Baked Potato

[cuttlefish]

Certainly if you select any of them purely on length then the Sweet and baked potato will have more volume than the potatonator in the same length.
However if you choose all 3 of them with the same (as close as possible) volumes in litres then which will be the one that increases your wave count most?

[prjwebb]

I think Sweet Potato then Baked Potato, then PN. The huge wide tail of the SP catches everything, and that and the BP have overal flatter rocker than the PN.
SP and BP also have all the volume under you in those compact sizes whereas the PN has a bit more length and curve both in outline and rocker.

[iggy]

Agreed with PRJ here!!.
As he mentioned, the Baked Potato is a tweaked Sweet Potato whereas the Potatonator is a cross-pollination between the Dominator (nose) and the sweet potato (tail).
The Sweet and baked will tend to excel on the low end cut to their massive plane area and flatter rocker.

[cuttlefish]

Just had a look at the boards lengths and volumes you're riding Iggy and Prj.
Iggy:
Potato : 5'2" 32.2 litres
Spitfire: 5'8" 31 litres
Hellfire: 6' 31.9 litres
Prj:
Spitfire: 5'8" 31 litres
Subscorcher: 5'8" 32.5 litres
Taj: 6' 25.5 litres
Taj: 6'2" 28.3 litres
Ok so if we go Potatonator 5'6" it will have 30.3 litres
or 5'8" it will have 33.9 litres.
So a 5'7" Potatonator would give you the median litreage which you have in your current small wave boards.
I'm pretty certain that there wouldn't be much difference in the wave catching ability of the boards we are talking about if you compare them with similar litreages because of the tradeoffs of a narrower planshape and extra length balancing out a shorter boards greater width and lower rocker.
But here's the kicker....
I've surfed my potatonator this morning in 1-2' clean waves which would pitch on take off and either back off through deeper water or if one of the larger ones, run through with some good rippable walls.
Looking at your board choices if you ever get your hands on a potatonator in the volumes you are running for your current small wave boards....your grovellers are doomed!
Doomed I'm telling ya!
BTW have either of you seen a Potatonator in the flesh yet?

[Fritzkat]

Iggy you seen the Baked Pot yet? its gonna be a while (june 15) until it lands here in the Islands. I just saw a Sweet Pot. I am thinking I would like the Baked Pot better

[iggy]

This is as far as I've gone for now
Baked-Potato.jpg
This might help as well
Screen-Shot-2012-01-13-at-10.48.59-AM.jpg

[prjwebb]

Cuttlefish, my Sub is 27.3l I think, Taj 6'0" is 28l and 6'2" is an older 27.7l I think. I like boards in the 27-28l range for fun to good waves but for a micro wave board I'm getting a 5'2" Sweet Potato. The volume isnt hugely greater than my 31l Spitfire but it'll certainly catch waves better and more importantly ride better on tiny weak waves and through flat sections than my Spitfire ever would.
I think volume is extremely useful for figuring out sizing, but I know you'll agree, two boards of the same volume but different shapes and rockers are not going to surf the same.
No Potatonators in Europe yet I'm afraid so all I have to go by is the sample board that taken in to all the dealers and the lovely pictures on here.

[cuttlefish]

I'm sure you'll have a lot of fun on the Spud.
I was talking to a guy who's spent quite a bit of time in the UK and he was saying our crappy waves on the Sunshine coast and your version of crappy waves are somewhat different.
Prj said "I think volume is extremely useful for figuring out sizing, but I know you'll agree, two boards of the same volume but different shapes and rockers are not going to surf the same".
That's right and that's why I'm saying if you have a potatonator in your preferred litreage you'll be able to surf a smaller wave with the same kind of surfing as you would on a larger wave with your Spitfire.
As opposed to having to surf differently on a Sweet potato because of it's wider nose.
Reading through the Sweet potato thread there's quite a few comments about surfers having to figure it out.
With the potatonator's narrower nose a lot more surfers will find a much easier transition inbetween their daily driver and this as a groveller.
Don't forget though that one of the reasons I've grabbed the potatonator is I'm banking on it paddling better for long paddles back up points as compared with a sweet potato's wider nose and planshape width.
Most are going to use the sweet potato in beachbreaks where they don't need to paddle around in the flats that much.
I was happily surfing a 5'6" mini-simmons on my local beachbreaks until I went for a surf at Noosa.
That's when the flat water paddling deficit became glaringly obvious for that board.
Here's a shape I've been riding which the Baked potato looks similar to with heaps of volume.
It's 5'11" X 22" X 3 1/8".
Poor little guy could be doomed for the used racks now I have the potatonator.

IMG_20111129_142141.jpg

[prjwebb]

Ha yeah a bad day in the UK is pretty bad. I think on a 2ft day or up I can ride my Spitfire or Sub Scorcher, it's just the 1-2ft days I want the SP to have a lot of fun on. Demoed one a little while ago and it was stupidly good. A weak waist high day on a full high tide and I had more fun than I thought possible. Guys on longboards, retro fishes and fun boards were all just cruising around and I was flying around on that thing. Can't wait for the summer on one.
PN looks fun too though and I see what you're saying about keeping the same riding style. I quite enjoy that different experience on something like the spud though!

[kdropin]

this is why i upped my volume on my spud