Here’s my #4! I’ve never owned a longboard, but I was tired of not being able to surf when the waves were too small for a shortboard. Dimensions are 9’, 19"N 23"W 15"T 3" thick, slight nose concave with vee in tail. Placed a 10.5" box 5" from tail. I will surf it as a single, but would like to install sidebites as an option. I have LokBox boxes ready to go. I hate to ask a fin placement question, but the archives have given sidebite placement measurements all over the place. I’ve read 13-17" from tail, 1-1.5" from rail, 1/8-1/4" toe-in, 3-6 degrees of cant. I’m not good at this stuff! I have a mathematical mind, I’m not very artistic, so I need rigid numbers. This may be the only longboard I make, so please help!
I’m really good at installing fins but I am not an expert at fin placement. I’ve run into the same problem as you. Do a search , find too much info and some conflicting ideas , go back to the General discussion and ask a question. I’ve got some great feed back so hopefully others will pitch in. I glass my own boards so I do not mark the foam on my own shapes. I do all my measurments after hot coat.If your board was in my hands right now here’s what I would do…
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Think about where I surf and how I surf. I won’t win any contest and I don’t surf Pipline
You have already set the center fin box at 5 inches from the tail. The box is aprox 10.5 inches long. That’s 15 1/2". Good starting point for side bites. Stays rght in the middle of the 13-17 inches that you found during the search. Put a fin in the center box, dead center. Hold a side fin about where you think it should go. Move it a little forward and then a little bit back. Mark it when you are happy. Keep in mind I don’t surf Pipline. Lokbox has 1/2" adjustment so go with the flow. I personally would put that side fin just a little bit in front of the box.
So…distance from the rail. I stay right around 1 1/8 to 1 3/16. Your call. Keep in mind that rails are round and hard to measure…
Tow in…well I’m no pro ,I did read a great thread by Bill Barnfild about all this stuff…Yeah 1/8 -1/4…did I mention that I don’t surf Pipline…
The next thing is Cant. I’ve measured about 20 longboards that I’ve fixed and they are all set at 6 degrees. I don’t know why. I do know that I need to make the repair match what was there so I measure the good fin
Hope this helps ,hope you get some good waves on your longboard
