A friend wanted something different.(Pics)

A few months ago a I asked a freind to fit my boiler in exchange for a board. Much to any board builders delight he said he would like something different but that he would be using it in Small to medium surf. So retro fish was a good option as he did not have one. He surfs quite well here in the UK and in South Africa.

The pics are what I came up with its a twin fin bonzer but can easily be used as a quad. I will get back to you on how it goes. Maybe ask him to post his responce here. I told him if it is crap that I will make him anaother so maybe that will spur him on to be more honest. let me know what you guys think or if you have made similar boards and what your findings have been.

Keep well

A few years ago I made a test mule 5’11’ fish and put six sets of FCS plugs in a similar arrangement.

I got a whole bag full of fins (keels, modern twins, quad sets) and loaned the board out to as many

friends as I could. I asked them to try different fin combos and give the board back to me with their

favorite set-up installed. I thought this would establish a consensus regarding the optimum fin configuration,

but was I ever wrong.

What I found out was that everybody liked the board with a different set of fins! And while rider X loved the

board as a twin keel, rider Y would inform me that the board ‘‘sucked’’ as a twin keel. And so on for all set-ups.

There definitely was no single ‘‘best’’ way to fin the board.

I think your friend will enjoy the flexibility and tuning potential this board offers. He can find what works best for him.

Next time you might get away with ‘‘just’’ four boxes, though. That’s what I’ve done for the past few years and it

works good for my customers. There’s enough twin and 4-fin templates available for them to dial the board in to their

preferences and surf conditions.

Mike

Mike, great experiment. However, the results suggest that a board with a glassed-on fin will be wrong for almost anyone. Or do you hold that it’s different for single fins?

I dunno, for the last 7 years my steady ride is a 7’10" x 20" round pin single, but I’ve been sucked into the HWS world and am making a 6’ fishthing in the garage just now. I was thinking of glassing on some keels but your post suggests I’ll never get the fins right.

Comment please, PM or right here? Barnfield, Thrailkill?

Quote:

Mike, great experiment. However, the results suggest that a board with a glassed-on fin will be wrong for almost anyone. Or do you hold that it’s different for single fins?

I dunno, for the last 7 years my steady ride is a 7’10" x 20" round pin single, but I’ve been sucked into the HWS world and am making a 6’ fishthing in the garage just now. I was thinking of glassing on some keels but your post suggests I’ll never get the fins right.

Comment please, PM or right here? Barnfield, Thrailkill?

I’m not suggesting there’s anything wrong with glass-ons OR removables. What I’m saying is that IMO there’s no perfect set-up

for everybody, different people like different things. I ride glass-ons on some of my fish because I (think I) know exactly where and

what template the fins should be. I also ride removables on a good portion of my collection, so I can work with fins to tune those boards.

If you glass the fins on your fish, it’s quite likely that they will not be perfect. But will that decrease your enjoyment of the board?

If you do a little checking and have a little knowledge you’ll probably have fun. It’ll look better on an HWS glass-on, and more suitable to the

tech also. Didn’t mean to scare you off.

Even when you do removables you’re never 100% certain they’re in exactly the correct placement. Optimizing everything is impossible.

That’s why design is challenging and enjoyable.

Single fins are a different ball game because, for a given fin, there’s only one variable.

MIke

Quote:

A few years ago I made a test mule 5’11’ fish and put six sets of FCS plugs in a similar arrangement.

I got a whole bag full of fins (keels, modern twins, quad sets) and loaned the board out to as many

friends as I could. I asked them to try different fin combos and give the board back to me with their

favorite set-up installed. I thought this would establish a consensus regarding the optimum fin configuration,

but was I ever wrong.

What I found out was that everybody liked the board with a different set of fins! And while rider X loved the

board as a twin keel, rider Y would inform me that the board ‘‘sucked’’ as a twin keel. And so on for all set-ups.

There definitely was no single ‘‘best’’ way to fin the board.

I think your friend will enjoy the flexibility and tuning potential this board offers. He can find what works best for him.

Next time you might get away with ‘‘just’’ four boxes, though. That’s what I’ve done for the past few years and it

works good for my customers. There’s enough twin and 4-fin templates available for them to dial the board in to their

preferences and surf conditions.

Mike

yep

thanks mike !

… same here

i like how different guys riding my boards with different fin setups have tried and liked different stuff !

ben