i thinking of making a finless board for the hell of it. the blank is only 5’4" . i dont have any templates that small so i just took a 5’10" template for the front half and the tail of a 6’2" fish template and connected them about 19" up from the tail. i was thinking of adding some deep single concaves down to about 20 inches from tail then splitting off to 3 deep concaves running off the tail.because of the the dual stringers i thought it would be easiest to run the concaves between the stringer and on either side.because ive never made o finnless board iam not sure of the depth of the concaves. i was thinking of going about 3/8" at the deepest. any suggestions? the blank is 3 inches thick eps 
at least it won’t track
well thats what i was hopeing…
Nice lookin board! Maybe not the best for finless but im sure it will be fun however you decide to set it…
my friend Zeke rides that shape in 4’8, 4’10 and 5’8 … either as twin fin(longboard sidebites?) …or with a star fin! (kneelo)
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looks like a sick template
thanks! ya iam not sure what to do with it. maybe leave it finnless for a bit and leave room to add some small side bites later. also maybe it would work better as a finnless if i squared the tail off?
you might try just shaping the foam down and leaving the stringers alone… after you cut the template don’t touch the wood in the back half of the bottom of the board and you’ll have some runners out the back of the board. Should be fun glassing it too!
Oh, the glassing is so fun!
Wait… sanding might be even more fun!
Looks like a fun project. Looking forward to more pics as you go.
The channels on my finless boards were 3/8 to 1. They all seemed to work…
I personally think a deeper channel on the inside rail helps hold a line.
wow 1" deep . i guess the deeper the better. provide more hold. thanks iam gonna go for it
I don’t know if I would say “better”.
The deeper the channel the closer you get to having fins. Or more control.
The parabolic fish I made has a huge deep grooves but, I would not say that it is better because of this. Holds a line better, yes. Slides less.
Half of the fun for me going fin free is that out of control sliding; then finding a place within that, you find the control with it… if that makes any sense.
nice lines, hope to see the coming pics.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3du0vEJM5yY
just how sticky do you really want it, that is the question.
I have plans for something kind of like that.
I was planning on making a single fin with channels out towards the rail so that the rails acted kind of like the “side bites”
I also have one in the planning stages kind of like the pic in aquafiend65’s icon, but a bit more extreme.
I like the idea of doing the channels in between the rails and stringers.
With deep channels you could end up with a sort of finless/quad crossbreed.
ps: sorry Ken…It was aquafiend’s icon…my mistake
iam working on the rail bands right now. by tommorrow hopefully i can start on the fun stuff . the concave. ive kept the rocker low and the thickness 2 7/8" . i figure ill need alot of thickness to get in early with a finnless
Will you flute your wings?
It really looks like a good template. Sweet! Any pics of the rocker or foil?
I also like the thickness, late takeoffs are a bit tricky sometimes…
Where are you going to put the channels and concave?
word! i love that template, for starters!
i think you’re right leaving a little more foam for float. In my mind, the earlier you can get in with a finless the better you’ll be able to set up your line, without having to worry about spinning out coming off the bottom.
As far as bottom contours, MR had fluted wings on his original twin for some extra bite. Maybe you could flare the concave a bit so it ended in a deeper curve near the rail, for a little cup like hook? and leave the center shallower for more trim speed?
of course this is just me mind surfing it, who knows…
I’m very curious about how this turns out. I have a chunk of foam reclaimed from an old board of about the same size. I’ve watched Hynd’s boards and some of Motif’s. It’s coming down to decision time for me. What is it going to look like…
<<<<<<ps: sorry Ken…It was aquafiend’s icon…my mistake >>>>>>>
Todd
Huh???
thanks for the comments! ill get some rocker profile picks soon didnt work on it today sick as a dog.
Hey Sonnycheeba,
I’ve had a couple of pm’s from guys who’ve built finless foam boards asking about bottom curves, channels etc, so I just thought I’d throw my two cents in. (I’ve had my head bitten off before for my opinion, but since it’ is based on extensive trial and error with all sorts off finless boards, I guess I’ll have to take that chance)
In my personal experience, Channels don’t work on finless boards in the way people expectthem to. A fin/fins work by creating dramatic differences in pressure either side of them. This is why they hold. Channels aren’t used in finned boards to give bite, but rather to flatten out the rocker much like a concave. Channels in a finless board only present one “face” to the flow of water. This creates turbulence which, rather than giving hold, actually makes the board more likely to slide out by trapping bubbles of air in pockets along the channel.
I find it helpful to look at how water travels across the bottom of the board. On a finned board, the water travels almost parralel to the stringer. On an alaia or finless board, much like a wake or kiteboard, the water travels much more diagonally across the board. The best way to give hold in a steep wave face is to keep the water flowing smoothly across the bottom of the board, but to increase the distance it has to travel. On the alaia, the best way I’ve found to do this is by putting a concave into a rolled bottom. This gives the water a smooth but undulating path across the bottom of the board, creating some downward pull, but still releases smoothly when combined with a sharp edge.
It does seem at first that channels would give bite. But I can honestly report, after several failed attempts, and nearly 3 years of sucess, the double roll/concave bottom curve is vastly superior to channels or grooves.
Keep posting pics of your board, it looks awesome !
Cheers,
BJ