…hey fellas,
what s your opinions about to do a deeper buttcrack
to gain flex and storage some energy when bottom turning?
I did some with more than the coventional 5 1/2 or so, but Im talking to do a very thin and with far more crack than the normal ones
http://www.mackiesurfboards.com.au/
Go to KEELS, and go through the pics until you hit the flex fish with the black tips!
(I think it’s the 8th slide)
I made one with a 7" crack, should have been 6", but I made a mistake cutting through the stringer while cutting the crack.
I also had some cutaway bamboo keels made so that the base of the trailing edge of the fin is 7" from the tail (just like the crack).
Gotta get in on a thread with a name like this, just for posterity.
It needs to be at least 12’’ deep, but that’s in ‘‘girl inches’’, which usually means about 6 1/2’’ actual.
Seriously, anything over 7’’ starts to force you to move your foot up. Getting it thinned out will do more
in terms of flex and feel than a big buttcrack anyway.
BTW, obproud, that’s a nice looking fish. No leash attachment whatsoever - you’d fit in good with some of my friends.
Mike
posterity
!
Thanks Mike, this was my first attempt at shaping (sure was fun). I really wish I had of thinned out the tail more. We’ll see how she goes…
I think I may be in the minority, but I tend to “bridge the gap” with my foot on fishes, notice how I waxed her all the way to the tips.
I can’t stand leashes (unless it’s 6ft.+), I seem to be a magnet for seaweed (damn sh*t slows me down).
…Janklow
I ll go and check
…MikeDaniels,
my guess is that with more crack (but not so wide) may be you can obtain more “individualistic” moves; I mean, one pin at a time, instead of the tail as a whole
…Obproud
so is that a good ride?
thanx
Obproud,
I 'm digging that fish. Looks like great fun. Did you make the fins? I don’t like leashes either. Unless I’m going to kill someone or the board is going to be destroyed the first time I lose my board. Or, things are looking and feeling sharky(get dragged underwater for five miles giving the f…er a flossing).They do go faster without it! My advice is to follow Mike D’s advice regarding butt cracks on fishes, of course. Mike
I really wish I had of thinned out the tail more.
Hope all new fish shapers read this. Best advice I could give you guys on these boards is try to go thin
behind your back foot. The boards go really fast. It’s hard to turn at speed with a cork under your foot.
Very nice first board, you should be obproud.
Mike
Hey the thinner tail advice is great, and well appreciated Mike. Want to get back to shaping boards asap and as the first will probably be ‘fishy’, don’t want it to be ‘corky’ as well! Another one for my “Swaylocks bookmarks” collection…
Janklow - I remember those Burton Winterstick snowboards he says was were an influence for that board. Holy cow!! I can just imagine the stress and flex on the tips of that surfboard if one were to crank a hard turn and really get it on edge. Question is, would it give you some spring coming out of the turns, or would it give you mush on compressing and entering the turn?
...hey fellas,what s your opinions about to do a deeper buttcrack
Yoga.
I can see what you’re talking about…
Is it something like removing the last 10" of the stringer so that each tip can flex independently…
That would be 17" from tip to where the split stops retaining the current tip shapes…
No time to draw…
Yo OB,
Are the bamboo keels cut from a thick piece of bamboo stock and foiled on one side? The cutaways look like they’ll work real nice on the board.
No Worries, Rich
Rooster,
I didn’t make the fins, I made a template of the fin and sent it to Marlin Bacon at 101fins Co. and he made the fins.
MikeDaniel,
I was surprised how thick the tail was once it was glassed. Prior to glassing I actually thought I had thinned out the tail too far, the thing was just so dam flexy once I cut out the crack. I was even told by some experienced shapers, “Make sure you thin out the tail, and then once your done thin it out again.” Lesson learned.
Halcyon,
I don’t know how Marlin makes the fins, but they are foiled on both sides. I wanted to take “more” advantage of the flex/twist of his bamboo fins (I have a quad Lokbox set for my speeddialer) and I thought that by decoupling the trailing edge from the board I would get more flex.
We will see how it works as I haven’t had a chance to surf the board yet. I picked her up from Moonlight last week, and then we had that swell that this board wasn’t designed for.
Yo OB,
So the fins and board are of the same family of thought that Rasta’s boards are. I was just wondering how much of the fin appears to be wood and how much is glass/resin.
No Worries, Rich
Hi Rich,
The fins seem to be glassed very lightly.
Here is a better pic:
I know what you are thinking.
Yo OB,
The depth of the cut of a swallow tail and the amount of cutaway made in the base of the fin both create more flex as they are increased. The amount of flex you get also is directly related to the type of resin and foam that are being used. EPS and epoxy both give more flex than polyester and polyurethane.
The thickness of the composite is the first and most important variable when it comes to producing flexibility.
Most of the base of you fins (about 85%) is connected to the board. I’m thinkin’ you’ll get a little flex out of the trailing edge but that’s about it unless the top and tips of the fins are foiled out pretty thin. How do they feel when you torque on them with hands?
No Worries, Rich
The fins are thinner than the ones (Ghepharts) on the board that I modeled this one after, and they definitely have more flex.
I wish I had seen the fins on Rasta’s board before making my template. I think that the fin template on his board would better match the flex characteristic of Marlin’s bamboo.
When I put the bamboo fins on my Speeddialer I really noticed their forgiveness in turns.