect everywhere.
Single, to a somewhat curved outward double concave, to pronounced vee off the tail. And a ...Lost shape made in the US. Gotta love it.
Special ordered so I could get the new Futures compatible boxes Lib Tech now offers. Rather than a fixed pin across the rear of the box its just another angled screw which seems to lock into the rear notch plenty solid. They claim you don't need to adjust the rear screw every time, but I do.
Pyzel 5 fin so I can swap out and combo things up with my other hybrid shortboard. Fins seem pretty springy at the tips, and though considered a neutral template, they are a bit more upright than others in the same category. Always start as a thruster for the first few surfs, but will probably end up as a Quad on this board.
The stoke is high! First surf yesterday in the heat at some uncrowded 2'+ beach break. Water is back up to 70* and the wind has been laying down in the late afternoon lately. First impression is the the board definitely has a bit more squirt in small waves than my 6' 2" of nearly the same volume. It impressed me with how well it caught waves and stayed up and planing in the flats and white water. It's going to be a fun summer to fall transition.
Last edited:
Saw his review. He stated it was plenty fast as a thruster, but he experienced some weirdness keeping it on rail.
Can’t say how well it really went after only one surf.
Is the general consensus that small wave boards are better as quads and faster down the line?
For truly small waves i lean towards quads or twins for lack of center anchor. I like my pj slim best as quad but it was ok as thruster too. For tight pockets thruster is easier to fit in turns.