Forgive my obvious failed attempt at inserting photos here. My questions are about the stubby quad at the bottom of the photos. This is my second board, which I surfed yesterday and today. 5'10" x 21 3/4 by 2 3/4. Yes, I know, gobs of volume! I was a bit spooked about going so short and grossly overcompensated by leaving way too much foam. I'm only 165 lbs so there's TONS of float here for me.
The board seems to surf decently, particularly when it's got a head of steam. I've got it set up as a quad and would like to tweak the fin setup a bit (if possible) to loosen it up in general. I realize that with the boxy rails and the amount of foam in there, there are limits to what can be done, but I'm thinking perhaps a thruster setup would give me better rail to rail performance than the quad? I've got Futures boxes and I'm not sure of the logistics of getting another box in there post-glassing.
Short of starting over or gaining 50 pounds, anyone got good ideas to share? Live and learn...
You can put smaller fins in the rear - that will loosen it up quite a bit. If those are full depth boxes you can use the SB1 fins - it’s the longboard sidebite.
Great suggestions, thanks all! I have no idea what fins are in there, as they came from the glasser and seem to be used/mismatched anyway. I left the fin setup to the glasser, so I'm not sure about the cant angle. I'm learning slowly...Live and learn is right!
Just a thought from the other side… For a loose board, your tail is way too wide. The but crack in a swallow removes planing area, and lets you sink the tail. Another way to reduce planing area is to narrow the tail.
From where you are now, either cut the tail, to make it a swallow, or cut the tail rails after the fins to make it into a diamond.
If the tail stays wide, the rails stay really parallel. This makes for a tracky board.
So this board has the shallower rear boxes (1/2"), which limits my options. The current setup on the board is a 4.5 inch front fin with SB-1 rears (3.5 inches).
Since the front fins were junk anyway, I ground down the bases and will try them as twins in the rear.
I also want to try the Future QFGS1 quad set, which is a 4.16 inch front and 3.4 inch rear. Is this enough of a reduction in fin area to make a difference?
I made a very similar board and had very similar problems…
futures suck butts. try probox, lokbox or even fusions…better fin options, better box, better fit
area reduction in tail…pull it in from the widepoint and put some more curve in it…I bet it’s fast as shit down the line though, right? it just doesn’t want to come around.
if you don’t do #2, at least consider foiling out your tail and rails in the rear a bit so you can sink them more effectively
I made a very similar board and had very similar problems...
1. futures suck butts. try probox, lokbox or even fusions...better fin options, better box, better fit
2. area reduction in tail...pull it in from the widepoint and put some more curve in it...I bet it's fast as shit down the line though, right? it just doesn't want to come around.
3. if you don't do #2, at least consider foiling out your tail and rails in the rear a bit so you can sink them more effectively
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#1 - Correct
#2 - Correct, it feels like a 9'6" in trim down the line
#3 - I'll do #2 and #3 next time around
I think the board will be fine after a few more sessions once I figure out the dynamics of when and how to turn it, and perhaps as a twin or with reduced fin area. I think I could also stand to move my back foot further aft, which should help turnability greatly.
Rode the board again this morning in waist-plus surf, with the front fins in the back and nothing in the front boxes. Definite improvement. Conditions were a bit walled so I didn't really get enough turns crammed into my 1 hour session to reach a conclusion. I may actually try it next with just the SB1s in the rear.
The guys who ride the simms with the keels position their rear foot all the way back, as in next to the leash string. You’d have to take that pad off to get your foot that far back.
I did the same thing on a board a while back. 6' x 22 1/8"x 3" - I am 210 lbs at 6' myself. Wide tale with S rail and five fin boxes to experiment with. It floats me great and goes staight fast as you can imagine, but would not turn back for anything. I surfed it in small crap surf here at home and way overhead in Mex during the Hurricane Rick swell last October. I took every fin set up I could find to Mexico and ran through most of them at clean head high point surf. I was going to give up on it until last week when I decided I had nothing to lose and started cutting it up.
I cut two wings into the rails that lined up with the back of the quad fin set up. Then I cut a deep swallow up around the front of the center (fifth) fin box. I cut back the glass along the rail a couple of inches around the tail on the deck only, rounded the top of the rails and then reglassed. It is not pretty... but...
I surfed it the next two days in decent surf (3-5 feet) and it is a whole new board. Turns quick and slides when I want it to - might be my new favorite.
I cut two wings into the rails that lined up with the back of the quad fin set up. Then I cut a deep swallow up around the front of the center (fifth) fin box. I cut back the glass along the rail a couple of inches around the tail on the deck only, rounded the top of the rails and then reglassed. It is not pretty... but...
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