My buddy and I are in the final stages of completing our first fish. We want to make some fins but don’t know exactly what type of demensions are necessary. The board is about 5’6" long and 20-20.5" wide. Any suggestions?
Hi Mike619 !
…see "keel templates " thread …
… and please feel free to use whatever takes your fancy . (Or , just draw up and make your own… )
Depending , of course, on what size and hollowness to the waves you surf , but you might want / need to go a bit less base and depth than 9" x 5 " . It’s totally up to you !!
[And , one of the many reasons why fin boxes or plugs are good …you can change your fins easily and quickly from day to day , if need be !]
ben
Mike,
If you don’t see anything you like on the above thread PM me an address and I’ll send you some templates. Mike
go for it !
Mike kindly sent me some … [nice templates ! thanks again , Mike !]
ben
Well my first try at surfboard fins… I had some EPS detritus from my blanks so I figured why not try and make some fins… I copied the outline from some Maisch fins I have lying around. I think I will end up glassing these as side bites to a minimal 7-6 project I have with more EPS detritus (from a big block of EPS from which I got a 8-7 longboard and 6-8 fish blank)… Anyone here have experience with this type of fin construction? Should I just laminate (epoxy) or perhaps vacuum them?
There’s a thread about foam core fins here :
http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=255832;search_string=foam%20fins;#255832
hi Dave !
good on ya for giving some eps core fins a go mate !
I’ll be interested to hear how they go .
I have some of that foam [at least , I “think” it is ?] lying around here , and was thinking yesterday of doing the same ! …Small world , eh ?
The foam core ones I previously made were polyurethane foam . I found that making them thin , and putting maybe 4-5 layers of 6oz cloth on each side prevented them from breaking .
The ones I made thicker , with only one or two layers of 6oz each side …they snapped . [You may want to think about making your foam cores thinner , for that reason , maybe?]
The other lesson I learnt was to glass BOTH sides of the fin pretty much together (ie: don’t leave one side done , to "dry overnight " . I did , and the fin ended up warped …had to throw it away and start again . [sniff sniff…lesson learnt ] )
okay, Dave … I hope this helps ?
cheers
ben
…I want to use epoxy resin for my next foam core fin , too . ESPECIALLY if I do another set of F.C.S. tabbed foam core side fins !! If I do that , at some stage in the future , I would make the foam tabs very thin , and build them up with LOTS of layers of 6oz cloth , glassed with epoxy resin .
Quote:
My buddy and I are in the final stages of completing our first fish. We want to make some fins but don't know exactly what type of demensions are necessary. The board is about 5'6" long and 20-20.5" wide. Any suggestions?
hope this helps.
Hello Ben,
Love to see Swaylock getting on my tail with finconstruction. After two years of tinkering and failing I found the way to get the tabs strong enough. They have to be massive glass and have to go into the fin itsselve ending on both sides of the fin. The solution I found comes from a mold. Within this mold of the fin I made another mold for the PU foamcore( 2 components) In this mold I make a space frame of carbon and kevlar, kevlar in the tabs going into the thickest part of the foil. This frame I fill with foam(in the mold) so I get a reinforced foam core, the foam only doing the filling. On the outside come a layer of carbon cloth ande one layer of 4 oz. This makes a set of 3 fins half the weight of Bert’s foam vac fins. 60 grams for a set of 3. The good thing about the mold is when I break a fin the next one will be exactly the same. The bad thing is the time it takes to make the mold. I don’t have a vacuumpump jet so the mold has to be strong to press the extra resin out. Another tip, keep the glass of the skin straight, no bends, on the transition from tab to foil, it’s better to fill the outside if the base has to be wider or smaller as the tab.
I don’t use ricepaper for the colors, but 1 or 2 oz glass with acrilic paint. ricepaper delaminates!
Good luck with finconstruction, it’s harder than making boards I think, if you want to do it good. And dont forget, the foil is more important than the outline of the fin.
Love the work you do,
Great stuff
Greetzs from Soul
wow !
stoked , mate !
thanks heaps for that !!
I LOVE seeing others making fins , good on ya !
And , here’s a nice looking pair of fish keels [currently on the Swaylocks ‘homepage’]…
cheers !
ben
