# Jones Hovercraft size?



## joaocorreia (Jan 28, 2016)

Hi guys,

My weight is 170 lbs and I'm 6'. I'm looking to buy a Jones Hovercraft exclusively to ride pow, mostly in bounds maybe a cat trip or two.

I'm looking to hear your experiences on this board.

The question is: 156 or 160?

Thanks
Joao


----------



## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

56. It rides big. I weigh 155 and rude a similar board, Flow Darwin, in a 153.


----------



## bozekid (Dec 1, 2011)

Don't mean to hijack the OP's thread but I'm having the same problem on deciding size for this board. I'm 6'2" and range between 250-255 lbs and wondering if I should get a 164. I can also get an Ultracraft 160 on sale for less than the Hovercraft but wondering if it will be too short. Will the carbon top sheet account for my extra weight?


----------



## SGboarder (Jun 24, 2012)

bozekid said:


> Don't mean to hijack the OP's thread but I'm having the same problem on deciding size for this board. I'm 6'2" and range between 250-255 lbs and wondering if I should get a 164. I can also get an Ultracraft 160 on sale for less than the Hovercraft but wondering if it will be too short. Will the carbon top sheet account for my extra weight?


At that weight you will need the 164. The carbon in the Ultracraft does not beef up the board, it is for weight reduction.


----------



## psklt (Jan 5, 2016)

I'm 6'1" 165lbs and ride a hovercraft 156. The nose makes it float like a much bigger board, but it's still super agile in trees and tight stuff.


----------



## JTCarver (Dec 27, 2015)

6'2" 200lbs and I ride a 160 Hovercraft. Plenty of float and very nimble in the trees.

For the OP get the 156


----------



## SGboarder (Jun 24, 2012)

JTCarver said:


> 6'2" 200lbs and I ride a 160 Hovercraft. Plenty of float and very nimble in the trees.
> 
> For the OP get the 156


The OP at 170lbs might be better off on the 160. I am between the 156 and the 160 at 155-150lbs.

The guy at 250lbs definitely needs the 164.


----------



## Nivek (Jan 24, 2008)

At 150lbs riding a 160 as a pow deck with it being a normal directional board, alright. But the Hover is a fair bit fatter with tons of setback and a huge nose. All ingredients designed so you don't have to upsize for pow. The 56 is plenty of board for most people in most terrain up to about 185lbs. If you're only riding big wide open steep faces, sure, go bigger if you want more speed.


----------



## bozekid (Dec 1, 2011)

SGboarder said:


> At that weight you will need the 164. The carbon in the Ultracraft does not beef up the board, it is for weight reduction.


Thanks SGboarder will go for the 164. I thought the carbon did increase stiffness though. Isn't that part of the benefit aside from lighter material?


----------



## SGboarder (Jun 24, 2012)

bozekid said:


> Thanks SGboarder will go for the 164. I thought the carbon did increase stiffness though. Isn't that part of the benefit aside from lighter material?


Not really. Generally speaking, the benefit of the stronger material should be that you can make the board lighter for the same strength or stronger for the same weight - or maybe a bit of both.

As I understand it, for the Ultracraft the objective was maximum weight reduction, not beefing up the board. Jones website supports that: same flex rating, same weight ranges, etc. for the Hovercraft and Ultracraft.

In contrast the Carbon Flagship is a beefed up version of the Flagship: Stiffer flex rating and for a couple of sizes the suggested rider weight range is 10lbs heavier for the Carbon.

Also consistent with that is that the weight reduction Hover->Ultra seems larger (both in absolute and relative terms) than Flag->Carbon Flag. (This is a bit of a guess based on the split models because Jones does not list weights for the solid boards.)


----------



## taco tuesday (Jul 26, 2014)

SGboarder said:


> bozekid said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks SGboarder will go for the 164. I thought the carbon did increase stiffness though. Isn't that part of the benefit aside from lighter material?
> ...



I haven't ridden either so take this with a grain of salt but JJ himself says in this video that the goal with the ultra craft was not to make the lightest board but to make it damper and faster than the hovercraft. He also mentions the ultra having carbon stringers that aren't in the hover.

https://youtu.be/LzqNnCbQNis


----------



## SGboarder (Jun 24, 2012)

taco tuesday said:


> I haven't ridden either so take this with a grain of salt but JJ himself says in this video that the goal with the ultra craft was not to make the lightest board but to make it damper and faster than the hovercraft. He also mentions the ultra having carbon stringers that aren't in the hover.
> 
> https://youtu.be/LzqNnCbQNis


That video does not really say anything different. Sure, they could have made the Ultrcraft even lighter but they wanted keep it damp for fast riding/charging and make snappier/more aggressive/less playful. But they did not stiffen up the board significantly or make it beefier.
Compare it to the videos about the Flagship/Carbon Flag and Solution/Carbon Solution where they expressly talk about making the board stiffer and burlier:









That said I want an Ultracraft Split too...


----------

