So some of the ideas I’d had were a Robin-recommended quad setup (4.5" paddles front, 4" sidebites rear):
Or the closest thing I have to a Halcyon quad-type setup (the above, reversed):
Or even a Griffin-inspired 5-finner with 4" fins everywhere!
And not to go all Chipfish on you, but I noticed (after believing ePac that my front side boxes were still too far back for a proper longboard thruster, or 2+1 setup) that a Widowmaker-type set might kind of go nice (6.5" TK Flex in the middle, with 4" sides):
And there’s even something nice about this guy and the shape of the tail & rail…
So please…Vote Early & Vote Often! I really am clueless about multiple fins and if you see something that just makes you go “Ugh!” say so now, before I waste my first session with such a trainwreck.
Robin, Rich, Bernie…if you happen to see this & it jives with what you wrote above (before seeing the board & fins) a vote of confirmation would be great.
Specs, again… 10’1" 16.5" nose, 23.5" center, 14.5" tail, 3.25" thick. Soft rails all around, 4.75" nose rocker, 3.5" tail rocker, stepdeck. 15.5 lbs. 
Back end of center box at 5.5"…
Many, many thanks.
BTW…rehabbing a torn knee ligament at the moment, so its another few weeks before I can get 'er wet (yeah, right, doc!) so your recommendations are all I have to live on for now…
Ben
Couple better photos…
Benny,
What is your source for the big pivots? I have only been able to find that Takayama in 9.5. It works killer. I couldn’t believe the power all the way trough the turns. No loss of speed or bogging. Awesome.
All I can say is that all of the pro and backyard installations w/ Probox that I have seen look really clean. Nice job.
I like the built in GPS unit in the nose section, you can hardly see it.
Il para, I got that at Fiberglass HI in Santa Cruz.
Edit: Its made by Fibre Glas Fin Co.
Check the new “Slick” from True Ames, its very similar and probably easier to find…
epac, I agree, ProBoxes go in like a dream. Especially for someone used to longboard finboxes - same routine of template, router, resin, box, grind, tape, cloth patch over. Not necessary for either one, but I always do.
Aloha Benny1:
This board looks really good, all of the various fin combinations look really cool so it looks like you are going to have a lot of experimentation of your hands, which is going to be really fun.
BTW, very nice looking installation!
I like the way the fins look in these photos. I might have to put a box in my quad so that I can try out more combinations!
-Robin
Thanks, Robin! I followed your email on placement & toe-in and I agree, it looks like it’ll work in all kinds of different ways Closest I’ve ever been to a one-board quiver.
The horan will be alot of fun depending on the rocker
I like the first quad setup
but on the 5 fin drop those three rears down to 3"-3.5" side bite and trailer sized (if you want I have some real small box trailers I can send you to play with) and you’ll have more fun. Another bit of fun would be a set of curved CRVs up front and three small 3" trailers in the rear. I probably can pull a set off from my REX Manta if you need some of those to play with.
The two front fins are where most of the action will be happening while the back fins are where you’ll get the control and turbo boost with each pump.
IMHO you want the front and rear sides to act togethor as one fin in either a quad or 5 fin configuration and the 5th is just for a little more drive off the tail.
I think you’ll find you’ll be using either the horan star or quad/5fin most of the time for performance and the rest for crusing.
the rest are just run of the mill you won’t really feel anything different than the first three configuarations I mentioned.
So I presume you’re gonna give away that worthless custom Ole at this point (just kidding)
If I ever get rid of the Ole, I’ll repatriate it to the Islands, into the hands of someone who’d appreciate it…but don’t hold your breath
You’re right - first surf is going to get the first quad setup with the larger ones in the front. Once I get through the fins I have, I’ll definitely let you know if I’d like to try some horse trading. I was also imagining some 5" fronts and a single 3" trailer in the rear.
I dunno about the star. The tail & rail shape look good with it’s size & placement, but I’ve put it in a few boards and if the tail rocker is wrong for it, it seems to drag a lot. I lowered the tail rocker in this one a little compared to a noserider, but nowhere near as low as, for example, my Nugget. I might give it a try on a waist-high day if there’s no section to beat (and no kelp) & some drag wouldn’t be bad, but I sort of just stuck it in there because I was having fun taking pictures 
Thanks again for the fin offers!
Ben
hey benny,
been watching and enjoying your board/fin posts.
looks like you’re going to have some real fun switching things around.
go with all the combos you have posted, but i would really like to hear about the twinzer combo if you ever try it out.
seems only me and chip are into that idea.
in case you’re interested, i put graph paper photos for scale of the little fins i use on the 5-4-3 fin post i did.
can’t wait until you’re healed and out riding again so we get to hear the reviews!
-jar
Quote:
Ahh, hell. I know I’m going to mess with it for a while & end up riding it as a single anyway, right?
i bloody well hope so, benny! i’m a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to longboards. i don’t mean to be too precious about it, but i’m a single fin only fella. still, i admire your willingness to explore & your knowledge too. thanks for sharing.
Bernie…look what dropped into my lap today
Thanks for the heads-up. Just took a little dig through a couple friends’ garages… That what you had in mind? Screw tab in the front & everything.
Hey Ben - I wanted to see how this board was working out for you, and your impressions of the 5 fin setup. I just got through a couple day bout with my newest board in the 5 fin config and I’m so glad to be going back to my Twin with small trailer setup. I found it almost impossible to generate any speed with the 5 fins (which was completely the opposite from what I expected). My gut says that benefits gained on the shortboard are not transfered to the big boards.
first of all 5-fin longboards work
Chandler’s been making a bunch of them these past 2-3 years
Just go check out his posts over at the Surfer Mag Design Forum
One of its big fans was Ryan Sugihara till Chandler was asked to leave his dad’s conglomerate.
Chandler recent posted a picture of Ryan at Chun’s doing a straight backside vertical bash to show what high performance longboards are capable of doing…
But from what he says place and sizing of the fins are extremely critical to get any real benefit
They need to be pushed as far out to the rail as possible in relation to the curve of the tail and the fins need to be kept as small at possible as to not get in the way. 3-3.5" max in my opinion if not smaller.
Finally the turbo charged effect is only truly realized when your back foot is driving directly on top if not just a tad behind the alignment of the three rears which are inline and not split like alot of guys are doing these days. The split back three is only good to support a quad/thruster switcharoo and not to be ridden as a tru 5-fin.
Once you feel the turbo charged effect of the 5-fin thrust you will understand what it brings.
Greg’s theory is that the energy and the power is in the wall so you need to engage the fin into the wall as much as possible quickly and with no hang ups to tap into that energy. If everything is done correctly, shape, rocker fin placement, fin shape and fin size then all you’ll get with every engagement is more forward thrust.
If you drive off the front foot alot you aren’t going to feel too much other than what you’d normally feel.
That’s what’s so much fun about Greg’s 5 fin fishes.
Cause they drive down the line off the front foot like any other fish
But surf off the tail like any high performance thruster
the combination is a perfect all around type of board.
But the 5-fin concept can be used with normal shapes as well as with longboards to get the turbo effect you just have to have a design you can drive off the tail alot.
I hope this helps…
Ben that’s the size
Match it up with a couple GLs in the back and you’ll be set
I’d pop in some carbon merricks, GRs or TC redlines up front for the drive and those three mini-mees in the back
Step back drive some down the line pumps and boom…
Quote:
But from what he says place and sizing of the fins are extremely critical to get any real benefit
They need to be pushed as far out to the rail as possible in relation to the curve of the tail and the fins need to be kept as small at possible as to not get in the way. 3-3.5" max in my opinion if not smaller.
All of what you said is extremely helpful, but especially the above! I have big twin fins in the front, and a modified set of M5’s for the back three. It feels as if I have a boat anchor on the board. I’ve been concentrating having my rear foot over the back three, but I wasn’t getting any speed out of them. Waves have been really bad, but on the the few decent wave I got my experience was the same. I would jump up and almost grind to a halt, pump the board and have it fight me, then curse that I had this fin setup. It took my best performing board (by a long shot) and made it into one of my worst. Your suggestion of smaller fins was inline with my thinking - THANKS!
get rid of the big twins too.
too big of a fin up front and the board will want to pivot off that point taking away from the effect of the three rear fins.
That’s why the Rad Cluster from infinity works so well cause it pivots of the big front fins allowing a really big 10’ board surf light a shorty. But there’s no real down the line drive there.
Keep the front relatively normal sized
those paddles robin showed would work as well as any fin without too much top curve
per Hale Nalu the FCS GR’s were Parmenter’s suggestion for bigger guys and bigger boards.
If you have the cash, ask Greg to make you a set of custom 5-fin G10’s for your board for where you ride and I don’t think you’ll be dissapointed. I really like his fin philosophy which is all about getting the cleanest release from base to tip for maximum efficiency plus his fins are adjustable forward and back a skosh in standard FCS plugs.
If you want to demo some things I may have that your interested in trying let me know.
Of course you can always demo them from a shop though…
Also McKee has a good write up on some FCS combos on his website.
Just keep in mind you don’t want to go any bigger than GL/GX size in the back with a 5 fin setup.
has anyone here ridden the curved fcs fins with either a small or largish back fin on a mal [‘longboard’] ?
[ i ask , because …]
cheers
ben
I was ready to give up, but you’ve remotivated me. I’ll try a few more combinations to see if there’s anything there. Thanks for the help!
what like this?
Makani McDonald Full concave bottom 9’2" performance longboard
BC Sailboard fin from SurfnSail
been there
did that
seem to work better with a softer railed board
like the 9’4" custom I’m trying again
I liked the Webber CRVs better with this Curtis carbon cutaway
why?