Actually, I didn’t. Having a 3/4" stringer and full rail color, it weighed probably 30-35 pounds and was not well-suited to the relatively hollow beachbreak waves I was trying to ride with it. As mentioned above, I rode a similar board from 1963-66 and really loved it, but it was 10 pounds lighter and I was tuned in to riding boards with belly, 50-50 rails, a D-fin and flat rocker because that’s pretty much all there was back then (and I was younger and more limber, and had quicker reflexes!). Have had a lot of shortboards and performance longboards under my feet since then, so that board felt pretty clunky and primitive by comparison. I might have enjoyed riding it at a more lined-up, predictable spot like, say, high-tide Malibu. I do still have one (recently-built) retro-style board left in my quiver, but it always necessitates quite a deliberate adjustment when I take it out because everything else I ride has modern rails, rocker and fin configurations (and weighs less!).
Wish I could help you with a better PIC, but, as I said, it was a
borrowed board and is now located 3,000 miles from my present location. The board’s owner is also not presently where the board is. But I will ask him to measure the fin depth and base next time he is able and get back to you if/when he obliges.
My own 1963 G&S had a full D-fin glassed on with the trailing edge set approximately 1" up from the tailblock. I’m guessing that the board I borrowed (pictured above) was built around late 1965 to early 1967. Maybe somebody who posts here worked at G&S at the time and will chime in and be able to date it with greater precision.
Some of those early speed/cutaway fins had bases that were significantly longer than a D fin base. So if there’s just the remnants of the original fin base it’s hard to tell what was there.
Here’s the iconic, Ron Stoner shot of Hyson and Frye checking The Ranch in '65(?). Note that by then, the reduction of G&S’s old “D” fin trailing edge had already begun:
Also found an old G&S ad from spring of '67 featuring their then newly-developed fin. I’d say that narrows the vintage of the fin in my previous PIC to '65 or '66, somewhere in between the two PICs in this post.
Note drastically reduced tip area of newer fin (when compared to the
borrowed board fin PIC I posted previously). Rails still look pretty
“eggy”:
Hello Porkman.....thanks for posting! Thanks for answering my questions....
The photos from DropKnee are where I'm going....................................
...Ok....we move the fin a little forward and make the fin a little smaller.......and then we work on width / thickness / foil...
"Standard" longboard today is about 23 wide and 3 thick.........Old boards are not so wide and thicker. Add belly instead of concave and now we're talking.......
I would guess-timate that the old G&S fin had a longer base and a bit less area in the tip than the FU. Possibly a tiny bit more rake. It was also glassed on a bit further back towards the tailblock, not a lot, but some. And in my experience, moving a fin even 1/4" to 1/2" can make a noticable difference.
I’m using my FU Malibu Classic on a 9’8", purpose-built, flat-rockered nose-rider with 50-50 rails, a wide, kicked tail and nose concave. I shove it as far forward in the box as it will go, with the trailing edge approximately 5-3/4" up (see PIC above) and like it there. The base of that fin is about 7-1/4" long. The board previously had a more upright, pivot type fin on it (more like the G&S Red Fin re-pop above) but I like the way it rides with the FUMC better. That fin holds the tail in for nose riding just as well as the pivot fin did, but it seems to give a bit more drive out of turns.
The old, borrowed G&S was stiffer to turn than my 9’8" and I attribute that, at least in part, to the further-aft fin placement and longer fin base. Board weight also plays a big part, of course: my 9’8" was shaped from a lower density, “modern” blank and glassed with double 6-oz. + 6-oz. deckpatch on top and single 6-oz. on the bottom. That old G&S was made from a denser, heavier blank and was likely glassed with 2 X 10 both top and bottom + a 10-oz. deck patch. Overall, it’s probably a good 10-15 pounds heavier than my board.
To my eye, it looks like the fin on your friends G&S has the rear most part of the tip in front a perpendicular line coming up from the tail of the board. In the case of your FUMC, the rear most part of the tip might be behind this perpendicular line. To my eye, looks like considering the center of average area of the fins, their difference of distance from tail of board very close. I’m thinking alot about all this because obviously, once installed on my board, I’m stuck with the positioning. If I determine that I want to get as close to original as possible, and determine that the FUMC is satisfactory, I’m considering moving it forward a tiny bit. Also, I will ask them if they can remove their logo and other stuff printed on it- would really blow attempts to make the board look original to see those graphics. Would look pretty stock without that stuff (other than the really long base on the original). Thinking natural/clear finish.
Who made your board? Plan to at one point have a board made. Blanks come with more rocker and no roll on bottoms. Shapers I talked to seemed a little hesitent to go with small amount of rocker I’m thinking of using. “you’re gonna pearl… your’e gonna pearl…!!”
I don't have experiences with a board shop- looking recommendations (based on personal experiences) for repair shop in Costa Mesa/Orange County area to install new fin on this board and clean it up a little. Not a restoration. Thanks, Kip...............................
Two shops a block from me. Pure Glass and John Vartanian. Will be using one of them I think. Just ordered glass-on Fins Unlimited Malibu Classic 9.5", clear. They are making it non-box style, so I don’t haver to cut the base off. Kip…
