Loaded Boards – Fattail – Deck

A little extra girth never hurt anyone. At least that was our approach when it came time to revamp the design of the Pintail. We wanted to modernize this classic concept so it could keep up with evolutions in riding and performance.

The Fattail was designed for pumping, carving, pedestrian slalom, freestyle and generally any situation where lively, energetic lines are on the menu. Increased concave locks your feet in against g-forces, while the topmounted and cambered platform provides energetic performance in and out of each carve. The width of the deck has been redistributed while maintaining subtle tapering near the trucks to provide both ample leverage and awareness of foot position while powering through turns. The formerly vestigial tail has received the silicone treatment for improved functionality in both freestyle tricks and surf-style shredding. The Fattail is also equipped with a slight nose kick for manuals and shuvits.

LONGBOARD SPECS

Length: 38″ / 96.5cm
Width: 8.63″ / 22cm
Wheelbase (Inner): 26.5″ / 67.3cm
Wheelbase (Outer): 27.4″ / 69.6cm
Weight:
Deck: 3.bs / 1.4kg

Flex

Flex 1: 170-270+ lbs / 75-122+ kg
Flex 2: 125-215+ lbs / 55kg-95kg
Flex 3: 75-175+ lbs / 35kg-80kg

CAMBER
Big and lively camber is the heart and soul of the Fattail. A carvy pumper at heart, the Fattail was designed with a healthy amount of camber to provide snowboard like responsiveness in a pocket sized package.

CONCAVE
A nominal concave provides a locked in feel and stiffens the deck without undermining the camber and flex characteristics of the board.

FLEX
We currently offer three flexes spread out over two lengths.

Flex 1: Up to 275 lbs/ <125kg
Flex 2: 125-215+ lbs/55kg – 95kg
Flex 3: 75-175+ lbs/35kg-80kg

A softer flex pattern will give you more control and tighter turns at slower speeds, however a softer board is more prone to lose stability at higher speeds.

If you plan on doing a lot of hard-pounding tricks like shovits and bonelesses, a stiff flex will hold up better. Note: It is natural for the boards to break in and become slightly flexier over time.

DIRECTIONAL SHAPE
An organic tapering shape preserves torsional stiffness and allows both heels and toes to maintain constant contact with the rails for optimal control in hard carving and pumping. Lots of clearance for big, fast, and grippy wheels.

NAME & GRAPHICS
The Fattail graphic is an extension of the artistic concept explored in the two graphics used on the Pintail. The first graphic was designed by Jamie Engelman in 2004 as a meditation on change and growth. It was re-imagined more abstractly by Jan Michael Bennett in 2006 when we switched the Pintail from oak to bamboo. The current graphic was designed by Nana Studio (based on drawings by Daisuke Okamoto) and references the previous designs while expanding on the underlying concepts.

HISTORY
The Pintail was released in June of 2004 two years after the release of the Vanguard and a year after the release of the now defunct Fish and Hammerhead. At that point (and for a number of years following), Loaded was an uphill battle and the future was not looking too bright. Our boards were criticized for being too strange looking and quirky. We felt that form should follow function, but if we were to survive we needed to compromise aesthetically and create something more “traditional” looking. We therefore designed the standing platform of the Pintail with performance as the only design intent (at the time we had just started re-exploring tapered platforms) but let our love of surf and surf culture inspire the design for the nose, rear cutaway and tail. As of today, we’re stoked to be leaving this one foray into tradition-based aesthetics behind (and, in the process, creating a more functional and possibly more beautiful board in all regards). That said, one of the primary reasons we called this board the Fattail is as a reminder of what it has taken to get to where we are.

CONSTRUCTION
A vertically-laminated bamboo core is sandwiched between fiberglass skins. The tail is reinforced with an additional layer of fiberglass (top) and carbon fiber (bottom) for added stiffness and abrasion resistance. The bottom is finished with a bamboo veneer with a die cut water droplet pattern, which is filled with transparent urethane and a “floating” graphic to give a sense of dimensionality.