Hi, just finished my latest board for myself, I drew up a template that has a little wider nose than my shortboard and is straighter in the tail. The widepoint is 3inches backward of center and tail is quite wide. I thought i would make it a Quad but then id be quite keen to try 5 fins. I could do my normal quad setup plus one or was thinking of trying a setup that allows for five fins. I have seen Some cool looking fin setups on the Griffin website (three back fins in a parallel row) has anyone tried any other successful 5 fin setups that they would be willing to share with me?
heres the board pics so it gives everyone an idea what im talking about…
I’ve heard/read that it’s like training wheels. My own experiences of late suggest the center fin, on a tri set up, does create drag at a certain angles of attack, and I’m pretty sure it would function the same if there were two more side fins.
the 'cd4' walden of moonfish's i've been riding of late , for some reason has the side fins pretty far forward .
it has the back fin plug at 3 1/2" , though
i gues for my next one i'll be putting the front sideys at 11 or so inches up , to allow for the 'traditional' type thruster spacing , and the back plugs at 5 1/2 or so , for the quad setup .
this is pretty much what i set up on the infamous 'bushfire fish' , 'quad wise' , but unfortunately , the back fin box [being from a 70s kneeboard , 'recycled] , was too far forward to allow me the thruster option , hence the one plug BEHIND the fin box . ? maybe you could try THAT , too, 'IF' you wanted to try the SINGLE fin option?
by the way , what bottom contours were you thinking of for this board ?
will you put the side plugs under your heel and toe , a la the previous thread you posted those shots on ? [i'm hanging out to hear how different / better that setup felt , by the way , as i'm thinking of doing that on my next 6'4 quad / five fin setup board
please keep us up to date on this board's progress eh 'nocean' ?
Taylor, yes I think your right about drag of center fin, spose reducing the size of it considerably would make it surf more like a Quad with trainer wheels, I quite like the idea of that…
Hi Chip,
Heres the full dimensions etc:
5’11" x 18 3/4" x 2 1/2" , single concave bottom deep under front feet reducing through tail.
Tail rocker 2 1/4"
Nose rocker: 5 3/4"
nose: 11 3/4"
Tail: 15 1/2"
Tail pod : 7 1/4" im assuming tip of swallow to other tip?
Fin measurements, sorry i find it more accurate and easier to go metric here
Back of front fins: 290mm , think thats something like 11 7/16"
Back of back fins: 120mm
Having the fins more tightly grouped according to foot size seems like a good idea, ive only surfed my other board once and still have not really decided if its better, for this board I think ill go with wider settings as there will be so many fins! so probably set the fronts 1 1/2 inch off rail or similar…
Center optional fin: either 120mm or further back depending on what i end up doing, in fact I should probably go the whole way and put 3 plus in and then I can move it and try!
Pentafin sounds like a good name, hope to do more work on it this weekend so will keep posting,
I didnt think the tail was too wide, im measuring the tail one foot in from the back of the board and the nose one foot down from the tip if thats what has thrown you with measurements?
Hi Ben, the boards at the glassers at the moment so hope to have it back soon, will post pics…, just thinking about making some fins for it while I wait and was thinking of trying some of the upright templated ones as pictured below.
Just wondering if you have any templates or shapes that would work best, seems like you got all the fin shapes anyone could wish for on the other posts on swaylocks, I thinking some thing along the lines of the ones below by Larry , unfortunately cant get them here so ill try to make some similar…
I did my usual Quad setup, I got my initial measurements from the MCKee Quad fin layout and tend to move them a little forward on a shorter board. for this one I have spread the back fins a touch and lined up the center fin with them, it is kind of inspired by the Griffin stuff I have seen but didnt have any measurements so just experimenting at this stage. Going to try a new fin box on this board which allows the fins to be moved forward or backward a quarter inch in the boxes which is really cool because I can line the fins up and then get up to half an inch adjustment to the overall setup, If that makes any sense! I will post pics as soon as the board comes back from the glasser.
Regarding the fins you mentioned I found a pic on here of some John Belik fins, they look pretty good, are these the ones you mean? Im going to try to make a 5 fin load of them for this board…
Thanks for the critical feedback,Im not sure if I understand it all but certainly take your point about uneven planshape, probably a bit keen with the surform on one rail… I did actually plan to make this a multi fin board from the outset , it may be that my design ideas are a little misguided as to wide tails and lots of fins? Im interested in what you say about a wide tail needing power to provide rail surfing, what fin setup in your opinion would best achieve this?
I think the way I have photographed the board makes it look really wide in the tail, I will post some other photos as soon as I have the board back.
