Hi Spike! As you've been a surfer for 40 years you'll know volume has only become prominent in modern surfing times. It isn't the most vital thing in the world to get right / something you have to religiously stick to, to be honest most of it is rubbish! Years ago nobody used volume. One of our shapers doesn't even write it on the boards. Yes of course when you are surfing super high performance boards, volume can make a big difference. But for the vast majority 95% of surfers that aren't surfing super high performance you have to use the other aspect of the board to decide what to go for. Despite everything you read online telling you exactly which board to buy based on the volume alone. Don't trust it. Use volume as a guideline to see how it compares to other boards you're surfing. Volme means nothing when the shape or length of a board is different to what you're used to. Take this board in particular, the Precious has the bulk of the volume in body and not in the rails (the Stepdeck) this will really change how it feels compared to a shortboard with the same volume. You may feel you need less or more volume because of this change.

It's hard to get right off of tech specs alone which is why as an old school surf shop we believe in 'try before you buy' as this is really the only way to see if it works for you before spending loads of money on a board. This is especially crucial for niche style boards like the Precious that you can't compare to anything else unless you have surfed a stepdeck or similar style board before because you'll have no experience to go off. If you can come down to us at any point to try it, it's worth the trip to see! You'll always see nearly new/hardly used second hand boards selling online because nobody tried them first and then they lose money re-selling them. Try not to make this mistake because of companies marketing you a board telling you which to buy based off the volume.

In short: don't worry about volume and try boards out first if you can!

Hope this helps