The only info I can find on this board is the Bahne surfboards logo, and the numbers 0448 written on one of the stringers.
Any info greatly appreciated: approximate year it was made, what kind of fin it might have come with especially.
Thanks!
The size, shape, and stringer style make it about a 1964-66 vintage, I’d guess. Is that a fin box, or just a cavity where the fin used to be? A picture of that would help, since you did ask about the fin.
The original fin was gone, and a very poor home-made fin had been installed at some point.
I cut this marine-plywood fin off, and I can see that there is a resin and glass filled recess where the original glass-in fin ripped out or there was a box at some point.
So, post a picture of what it looks like with the home made fin removed. If there is a glass lined recess that looks original, it’s doubtful that it ever had a box. Boxes of any sort didn’t really exist until around 1966. Bahne was the inventor of Fins Unlimited, so any board they made with a box would be an FU setup. Your board was probably made before they dreamed up the first gen FU system.
This is an ad from July of 1968, which is shortly after Fins Unlimited began. The ends of the box are rounded, as you can plainly see.
I wonder if the sections circled in orange are a void from an old fin box? The shape seems right, and the slot looks crisp like it was done with a router.
Out of curiosity, I weighed it. 36.6lbs
Some boards in the sixties had the fin routed into the board. Guys like Yater and others would route a slot and line it with glass to create a tight fit for a fin. The fin would be jammed into the slot before the resin cured. Some added glass afterward, some did not. Your board looks too old to have had any kind of system box, as I already said.
Agreed.
Thank you. Now that I have a close date range I will choose a fin appropriate. I will use exactly the technique you described, routing a slot to seat and glass the fin. I’ll come back with pics when it’s done.
FWIW, I’ve surfed this board, back when it was falling apart and held together with duct tape. The glide is remarkable.
For a short period of time there was an active group in Oregon that would gather and just throw all the old and funky longboards on the beach. You could try them all… Swinging for surfers.
It was a great way to connect a shape/rail/tail/fin with a feel.
That second pic is cool. Nice concept to share rides on old boards that many never saw, let alone rode.
I would pic one of these for your board. More specifically, the Harbour or Yater. Those are close to the style that may have been on that Bahne. These are the Waveset fins from the early days of that system. Roughly 1967
Up until 1965 it had been Challenger, a break up occurred then and he started Bahne Surfboards.
I’d forgotten that he and McLeary started Challenger. While stokednboard says he left that partnership in 1964, it also claims that Bahne was begun in '68. That cannot be right. Would you say that this board was probably made in 65-66, Jim? That’s my guess, judging by the look of it, and the low number.
By '68 I was shaping for Bill and Channin / Diffenderfer in the factory at what is now Jakes in Delmar. That factory had been up and running for a while