So it started with shaping a 5’5 Mini Simmons , and after have a blast on that board I decided to push it to the microscopic level. This board is going to be 4’8 x 23ish x 2 10/16. It was originally going to just be a standard poly board, but I came across a massive EPS buoy while in Big Bear so I decided to give rail wrapping a go. There’s so much I need to learn with shaping that I try to get as much experience as I can on every board, hence the “unneeded” labor that went into the board. I’ve heard a lot about putting wood rails on boards to add weight, and to really drop a rail. So naturally I did the opposite…lighter EPS rails. Worthless maybe, but the idea of lighter rails coupled with a Simmons worked in my head, and that was good enough to start hackin’.
The more I look at this the more I’m thinking the nose needs to be pulled in a bit… I was going for a stubby/blunty nose, to keep the longer rail line, but it just seems very heavy up front. The front 20% isn’t fully sanded, which might be distracting to the eye a bit. Hmmmmmmmmm. Any thoughts?
Maybe keep it but but a solid concave right through the nose to create lift. And make sure you roll the underside of edges a fair bit.
The 5’0" I made had the concave but needed more underside roll. But it was super fun.
Brought the nose in a bit and the board feels like it flows a lot better. I was planning on glassing today, but now I’m interested in the idea of a concave through the nose.
Did you run a single through the whole board nose to tail?
Right now its
uprailed → 1/2 inch tucked blocky rails → sharp down rails in the back
hullish nose → flat → vee out the tail
When you say underside roll are giving it belly through the middle?
When I was talking about the rail contours.
I shapes the deck first and I felt that I rolled the curve down to far into the blank in the front 12 inches or so. It limited the radius of the curve on the bottom side of the rail.
If and when I make another version of this I would make he underside curves first then have a flatter deck in the nose. Not sure how to explain it.
Been wanting to try out some thicky fins on a Simmons so I was considering some 3/4 inchers on this guy. Figured the sacrifice in speed would be worth the increased maneuverability. I’ve read the coveted thick fins vs thin fins thread a handful of times, and it seems a lot of the material was geared towards thicker single fins so this’ll be an interesting experiment.
fin base - 8 1/2
thickness - 3/4 @ ~30% from leading edge
3 up from tail
1 1/2 from rail
5 degree cant
Rough shaped one, and they do look pretty damn thick… Hmmmmmmm
Thickness is measured at the thickest point of the foil. Hard for me to tell from your pics, but it doesn’t seem the thickness is the issue, it looks to me like the foil needs work. Can you show a better pic of the fin foil? Also, what are the fin measurements?
fine base - 8
fin height - 4 1/4
width - 1/2
After some foiling my fins are slowly shrinking. By the time I get a good foil I’ll be right at 3/8ths, which is probably my best bet anyways. Heres some pics hope they can help. Let me know if theres a better angle that’ll better aid you.
Planning on glassing this Sunday.
Anybody have any recommendation for fin placement?
My 5’5 was flat bottom with double concave, 3 from tail, 1 1/2 from rail, 5 degree cant, no toe, and rides how I wanted it too. This short wide board is throwing me for a loop.
This board’s flat with a little under 1/4" vee, and I was thinking 3 1/2 from tail, 1 1/2 from rail, 4 degree cant, and no toe.
I figured by moving them up a bit it’d loosen this board up since it’ll be ~2.5" wider. A little less cant because of the vee.
I put 4 way fin system in and have only used the 0 degree sleeves.
The plugs were placed so the back of the fins were at 3 inches from tail and 1 1/2 from the rail, and the board works great down the line. With vee in tail and 0 degree sleeves the fins have a little over 3 degrees cant.
I’ve had it in head high and closing out waves, and you could whip it into the highline of a wave and clear sections.
