HI! this is my first post, so please dont flame me too much! Im looking to shape my first board, its gonna be a retro longboard (clark 9’1"y) with a big ol’ squirrel cutaway tail (there seem to be quite versatile). the only thing that i cant work out is where to place it! Ive been trying to find the answers in the archive but ive ground to a halt. where do i place the fin if i want to have a good anchor for noseriding, but still have the looseness for good carving turns? i know that rails and rockers are involved a lot here, and any hints on those will be very much apreciated also! thanks for any help you can give me! ~Phil~
are you glassing it on, or putting in a fin box??
probably a fin box, as it’ll give me a bit more play with the setup.
i like to set the box at about 6" from the tail. make sure you have enough thickness in the tail for where you are putting the box
how much thickness would i need for the average box? i havent got the specs for the boxes yet, so as a guide, what proportion of tail thickness will i need? thanks for this help! ~Phil~
Bahne boxes are 1 inch thick.
who makes the boxes that are installed before glassing?
O’fish’l has a longboard box with a sandable cap that can be placed before glassing
what about p[lacement in the box itself…how does positioning forward or back affect performance? what is a good initial setup?
Generally the trend is to state the distance from the rear fin edge to the rear of the board, and this measure is variable from fin to fin. I measured a lot of boards, and estimated the measures on classic boards from surfresearch. This resulted in consistency - the front edge of the fins were 11.5-12.5 inches from the tail of the board, irrespective of much else. So, I’d recommend a solid 12 inches from the front edge of the fin to the board tail. Too far back and the thing won’t turn unless you get your weight ALL the way back, too far forward and it’ll get loose and release too easily.