Finally took a look at this thread. I like this concept Mr. MikeD. May have helped me solve a difficulty for incorporating a design feature I want to include for a build.
Finally took a look at this thread. I like this concept Mr. MikeD. May have helped me solve a difficulty for incorporating a design feature I want to include for a build – only as a deep concave channel rather than angular.
How long is the channel? How deep is it at the tail tip?
A little over a foot long and 1 7/8'' deep at exit. I'm gonna sign off for the rest of the day, but I'll be back here late tonight or tomorrow. I'll get to the wakeboard pics in a couple of days, probably. In the meantime there's a lot of other wake designs you guys might look at for inspiration. Google some up, there's been about 15 years of development on finless/semi-finless.
Thanks much.
playing wih diff little versions of fins on my current sliders....
[IMG]http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp114/pridmore73/Xmas2010FFfinsshoppics044.jpg[/IMG] have swapped little fins from one board to the other, yet to try them but coz I have ridden both boards quite alot with their original fins, it should be obvious right away, the changes the swap has made, both work well but both have their little pros and cons...interesting to see how they perform...
Also am making a set which is close to an in between set of these 2 templates....
MikeD – made several Google searches on finless wakeboards that turned up very little. You got a specific site/forum in mind?
Just the same, your 20 year-old basic concept – add a few modifications – has removed the “key log from the jam” on a design I have wanted to build in one form or another for 5-10 years now. Can’t see another concept working quite as well.
Glad I never started the build before now …
Mahalo nui loa!
You are right, I poked around a little and there's not much that I could find applicable. Most of the current boards have less complex bottoms and removable fins. The ''finless'' push was ten years ago, and that was about the end of my involvement. Rail and obstacle sliding is such a large part of things now, simpler bottoms and special (thick and blunt) fins are needed there. More fragmented now, too; there's wake-boarding, wake-skating (no bindings), and wake-surfing (no rope).
wakeboarder.com might be the best place to look, if you dig there might be something about the old boards on there.
A quick scan at wakeboarder.com didn’t turn up much.
But did a google image search on finless wakeboard and turned up this:
And
Google search images – Finless Surfboard
[IMG]http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp114/pridmore73/wtf006.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp114/pridmore73/wtf011.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp114/pridmore73/wtf014.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp114/pridmore73/wtf001.jpg[/IMG]
great thread !
you guys are looking beyond the realm.
hopefully out of all this skunkworks some spear point will surface.
keep building and thinking up ................it's coming around full circle.
my induction design is taking on some new twists,and should be re-intro-ed by summer.
herb
Hi Herb,
Hopefully you’ll bring something down to San O in May. I’m trying to mentally prepare for having to surf San O with my now 4-yr-old son when he’s ready to learn, and I think a finless board will be the most fun there. I just want to go fast without having to ride a longboard. It’ll be cool to see what you’re cooking up these days.
hey ghosty,
the other month ago i found a bz blackball beater in the trash..............the hard bottom is cracked up abit ..............okay,okay,okay, alot cracked up(like it was left in the sun to long)..........so i'm going to re-do the bottom but the rest looks in good+ shape !
it would be a great kiddie board foresure !
i think i'll start a new thread for input.
herb
Let me say I really appreciate the finless or “less fin” discussions going on here. I’ve been experimenting with a board shaped by a local guy for a little over a year. It’s sort of a copy of motiv’s board posted on another thread - thanks Brian for your candid sharing of ideas. Kind of mini-simmons esque with deep channels on the bottom 6’ x 21x 2.5" epoxy.
Riding finless has been a love/hate relationship. I really love the speed the board generates in knee high surf. Being a 200 lb guy, I was looking for a shortboard that would keep the stoke going during the duldrums of weak summer surf. Riding finless has somewhat filled this nitch. It’s definitely challenging and humbling having to learn to surf all over again. When switching back to finned boards on good days, I notice an immediate improvement in my balance and lower center posture when riding. Finless definitely helps keep shortboard skills sharpened.
The bad part. This past weekend I met a few buds in San Onofre for a surf pinic day. They’re avid longboarders and picked a spot called Old Man’s - never surfed there before. I knew it was longboard friendly, so after arriving and seeing 2 to 3 ft weak/crumbly surf, I expected the finless to perform well. I had ridden it many times and knew it worked in small surf but never in crumbly surf. To my surprise, I couldn’t drop in! The nose kept shifting around when paddling forward partly because the wave face had no slope. It was the worst session since my first day on the board.
In smaller faster dumping waves, the finless board performs better at getting in, but can be difficult to control on the drop. Most of the time, I pop up and immediatey get into a crouch, grab the outside rail to keep the board from sliding out, or plaining in an unwated direction into the flats. After getting past the critical section, I usually stand up. There is always a little bit of nose drift when paddling, but nothing like that in crumbly surf. Slower reef breaks are easier to get in early and stand up from the begininng.
I’m considering using a “less fin” approach - Pridemore mentioned. I’m hoping this corrects unwanted paddle drift which can be really frustrating. So what fins are worth using ? Looks like regular fcs fins chopped by 2/3 . Do you recommend a twin set up, or perhaps would a small single stabilizing fin do the trick?
Welcome Tim. great work with the finless and thanks for the video.
Thanks for the welcome.
Spoke with my shaper yesterday. Told him that it was time to install some fin plugs. Given the board has serious channels at the tail, the plugs have to be installed 6 inches from the tail where the of a high spot are wider. He gave me old fcs keel fins to cut down and shape. So now the fun part begins.
Whew. Took a while to make the fins and evaluate how they perform . Here’s the skinny.
I had two center fcs plugs installed in the above board, and made two bonzer shape fins (sort of) that were 2 inches high. As expected the board has more hold than w/o the fins. Today which was probably my 4th session, I dropped into several shoulder high waves. The fins are small enough and provide similar fast effortless down the line acceleration as without fins. So this part is a success. Having slightly more hold when dropping in is also a plus. On steep waves, I still have to grab the bull by the horns and pull the rail in to keep a tight line.
You have to surf the less fin differently than short boarding, which is fine - I wasn’t looking to mimic shortboarding. The small fins release if you crank a bottom turn, so you sort have to ride like a longboard and point down the line. However, that’s where the comparison ends. The less fin board is much smaller (6’0") and does really quick rail to rail turns on waves with almost no shoulder. I don’t know if you could get through really long sections on a short board with a shoulder that’s less than foot high. With a longboard, you could get through mushy sections, but not by doing fast little turns. I would say the less fin approach on my board anyway is a combination of the two styles of surfing. In terms of trimming, the less fin is almost perfect. The board seems to have limit less potential, which is scary. Like a finless board, the board can go as fast as any wave with practically no adjustments.
A bud who had a larger version of my board did not like the style of surfing. He’s gotten some fun rides, but doesn’t like not being able to cut back and slow down. For me, I really enjoy how fast the board accelerates. This quality in my mind makes up for other aspects like lack of control. Overall, I think the less fin board is really good at changing gears quickly, without having to do much. Both long and short boards can accelerate by making quick turns or by walking up the board. With a less fin, it seems required turns are more subtle but yield quicker acceleration.
Anyone doing finless boards with wakeboard templates so you can ride them fakie?
think you mean so they can be ridden in reverse, like switchfoot after a 180 spin ( or a 360, then another half spin )…the board above nearly had plugs at both ends so it could be ridden like that but as the surfer said he wasnt really focussed on doing spins, then I suggested to leave it…maybe on his next one after he becomes addicted to the spins and drifts , he might wanna do something similar on his next board…I am sure it has been done before ( gee thats a rare thing to hear on here ) and someone here can probably post a pic …