I have a late 60’s / early 70’s Fins Unlimited Brewer Model fin that has a 5.5 inch base, 7.5 inch height and is .75 inch thick at the base. It fits into a regular fin box. The fin seems to be made of a Teflon type material. I’d like to know if this is worth trying to sell or should I just use it as a hood ornament?
YOU HAVE A TREASURE. Do not sell it, USE IT. It is called a Brewer Fin, although someone else actually designed it. It is my favorite fin of all time. Little, if any fin stall, during high AoA maneuvers. Exits turns almost as fast as you entered the turn. Most were made of Lexan. Yours appears to not be that material. Yours is Polyethelene, most likely.
EDIT: Perhaps Polypropylene, as suggested by SammyA.
It was called “The Brewer wide-base” fin, and along with the Hynson “Dolfin” were the most popular molded fin in the early to mid seventies. Bill Bahne founder of Fins Unlimited is a surfing super-hero with his inventions, as well as, a skateboard designing super-hero, not too many around with more cloat than that.
Dick Brewer is Dick Brewer, and while there have been many who copied, there will only be one.
I have that fin, but made from glass. Most Hawaiian single fin boards in the mid 70’s used that design. The Hynson Dolfin was even thicker than that. Thick fins work fine, they just need the proper foil. I got a couple of single fin boards that would love to have that fin sitting in them.
There have been several pages from old surfer mags on sways showing the ads for that fin. At the time Brewer, Downing and Hyson had special models. I still like the GG stage 4a and the ones that are simliar shape and rake, but narrower, like what Velzy did.
The FU fins of that era came in three basic configurations. Glass, lexan with glass, and polypropelene. The polypros being the least expensive and most likely to break. Looks like you have a polypro. Finding one in that condition is rare. Most probably not worth a lot of money, but certainly worth using. Especially in a properly shaped single fin.
That template and many others with similar characteristics, like the Bonzer fin, are pretty versatile (conditions and shapes) at least in fiberglass.
Hey Ghettorat what you say about Bhane, lead to a sad situation that will occur in the next few years, that lot of knowledge and ways to do the “thing” will be to disappear…
I do not think that one of these “n-thousands” rasped board finishers will want to conserve that type of knowledge
I consider it an honor and a priviedge to count these people as my mentors and my friends. Those guys are the pioneer class; whereas nowadays we have a snotty nosed self-entitletiled little leaguers, with their butts still being wiped by their mommies who blame everyone but themselves for their mistakes.
The Von Sol/Belik Stilleto template has some similarities. I think the Bonzer template has some similarities. Obviously not the same, though. I think the Brewer template could work in smaller sizes but the ratio of base to depth would probably have to change.