The Madgoose!

This mat is a 200/70 G-Mat Ubercat named "The Madgoose". She is the new friend of Hawaiian mat surfer, Dave Monasevitch over on Kauai. You may remeber Dave from his adventures with Phileas.

You'll see in the following 2 shots that Ubercats have pronounced rail hooks and a deep concave up the middle of the bottom. The canting that achieves this also offers an enhanced sense of structure.

As you can see here, The Madgoose sports an elastic rocker to work with the stretched out profile and aid turns, particularly off the bottom in heavy Hawaiian surf.

Dave has also gone for some grip on the front corners. Given the waves he has in mind, who can blame him. Here's his first bit of feedback:

"Aloha G!

Got to try it today, 2-4’ Hawaiian surf. Occasional breakers to 3rd & 4th reef. 1st wave was a  late drop, and I didn’t feel back of the mat soon enough to stay in the pocket and trim the face. It didn’t slide out in the flats though :-D  Once I negotiated the forward-aft through the drop, I felt the open highly evolved form of your Smooth Hold design. But what is the most unique and enjoyable aspect, so far, is it’s ability to climb; even a steep feathering face, and get over the top and out the back.. It was sizable, and kind of a thrill.  Thankfully, do to that hold/climb ability, I managed to stay outside long enough to catch a few good waves…That’s impressive.  I caught an insider and the next clean up sets drove me in past the second reef and then the first reef. The constant hammering to get so far back out to the breakers, indicated that I was done for the day. Didn’t lose her in all that energy, though! Good fun!!! Hope there’s a few waves left tomorrow. :-D

Many Thanks You da Mat  man!,

Dave"

Talented mat rider... Good waves... Pleasure to build...  Have fun Dave!

G

G-Mat Surfmat Surfmats David Monasevitch Ubercat 14715

Deep Brain Stimulation

G-Mat Surfmat Surfmats Pete D'Ewart Rubber Bucky 256515

Ahoy ladies and gents, this is DBS (Deep Brain Stimulation) a 70/70 Rubber Bucky built for Pete D'Ewart in Washington State in the US of A.

I always enjoy building mats for Pete. He is a real connoisseur and this is his fourth custom G-Mat. You can see the others here:

https://customsurfmats.com/blog/?tag=Chiledub

G-Mat Surfmat Surfmats Pete D'Ewart Rubber Bucky 25

Pete was actually my first ever customer so it is always a pleasure to build a mat for him.

G-Mat Surfmat Surfmats Pete D'Ewart Rubber Bucky 785

So back to DBS. As mentioned, she is a Rubber Bucky. 70/70 free breather with a free rocker. Being a Rubber Bucky there is a deep concave up the middle which provides good lift, with the mat being designed to ride on the wide inside pontoon in trim.

The bottom skin and I-beams are made from the very last scraps of the beautiful green 70 denier fabric from my role so Pete is in for a quick sensitive ride.  I can already hear the cries of anguish from those who have fallen in love with the green fabric. Please rest assured that I will get some more when I can.

G-Mat Surfmat Surfmats Pete D'Ewart Rubber Bucky 9856
G-Mat Surfmat Surfmats Pete D'Ewart Rubber Bucky 365

It looks like the run of good swell continues for the US West coast so Pete should be getting plenty. DBS is more minded towards subtle sensitive low inflation glides than keeping life together in hectic conditions but she will certainly have a prime spot in Pete's quiver, I'm sure.

Cheers

G


UPDATE - 03/12/16

Word from Pete:

"DBS, double bag and T landed today.  G-121is a beauty, another fine design realized with obvious attention to detail.  Can't wait to get it wet.  In the meantime, I've inflated DBS well beyond riding hardness to admire the contours indoors.  Thanks.  Your mats more often disappear when I'm on a wave, full body flying."

Happy so far it seems.

G

 

Not So Iron-Clad

This is a USS Monitor, a G-Mat Rubber bucky built for Carpinterian, Matt Herman.

Matt surfs the waves in the Santa Barbara region, which means points... Lots of points! The locals are also very open to exploring different ways to ride waves so it's a pretty great place to be a mat rider!

This mat has been named after the Iron Clad war ship. Monitor was a high performance, marine craft too, but that's where the similarities stop as G-Mat 122 isn't armour plated! She does have a 200 denier deck with Sikaflex EBT grip though to offer some stability (comparitively).

The original USS Monitor

The original USS Monitor

The Rubber Bucky design was developed with a lot of testing at Rincon so it kinda feels apt whenever I ship one over there. We know the design goes well in those waves!

It sounds like the US Pacific post is doing well for itself at the moment too so she should get her maiden voyage pretty soon!

Cheers

G

FullSizeRender_edited-1.jpg

UPDATE - 24/11/16

Stokes to hear from mat that Ironclad it going well for him. Matt says:

Literally just got out of water now- the mat is all speed.  The negative rocker just pulls you over the face of the steepest drops supper late, giving me tons of speed but also keeping me in the pocket. 

Thanks to @tate_larrick for permission to share the shot of Matt at Rincon.

G

PHOTO: Tate Larrick

El Gnaranja!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, I would like to introduce you to "El Gnaranja", a G-Mat Ute built for a true giant of Californian mat surfing (in every sense of the word).

Matt Pierce is a very talented mat rider. You may be familiar with his image popping up on the site every now and then in the banners. I have a lot of time for Matt. He is a very knowledgeable, and a really good guy with an eye for hand built surf craft.

Matt rides mats at super low inflation so El Gnaranja is a free breather to make the mat super responsive. On paper, she is a small mat for Matt's 6' 7" frame, but Matt has grown up on mats that are small for him an we settled on these dims after a lot of collaborative head scratching. 

In addition to the free-breathing innards, El Gnaranja has a free elastic rocker, meaning that fore/aft elasticity is in place on both top and bottom skins. All-in-all she should be a fast mat.

The grip is Sikaflex EBT so nice and durable offering some added stability.

California seems set for some good swell this Autumn and winter so El Gnaranja should get plenty of water time. With Matt recently moving back to Orange County he should get her in the water a ton! 

Have fun Matt!

G

G-Mat 220 - Getting Manly

This is G-Mat 220 (AKA "Bening"). She's the new steed of Manly Beach Surf Lifesaving Club's General Manager, Marc Manion. 

Bening is a G-Mat Ute. 200/70 construction with a deck valve and leash attachment. Marc was after some stability so she has a Sikaflex EBT grip job. The internal venting is also restricted. Being a "wheezer" means that Bening will be more predictable in terms of holding her shape. Marc is a bigger fella so the increased stability balances our against the extra volume.

The leash attachment is there as a back up to the matter's death grip as Marc takes trips to Indonesia. I'm really looking forward to seeing that! I hope Marc and Bening have a lot of fun! 

Cheers  

G