Updated review (previously drafted when Evo was selling them online) but are now sold out for good nationwide from any retailer including Lib!
Evo, you know the shop that forgets to sell surfboards and wetsuits at their Denver location for some dumb reason, currently has the Lib-Tech Funnelator online only at a reduced price, that might be a good gamble for rive surfing fast green-faced waves. Think of it as a cheaper Puddle Jumper of sorts. The Lib Tech Funnelator 5’4″ is going for $500 no fins and if you sweet talk the manager at the Denver store, you can probably get it shipped to the Denver Evo shop for free. recently sold out their last Funnelator online… Though, one did just show up on the dreaded Meta FB.
Dims: Funnelator 5’4′ x 19.5 x 2.3 x 28.5 liters (nose 15.35″, tail 16.32) at $500 + $50 for fins.
Compares: Lib/Lost Puddle Jumper 5’3″ x 20.0 x 2.32 x 28 liters (nose/tail sizes need measured) at $850 + $50 for fins.
The Funnelator was a brainchild of Lib Tech board shaper Jeff Henderson that came out in 2019 but only lasted for a limited production. Basically you can’t really find the board anymore, though Evo somehow has a few for sale.
The Funnelator is similar to the Puddle Jumper but has a tad-bit more rocker and a tail that pulls into a crescent fish tail. After test surfing the Funnelateor at Sixx and Scout, the board feels narrower than the PJ and surfs a bit more snappy because of it.
Interesting thing about the Funnelator is the unconventional double V that creates a strange deep channel that the shaper claims “funnels” (get the name now) the water faster out the center channel compressing the water for more lift and a bit more stability. Couldn’t really tell for sure if the tail helped with lift and stability at Scout and Wave Sixx but it kind of did feel more stable than the PJ tail.
Check out this vid about the board: https://youtu.be/SO2Z3WYqMSU
Here also is a six second vid on comparing the outline and rocker of the PJ to the Funelator (you can slow the playback speed in settings by clicking the gear looking thing) and then pause the vid to see the shadow comparisons: https://youtu.be/3L9MlPrnU_E
A suggestion for fins is the generic Lib Tech 5 fin set for like $50 that are stronger with one single tab on them instead of the two tabs on the FCS 1 fins. This makes the Lib fins and their single slotted fin boxes much stronger for fin hits in the river waves. Evo sometimes has the generic Lib fins.
As a reminder when purchasing surf gear in metro-Denver; first check the locally owned “non-corporate shops” since they actually get it that people surf river waves in Denver (unlike the clueless Evo shop in Denver or the other equally clueless so called surf shops in the Denver with the initials “BC” or even shockingly enough, the Denver and Boulder Patagonia shops who also amazingly ignore river surfing in metro-Denver).
LBK
The Denver Surf Report 
