The board is 21" wide and the pins are 9 3/8" apart. The buttcrack is between 3" and 6" deep, and the fins are standard double foiled wood keels.
Where should I place the fins?
Skip Frye told me the base should be right at the but crack and lined straight up on the pins, no tow, no cant.
Jerry Ingham who has been finning for 40 years told me to move 'em up, tow 'em in so they are 1/2" to 1" outside the nose at center. and cant them out somewhere between 80 and 90 degrees based on my personal preference.
I personally like a looser fish that I can fly down the line on and carve wherever I want on the wave and put it anywhere I want to at critical points on the wave.
Any input will help big time.
I want to get that thing off the the Sugar Mill Glass shop before 5PM today!
My keels had a 7.5" base, so I ended up with placing them 16 7/8" up from the tail, with the leading edges 12" apart (or each one 6" from the center of the stringer. The trailing edges were 12 1/2 inches apart (or each one 6 1/4" from the center of the stringer. I was going for having the trailing edge 1" to 1 1/4" from the rail but they ended up being more toward being between 1/2" and 1" from the rail. I hope that’s okay. The Keels are going to be canted out between 3 and 6 degrees… more like 4.5 degrees. The tow looks to be well outside the nose on each side. I’ll have to surf it to know any more details.
Well, to explain why I thought about the other placement, I have a 5’7" Mez fish from Kauai that has a tail 9 3/8" from pin to pin. The fins are single foil, trailing edge between 8.5 and 9.5 from tail, in 1 1/4" from rail. The width from trailing edge to trailing edge of those fins is 12 1/2" and the width from leading edge to leading edge is 12". the fin on the left facing up is canted at 6 degrees out from 90 and the fin on the right facing up is canted at 3 degrees out from 90. Obviously one of the fins got bumped or started to slide when it was being glassed on or something because the cant doesn’t match on both fins. However, it is one of the fastest boards I have ever ridden, and I have had over 100 boards in my quiver since the 80’s, and it handles great for me. The fin that is in the wave face the most when I go right is the one canted at 6 degrees. The one that is in the wave face the most when I am going left is the one canted at 3 degrees. I’m a regular footer, so I naturally prefer the board going right. I don’t know if it was a mistake or what, but the board is a magic board for me. I wanted to do a similar fin setup but didn’t know whether to cant the fins at 3 or 6 or some happy medium in-between. Also, my pins are 9 3/8" on the board i shaped but my tail is narrower, so the exact Mez placement wouldn’t fit in the same place on my 5’6" fish. Hopefully that helps to explain what I was going for.
1" up from the butt crack so about 7" if you were to draw a line from the wing tips.
the trailing edge is 1 1/4 from the riall, which coincidently is also in line with the wing tips. (got luck)
the fins are toed in 1/8 and I plan on doing a hair of cant, 1-2 degrees (88-89 the way you right it)
my Keels are double foiled and have an 8 1/2 base.
aiming for somthing between the 2 placments that you statred the post with.
if you want it loose toe in 1" off the nose or 1/4 like a thruster and cant 5 degrees (85).
if you want it to go fast down the line, no toe or cant, I’d still move them up from the butt crack but that depends on how deep your crack is in the first place.
Well, it’s too late for changes. I took the fish to the Sugar Mill glass shop about 10 minutes ago. I really studied my 5’7" Mez fish hard and basically mimicked that placement, only scaled down to this boards specs. My fins were 7.5 x 4.5 or 5. I placed the trailing edge 1 1/4" off the rail at 8 3/4" off the tail, just outside the pins. I towed them in 1/4" and they’ll get a 3 degree cant. Thanks to everyone who gave me input… especially Bill Thrailkill for that 45 minute fin theory conversation this morning!