I need help for you experienced noseriders. I am a long time 9’ thruster man, but my friend needs a full on noserider. I’m shaping a 9’-10" , nose 19" tail 15" width 23.5" and a full on 3.5" thick, with thin rails and v bottom. I have a 10" Chris Fulson noserider fin and a 10.5" box. How far from the tail should I place my box? I’m thinking 7", but need help from those in the know.
hi punasurf i usually put it in 6" from the tail but 7" will be fine. When to put it in slide the fin right up to the fromt of the box this will help stifen it out and i have found makes noseriding easier.
Fin forward in the box: more sensitive, looser, more responsive. Fin moved to the back of the box: Will stiffen the response to turning effort. I would be reluctant to mount the box much more than 5’’ up, if it is a squaretail. A rounded pin… 7’’ would be fine.
Thanks for the info. I should have added that I’m going for a square tail. My biggest fear is putting the box in too far back thus making the board too stiff. Sounds like 7" may be way too far up though.
My personal prefrence for noseriding is to have the fin way back. I surf old school logs. My 9’6" has the fin box 6.5" from the tail. I have cut all my fins so the trailing edge is behind the back of the box. In my opinion it is to far foward. I don’t find the board to be to stiff. It has a 15.25" tail. I also have another 9’6" with a 17" tail. This board is a lot looser than the 15.25" tail. The fin is 5" from the tail. platty.
Fin placement, and tail width, are two sides to the same coin. The narrower the tail, the farther forward you MAY place the fin. The wider the tail, the farther back you MUST place the fin. Assuming identical fins, and assuming that you don’t want to spin out. To a certain extent it comes down to personal preference.
When it comes time to install the box check the thickness of the board in the tail. Make sure you have enough thickness to keep the box from pokeing up through the deck. I don’t have many boards with boxes but the ones I do have the end of the box is 5 inches from the tail. just as Bill has said it should be on a sq tail. On my nose rider I have done just what Platty talked about, cut the back of the fin so I can slide it back farther in the box to alow the fin tip to set right over the tail of the board. I think 7 inches is way to far forward for a nose rider.
Big mahalo for all of the input on this placement question. I just spent the last 2 days riding my new 9’9" noserider in head high plus surf. Except for an ocassional 5 minute board swap, it’s the first time I’ve riden a full on single fin noserider. I placed the box 5" from the tail and put the fin all the way back. First thing my friends said at beach was to move my fin up or it would be hard to turn, but I left it all the way back. I have never been into noseriding so I don’t have a lot of personal experience to refer to, but I had no problem parking my ass up on the nose and hanging out and flying across some fast sections. And I’m 205 pounds. Also, to my amazement, I had no problems turning this board and I also took some pretty heavy drops with ease.
So thanks again. There’s no doubt I got the fin box in the right spot.
nice job, man…bravo
Punasurf,
Thank you, for saying thank you. It’s nice to get the feedback. I’m glad you got such a result with your new board. I’d still suggest that you explore the far forward fin placement, to see the effect on your particular boards performance. It’s always nice to feel the ‘‘extreme’’ range of fin placement.
Nice. Could be the fin too…that’s Ole’s favored fin & placement.
You could try a fin with more rake, halfway up forward in the box. It should give you the same hold on noserides, but maybe more looseness (and possibly less drive) by effectively moving the base forward while maintaining the tip position…
“I place my fins further back than anyone I know. I have experimented EXTENSIVELY with fin placement and I have found that with soft railers, the boards turn and flow best with the back of the fin around an inch or two out from the tip of the tail. The Model Z’s fin is a little further up because it has slightly harder rails. About eight years ago, when Joel Tudor and I began focusing on traditional single fins, we started moving our fins back. Joel found that with his favorite boards, the tip of the fin was equal with the tail. He would illustrate this by standing the board on its tail and it would not fall over. That was radical for the time, but I have gone much further than this and the tip of my fins are way past the back of the board. This actually makes for the best soft railer. Also, a rule for fin placement is that where the fin begins on the board is much more important than where it ends. A little fin placed too far forward will be much stiffer than a big fin placed further back.”
taken w/o permission from tom wegener’s articles on design: fin placement
http://www.tomwegenersurfboards.com/fins.htm
Of course, his boards are soft railers and so much different than a noserider with harder rails…interesting principles and ideas none the less.
totally agree…I just ordered a new board and am asking the fin box be place 3 1/4 from the tail…im going to put a david nuuhiwa nose rider fin in it and it should work perfect!.. i always like mine fins flush with the end of the tail…7" up is crazy stupid