A little rough on those Skil 100 HSS blades; I would think. Lowel
That black one was a nightmare and as soon as I put it in a bag and took it back out, it had scratches haha - no sweat. It was made to be ridden
Both the wood fins were made for me by Dave. - thick foils and work so good. Template is Bills.
It’s now on my bucket list to eventually own a Bill Thrailkill board, the older the better.
Let me know if I can be of help to you to put something in your bucket.
Those are some of the nicest surfboards I have ever laid eyes on. Absolutely incredible. Love the work you do!
Cute kids Dave. Love those tennies.
Well I own one and like it very much. Other than the classic “T” and Bill’s provenance you wouldn’t know it though.
Thanks, but I want to ‘find it in the wild’. Not sure how possible that’s going to be, I’m on the East coast.
Then you want to try to find my 1966 personal 10 foot board, with the top and bottom abstract lams. The board was so colorful that it was named WILD THING, in part because that song was on the radio during the lam session. Only one ‘‘Wild Thing’’ was ever built. After that, I really started focusing on big wave guns.
Ahoy,
I am going to be building a board soon that I would like to resemble these beautiful shapes. I have some numbers in my head. It would be awesome if I could get some feedback on this idea. nose: 16.5 Mid: 23 Tail: 16.75 Thick: 3 Wide point 5 inches behind center. Would those numbers compliment this type of board? Sorry if I’m way off but I don’t have any reference really I have not come across this style of board in person very often. I am going to build a wood skeg too with heavy glass bead. Was thinking about dims for the fin. Would 9" base and 9" depth be appropriate or should it be bigger? Any rocker numbers would also be greatly appreciated. sorry for all the questions haha. Thanks for the inspiration everybody?
Surfer O,
I’ll communicate with you via PM, or by phone if you wish, and provide a tutorial on the style of board you’re interested in. You’re figures are generally in the ballpark, but I can refine the design process for you, that will give you a shot at producing a magic board for yourself.
Knowing that all is temporary, even the photos on Swaylocks, I’d like to record for eternity that I laughed a lot when I saw that picture.
I’m still giggling!
No disrespect, she’ll understand more than well when she has kids of her own, if we don’t blow the planet to smithereens before she gets a chance, in case that’s what she wants.
Maybe she’d rather be skating anyway…
Finally made the fin that Bill recommends for this board. Thick foil, G10 material, chambered construction and Kumano System bearings.
Pics attached
Looks real good Dave.
If it works half as good as the one I got from Bill it’s gonna be an epic ride.
I like the tablessness (is that a word?) and the back cut to get it far back in the box.
. . . . . . . Be sure to let the folks know how that fin compares to the more ‘‘conventional’’ fin you surfed that board with. Most folks can’t get their heads around that kind of fin.
Over the past two days I was able to surf the board Bill shaped and tested out several different fins.
My first session ever was on the red fin (pictured below) but has since had the dongle in the back removed. I liked the fin but felt is was too loose for my taste. Talked to Bill about it and he highly recommended the Reverse D template he uses for this board.
It took me a while but I finally made one. It was made from 3 sheets of G10. The center piece of G10 was 3/8’’ thick and then two pieces of 1/4’’ were placed on either side of of the 3/8’’ piece after I cut the center out. Next I foiled it to Bill’s specs of pushing the widest part of the foil back and having a blunt leading edge.
I surfed the Reverse D in shoulder to head high beach break at Agate Beach on the Oregon Coast. Surfed with just 1 other guy in the water. This fin worked really well. Felt super locked in going both frontside and backside. I never lost control of the board and made several sections that I thought were not possible.
I tested the Hollow Foil fin and didn’t love it. It has a thick foil at 5/8’’ but felt the felt kinda weird with not having weight in the tail. I was also anxious to test other fins out and didn’t get too many waves on it. I think I could have come to like it if I gave it more chance.
Another fin was the GG template with the pre-fin thingy. Hated this one. It hummed liked crazy and I could feel some drag. Made it two waves and changed it out.
In a previous surf session I tested out the traditional Reverse D that is 3/8’’ thick. I liked it but felt like it was lacking drive out of the turns.
Finally, I surf the Flothru. I’ve surfed this fin before on this board and enjoyed it. I surfed it in waist high waves and enjoyed how smooth and easy it is to turn. Nothing weird or unexpected with this fin. I feel it works really well and one day I hope to make a thick foil version of it to see if there is a difference.
Conclusion is this: I love surfing longboards. I love surfing D fins. Out of all the fins pictured the thick foil Reverse D (Bill’s template) I liked the most. It has tons of upside and I didn’t notice any downside.
Dave
Dave, does not liking the hollow foil put the kibosh on any of your plans???
No it doesn’t. Just one more thing to take into account and I’m glad to know about it now then later down the road.
Dave
“felt kinda weird with not having weight in the tail.”
Hi David - Pope made claims promoting that feature. I think he had an ad that mentioned they float and add buoyancy to the tail like it was a plus(?) If you look at the bottom of the base tab on the hollow fin there is a little screw. If you opened that up and maybe drilled another vent hole you could inject resin (or water) in there and see if there is any difference. I have a couple of those fins… I also have a jar of mercury… hmmmm
The reverse D fin is like what Takayama was doing with his Halo fins, but he puts a cutaway on his single center fin. I wonder if you were to try that with your center fin how it would compare to the D?