I just completed my first fish design. Its a 6’4" x 23 x 3 twin fin/deep swallow. Does anyone know where I can get the glass/wood twin fins? I’m up in the northwest and don’t have a clue who I could get them from. If you have any idea on price of those fins, that would be great too. I’ve got a ok pic of my fish, in its final stage before glassing.
Thanks,
Tom
Hey man… that fish looks pretty good. You don’t have to order fins, you can make them yourself from jsut about everything. This is pretty much the standard response to these questions I guess, but there’s plenty of info in the archives about fin shapes, placement and materials so do a search.
That IS a nice shape. Big, but nice.
For glassons, you might as well make your own 9" x 5.5" plywood keels, single side foiled and barely toe’d in. 5/8" ply with 4 layers of glass each side.
For box, you’d need trailer, as no one makes a big enough side fin to hold in for a board that big.
Try lockbox.com, JJR’s company. They can handle the power.
Fins unlimited, bahne, Chinnook box and standard 7" fins.
Arcadia,
Very nice job on the planshape! I especially like the pin tail curvature in the tail as opposed to some of the straighter swallow tail styles. Did you freehand it or were you able to make a template from an existing board? I was lucky enough to score an original Skip Frye 5’6", early 70’s, from my wife’s cousin (he thought it was some old junker that was taking up space in his rafters) and will be stretching the template out to make a 6’0" this weekend. I’ll post pics on Sunday if all goes well.
Good job and don’t forget to post the finished board!
Sr Pato
You can use any cabinet grade plywood. One-half inch thick is a good start. If you want keel templates PM me an address and I’ll send them to you. Mike
Thanks everyone for all the suggestions,
I actually did a drawing in the computer(I’m a graphic designer) and printed it out 11x17 sheets and taped them together, then glued it to a masonite board and cut it out. It works great to get the outline down.
Thats how I’ve been doing them. Only my first board did I freehand sketch on the blank. Here’s the link to it on the site
Thanks Lee,
Unfortunetly the only system they glass in up here is Futures. Everyone I’ve talked to hates FCS and won’t spend the money on the tooling for Lockbox.If you know of a link on the site that gives a step by step procedure in doing what you’ve suggested that would be killer. I don’t end up glassing my boards, I can’t remember if I stated that in the beginning email or not. Good glassers are few and far between up here in regards to old school looks-tinting/glass on fin etc. and that is all I’m interested in making. So I’m kinda forced to do things that I wouldn’t do If I had options.
Thanks,
Tom
Tom, I REALLY like the look of that !
Plain white and no logo , makes me almost wish I had kept mine like that instead of “orange stubbying” it. (Oh well, I still have the 6’9 stringerless blank here…)
I hope you make some really nice ply keels for that…glassed or lokboxed on , if you can instal them yourself. LeeDD’s dimensions sound right for a fish THAT size !! [It WOULD be interesting, if you had lokbox installed for the keels , AND a back Fins Unlimited box [easy to instal yourself] , so then you could have the single fin option on that board, but that’s only me personally…I’ve always enjoyed my single fin fish!!
I look forward to seeing the finished board mate, and to hear how it goes …
well done !
ben