Which Sweet Potato size to complement my 5'10 Dominator

[ant]

Aloha.
I am the happy owner of a Dominator 5'10.
It's the surfboard that I used the most during the last year.
I am 1.75m and 72kgs dry (5.7 and 158lbs) intermediate surfer but a little bit lazy regarding paddling :-)

I'm gonna to get a SP to use as summer board for those days that waves are 1-3ft weak.

When I order the Dominator I had some doubts if to order the 5'8 or the 5'10. My decision was made having in mind that I'm not a great paddler.
Right now I'm not sure if to order the SP 5'2 or 5'4.
I checked the boards volumes and the Dominator 5'10 has 33.5 ltrs the 5'2SP has 32.2lts and the 5'4 35.7lts.

Which of the 2 SP you think I should order? Will the 5'4 have too much volume? Will it feel like boat and be very difficult to turn?
Reading the forum I realized that some guys that weight around 80-90 kgs are using the 5'2 SP...

I don't have the chance to try any of the SP.

I would appreciate some help since I want to get the board next week :-)
Thanks in advance
Ant

[prjwebb]

At your weight you could easily be on the 502, but you could easily be on the 508 or even 506 Dom too.
If the 510 Dom feels right to you then I'd go with the 504 Potato.
If you feel like you'd be down sizing the Dom in the future maybe consider the 502 Potato.

[ant]

Thanks prjwebb.

Maybe I could use a 5'8 Dom. The 5'6 I think it would be too little...
When I bought the 5'10 I had the same doubt... the 5'10 or the 5'8 but I went bigger. Sounded "safer" to me.

Do you think that the 5'2 SP (32.2 lts) would perform better on weak surf than the 5'10 Dom (33.5 lts)?
I read that some people ordered some SP and then they sold and decided to go a size shorter. That's the think I don't want to happen to me, but on the other hand, I don't want a board that it will be difficult to surf due to too much volume.

Cheers

[prjwebb]

Well I'm on the 502 and I find it catches small waves easily. Not early, but easily and it gets up and goes quicker than the dominator would. I think the 510 Dominator paddles better than the 502 Potato, but the Potato just gets up and goes really easily once the wave gets under you and surfs very fast and free.
It's going to surf differently than that size Dominator, but I think the Dominator would still be working in most of the conditions you'd be using the Potato in. It depends on your local conditions a lot too.

[ant]

Well I'm on the 502 and I find it catches small waves easily. Not early, but easily and it gets up and goes quicker than the dominator would. I think the 510 Dominator paddles better than the 502 Potato, but the Potato just gets up and goes really easily once the wave gets under you and surfs very fast and free.
It's going to surf differently than that size Dominator, but I think the Dominator would still be working in most of the conditions you'd be using the Potato in. It depends on your local conditions a lot too.

prjwebb how much do you weight and height?
So if I want a surfboard that paddles easily and that would "work" on weaker conditions I would have to go on the SP5'4, right?
From what I understand the 5'10 Dom and the 5'2 SP would some somehow "overlap"...

[prjwebb]

I'm about 76kg and 6'0" tall. For some reason my signature with my info in has vanished...

It's not so much that the 510DM and 502PT would overlap, more that the DM of that volume should allow you to catch pretty small waves, but the design of the PT is going to excel in those smaller conditions over the DM of the same volume.
If you want it to paddle better than the DM the 504PT would be a safer bet, but the 502PT should have you covered down to anything that's actually surfable and it'll allow you to surf a little harder than the 504 will when conditions are slightly better.

[ant]

I have a huge dilema in here =)
FW surfboards aren't cheap and I don't want to make a choice and then regret about it.

[prjwebb]

Where are you located? You may be able to find a demo centre.

I think the 504 will feel right compared to your DM, but if you want to get a little more performance out of the PT then you could easily drop to the 502.

[ant]

Based on Portugal.
Went to some surfshops but they don't have any SP for demo.

I am tempted to go for the 5'4 but not 100% sure.

[prjwebb]

I don't think you'd be losing much, if anything by going safe with the 504.