…BUT, I thought it would be informative to see fins people are using / making for their various boards, fins already glassed on, interchangeable ones , whatever…
To start the ball rolling, here’s a few different templates from “the chipper files”, not all finished yet, but for seeing different outlines was the main reason I took the shot. I’d be stoked to see other’s fins…templates, foils, different materials.
Here’s a picture of the keel I made and rode in 72-73.
Also a front end picture of the same board in 2004 to show you how sharp the pintail is. It’s a Harold Iggy custom full gun I had made for Northshore.
I believe I made the fin out of many layers of glass over many layers glass mat and then sanded the whole thing down. No real science just experimenting like evrything else in those days. The front of the keel hung out over the front end of the big box about 4 inches or so.
Hard to remember exactly about 1972 nowadays but I remember riding this setup in a big west wrap (5’hawaiian) at Officer Beach(Barbers Point). Long long lines, almost like a point break. The board just flew through barrel after barrel making every section. Huge roundhouses with big spray just blowing out all the shoulder hoppers. Of course the tail being as needle pointed as it was no worries about sliding out with this fin. It was a good combo.
Of course as hot as I thought I was surfing. I was put in my place watching slack jawed as Alan Panteleon was getting standup barrel after barrel doing his famous “Alan Wrench” move. For those who don’t know about it. Imagine hauling ass in a 5’ hawaiian barrel with your back leg pointing to the sky touching the top of the barrel and your hand on the nose with your head facing back into the barrel. So much more radical than the “hood ornament” tube stance Owl Chapman made famous in the 70’s. A site to see for sure.
I made these fins for my 9’6" & 9’ old school 50/50 railers over the few years. The two on the right are the ones I am currently using. They may look familiar to those who ride Cooperfish longboards as they are based on the Cooperfish “Comet” fin. Great fin on point breaks, I set it as far back in the box as possible so the tip is past the tail. On beach breaks I move it foward.
The third from the right is my own design. I thought it was a pretty good fin until I started using the above fins.
Ok the 14" monster was an experiment that sort of worked. I restored a 1966/7 Scott Dillon 9’8" and the owner wanted to replace the fin that was in it. He had a photo of what he wanted, and he said make it about 14". The fin worked for him. He could not believe the difference it made to the board. I made this one and tried it. Great bottom turn with acceleration!! good in trim, fine on the nose, back for a dropknee turn, the thing would not break out of trim. Might be ok on a fast point break where you don’t have to cutback. The D fin, well it is a D fin. platty.
That is a very nice colection of fins you got there! Some of them very interesting.
I would post some if i had any off them worth posting here but i just use FCS.
Do you make them?
thanks mate !
yes, I make them, yes you can make FCS fins too… out of fibreglass, wood, whatever. I’m no expert…just learning, but I like sharing my stuff , and seeing and getting inspired by the berts, halcyons, dales, shwuz’s… whoevers , who are allowed creativity on this forum…
More fins to come, I hope I can get the three shots in this box thing sorted, because as I can’t post on the forum I used to [for some reason my password and user name and login thing went haywire ] , I will be contributing photo stuff HERE on a regular basis , hopefully. I hope you guys don’t see it as ‘spam’, that it is actually useful or something to you…
Anyways, here’s a few more shots, if this doesn’t work please be patient with this goober, I may have to ‘attach’… I’ll try the 'inline ’ thing one of you kindly mentioned first. here goes…
Platty, that’s what I want to do for all my singles with boxes … GOOD stuff !!
[it gets a bit expensive laying up those sized layers of cloth, so I’ll be doing some wood and some foam core singles, too, over the next year or so.]
I’ve always had singles in my quiver, and so always need different fins for the boxes…
Oneula, have you ever seen or heard of people using a single keel on a stubbie ? I realise pat morgan mainly designed then for really pinny guns, but being me, I’m curious to put one in the perhaps 12" finbox I’m going to have on my 5’7 x 20" stubbie…I’d be keen to hear from you or anyone else who may have tried that setup…
sorry I can’t the pic at this time but its in my pic collection on the surfermag forum.
Anyway if you see the pic of my 72 quiver you see a pic of a fish with twins…
Well before it became a twin with that bondo patch it was a fish with a rather large flex keel like the one in your pictures(thin long and narrow with alot of arc). Made it the same way as the other keel but because of the design difference it had quite a bit of snap to it…
Anyway to make a long story short. I rode it in small surf 1-2’ hawaiian at a place know as the original haubush here in Ewa. The board was an unreal backhanded because as you came off the bottom the in would flex and then snap back allowing you to whip the board around vertically in knee to shoulder high waves straight down straight up straight down again with little effort. Like an idiot I then decided to try the board at the outside break known as sharkcountry/first break and on my first big wave take off (4’hawaiian), the fin snapped off during my backside bottom turn, the wave broke on top of my head and I snapped the fish in two.
We stuck it back togethor but it wasn’t flat so we filled in the gap with automotive bondo to smooth it out and made it a wooden twinny.
So that’s my recollection on putting these things on a thick wide ass board. Unless they’re carbon fiber with alot of surface area, it may not be too much fun. I think the greenough paddle design with a wide diamondtail and some channels would be a better choice. wide flex tip with stiff thick and narrow base.
Thanks - The board seemed to work fine for me the one session I had on it. It was my first attempt at a Paipo so I don’t have much of a reference point. It is now in the capable hands of Mr. Larry (Grand Poobah) O’Brien.
" … a fish with a rather large flex keel like the one in your pictures (thin , long, and narrow with a lot of arc). Made it the same way as the other keel but because of the design difference it had quite a bit of snap to it…
Anyway to make a long story short. I rode it in small surf 1-2’ hawaiian at a place know as the original haubush here in Ewa. The board was an unreal backhanded because as you came off the bottom the in would flex and then snap back allowing you to whip the board around vertically in knee to shoulder high waves straight down straight up straight down again with little effort. Like an idiot I then decided to try the board at the outside break known as sharkcountry/first break and on my first big wave take off (4’hawaiian), the fin snapped off during my backside bottom turn, the wave broke on top of my head and I snapped the fish in two…
So that’s my recollection on putting these things on a thick wide ass board. "
thanks for that oney !!
informative …
I saw a twin keel fish in the “on any morning” dvd . It’s in the segment in new zealand , you see a kneeboarder walking down the beach , and it clearly shows two keels , shaped a bit like the wood pat morgan , one on each rail…trippy ! (still, it WAS the EARLY seventies !)
Regarding these attached photos, these are only small versions [back , rather than single fins] , but the shape is what I was considering. I’d like to make them twice these sizes, at least, so then I could use them as singles.
I’ll try and find the single keels photo I posted at ‘Surfer’ a while ago, and post it here. Can articles end up readable when sent as attachments here ? I mean , with the 190kb or whatever limit, will the writing be big enough ?
(if not, I guess I could just send the photo , and quote a bit of the article)
