I just got this old gunny thruster. My friend found it in someones trash and gave it to me. Well the middle fin has been smashed out and it has a bunch of other stuff thats messed up. But I want to experiment, so do you guy think this could work as a single fin? It’s 6’2 and a little on the thin side, and it’s kinda narrow. It’s pretty much a little gun. What do you think?
Can you post a picture ? Plus your weight etc.
Should work fine, but you might need a 10" single fin if the tail width is over 14.5".
Before the switch to tris, I had some excellent single fins with WP’s 4" behind center, tail width 2" wider than nose widths.
I weigh about 130, 5’7. What do you recommend for the width of the fin? And how far from the tail? The tail is about 13 inches wide a foot from the end. Soft rails all the way and then getting harder right about where the fins are. Sorry, no pics right now cause I don’t have a digital camera and I haven’t had time to develope film.
Only 13"? Are you sure? Seems awfully narrow, as most single fins would be about that width a foot up.
If so, you only need about a 8.5 inch fin, swept back lots, with leading edge placed under the back of your back foot, about a foot up from the tail (leading edge of fin).
More like 13.5 inches, but yeah it’s real narrow. How wide should the fin be? Where should the trailing edge fall? About seven inches from the end? And it’s not a single fin (yet), it used to be a thruster.
Also, since I’m going to be stripping all the glass off this board, what should I expect? Does glass come of smoothly or what?
Even if you’re careful, stripping the glass off may pull a small amount of foam, so your small board is going to shrink a bit more.
Put a box in it so you can play with fin positions, shapes and sizes. You’ll have fun no matter what you do.
Thanks for all the replies! So far I’ve taken off all the glass, but cause the board was delamed the foam was all crappy in parts of it and was flaking away. I’m gonna spackle the heck out of it untill its smooth enough to at least not make bubbles when I glass. So I’m going to reglass it and install a fin box. I guess I can buy one at a surfshop? I’ve never been in the market for a finbox so I have no idea where to locate one. I’ll post pics eventually…
Surfshop, or windsurf shop!
Any ideas on where to position the fin box? The board is about 18 inches at it’s widest point. I’m thinking about 7-8 inches from the tail. BTW how deep are these things? The board is sort of slim… Also, any tips on how to install one without a router? I don’t have one and I don’t really know where to get my hands on one. I understand how to actually install one, but I’m exploring the possible ways to make a hole.
Just use a drill to start one corner, then a hacksaw blade to cut the outline…after you trace it out on the board, of course.
Box is 1" deep, but its all foam and the stringer is easily dealt with using a flatblade screwdriver or chisel and hammer.
If you board is too thin, no biggee, just glass over on the deck, leaving the box bump for a nice arch support.
Plan on leading edge of the single fin about where the leading edges of the side fins were. I like my boxes about 5" from the tail, so it goes up another 10".
Don’t need no stinkin router…or noise maker …
Quote:
“…Box is 1” deep… "
You guys are lucky ! In Australia, the finbox is 1 1/4" deep… So I guess in America you can have thinner tails for your boxed single fins.
THAT would be nice !
ben
yes, 1/4 " of an inch IS a difference.
ours are 1.25 also, but you only have to set to the little tabs at 1" & grind off the rest. Lets you put it in a spot with some rocker or other contour transition. You can probably do the same with your boxes. I don’t think the fins care how deep they are in the board 
Well I got the box today… It’s about an inch deep over all, and I’ll be able to grind/sand it down to however deep I need it to deal with the tail thickness. Kinda short though … only 8 inches long.
I wouldn’t grind it down, as you lose out in fin support, causing box failure if you touch bottom or use fins bigger than around 7" deep.
With a 8" box, you have to center your fin a little better, so just envision exactly where you want to place your back foot for hard turns, then place the fin’s leading edge exactly there, centered in the box.
Well the problem with that is that the tail is pretty thin… so I dunno how deep I can go. Well I’ve already carved out the hole mostly so it’s to late to change anything, but I was looking at it and I think it’ll be in the right spot, but I dont know. Oh well. I guess that’s the price I will pay for impatience. The box is six inches from the tail. I’m just gonna assume it’ll be alright so I can feel better about it, hah. I guess I’ll have to work my surfing around it. Thanks for the tip about not grinding it, I’ll go as deep as my confidence.
So I thought of a way to test the depth… not for the faint of heart…
Take a paper clip, poke it through (!!) and then mark it off… am I a bad person? I felt like i was comitting a sin.
Don’t matter much if it sticks thru to the deck, and up 1/4", as you can always pad it anyways.
Just make sure during box install to tape the fin in the box to prevent resin from running into the inside of the box, and tape the tip of the fin to each rail to set straight.
LeeDD, thanks for all your replies. Allright so I’m down to about a 1’4 inch now, guess I’ll jsut go deeper! I’ll give an update when ever I get the box installed, who knows how long that could take though, cause I’m out of resin and out of money…
how did you go with this project?