Okay so I turned to the darkside and I had a board machine-shaped. I suppose I can be thrown out of the club now, but in my defense I’m very busy and not that great of a shaper to begin with. The problems with my boards were always that they were too thick. Well now they’ve ended up perhaps just too thin.
I had a 5’4" x 20" x 2 3/8" fish shaped for a friend of mine who is 5’6" and about 130 lbs at his heaviest. I was going to put ProBoxes in at 5.5" and 11" up from the tail, in from the rail about 1 1/4". At the mark for the rear fin the thickness is barely 3/4", which is too thin for a box.
Should I a) move the fins up to different positions? They’re based off the Futures Vector 2, minus the inside foil b) Change the dimensions of the board and cut off an inch or two off the back since he really doesn’t need that much board? and hopefully the new placements will be thick enough or c) Glass the fins on and hope they’re in the right place? I’ve heard quad placements can be tricky so I’m not sure how well this will work.
Thanks guys, I hope my membership isn’t revoked until this question is answered at least
I only have the install stuff for Probox and I think they need at least 7/8". Not the thinnest system but easy install and room to move which will help in dialing this in.
My 2 cents: on quad fishes that I’ve ridden, especially with nice wide tails in the 16 1/2" + range, I like the back fins a little further up - (one board I liked had them all the way up at 7 3/4" - this was on a 5’ 9").
What if you placed them off the rail a bit more, same problem?
actually 3/4" is just about the minimum, if I recall correctly the route depth for probox is 11/16th. You can also install the boxes just a tad forward and install the fins at the rear of the box.
Rachel, just go glass on’s. Stronger, lighter, cleaner, less filling.They will probably never come out of the boxes anyway. Call Rainbow in Indialantic, Fl.
I’d look into moving the fins further off the rail instead of forward.
If you’ve got enough thickness further in toward the stringer, moving the fins further off the rail might mean less (in terms of margin of error) than moving them forward. A half inch forward can change the ride pretty radically, whereas a half inch inward will change the ride, but won’t be as drastic.
I’ve been looking over the McKee formula and it does move the fins in off the rail quite a bit. It’s hard to really figure out where they should go though, since the board is 5’4" and the shortest board in the formula list is 5’6". Also he says the dims are for standard shortboards. How does that change for fish?
The numbers that Keith has given are the correct ones. Also bear in mind that the box does not go all the way to the back mark it ends up roughly 1/2" forward of the mark, so that gives you a little breathing room assuming the board has some foil! That is if you were measuring the thickness at the back mark.
But Keith’s suggestion of moving the box forward a little and then sliding the fin back in the box, is a good idea.
What it changes is how it rides… makes it go rail to rail easier, but compromises some drive and hold in steep parts of the wave.
I keep in mind that you already have one set of fins out on the rail. Do you really need two? You do if you want to get both fins on the same side out of the water when the board’s on a rail. With the back fins closer to the stringer, the forward fins is out of the water on a hard turn, but the back fin may not be.
I did a “modern fish” that’s made from a fish blank, but it’s a hybrid between a retro fish and modern shortboard…6’4…a bit wider in the nose but foiled thin and not rounded, like a retro. It’s 21 wide, downish rails, and a 15" tail, but battailed, not swallowed. Fish rocker, shallow single-to-double… McKee fin setup. Had to play around with different fin combos, but finally settled on a DYNAMITE setup that catches waves like a fish, but is capable of both, sweeping carving, powerful turns, as well as big ol’ hacks and quick snaps.
What it doesn’t do that a true fish does, is have that blazing down-the-line speed. No skimming over long flat sections. But that isn’t due to the back fins being closer to the stringer. That has to do with the bottom contours and the fact that it has 4 fins instead of two (double (?) the drag).
Okay so I turned to the darkside and I had a board machine-shaped. I suppose I can be thrown out of the club now, but in my defense I’m very busy and not that great of a shaper to begin with. The problems with my boards were always that they were too thick. Well now they’ve ended up perhaps just too thin.
I had a 5’4" x 20" x 2 3/8" fish shaped for a friend of mine who is 5’6" and about 130 lbs at his heaviest. I was going to put ProBoxes in at 5.5" and 11" up from the tail, in from the rail about 1 1/4". At the mark for the rear fin the thickness is barely 3/4", which is too thin for a box.
Should I a) move the fins up to different positions? They’re based off the Futures Vector 2, minus the inside foil b) Change the dimensions of the board and cut off an inch or two off the back since he really doesn’t need that much board? and hopefully the new placements will be thick enough or c) Glass the fins on and hope they’re in the right place? I’ve heard quad placements can be tricky so I’m not sure how well this will work.
Thanks guys, I hope my membership isn’t revoked until this question is answered at least : ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Hi Rachel, ProBox is the same depth as LOKBOX. I would move the rear up to 6" and leave the front at 11" like you have. Your cluster is to far apart the other way. Your set up will be very similar to the Black Night pic below. Mahalo,Larry www.ProBoxfinsystems.com
