Hey, don’t post too often, but always check out the forums, even when I’m not working on a board.
Currently working on my second board, a diamond tail quad, 5’8’‘x18’'.
Wide point back of center; lots of volume troughout.
The board’s shaped, ready to be lammed. Layed out a fibreglass panel earlier today to start working on the fins tomorrow.
The board was always gonna be a quad.
My ‘daily’ board is a traditional beaknose, twin keel fish (5’8’‘x20’‘) which I ride in anything from 2’ to overhead surf.
The idea with this quad is for something when conditions are less than ideal for the fish, something drivy and snappy.
At the moment I’m thinking of the canard-style quads; they seem to fit the size and look-and-feel of the board.
Don’t have photos of the blank, just and outline sketch.
Any ideas/opinions on my fin choice? Other directions to explore?
Do you use a fin system?
I used probox with my last board which is a quad. You can move the fins around and tweak the configuration. I was very surprised (and stoked) with the results.
Looks like the image posting has a hiccup. http://www.proboxhawaii.com/
Since I can’t show the outline shape here’s the full dimensions:
5’8’’ x 18’’ (Wide-point); Nose: 11’‘; Tail: 14’‘; Center: 17’'.
Rocker is almost flat through the back 2/3 with increased rocker through the nose.
Shallow single into double concave running through the fin area.
Not much response…
… so I went ahead with my original idea and cut and foiled the Canard quads.
(Since I don’t have a jigsaw in the workshop atm I had to improvise; found carbide grit rod saw blades for a standard hacksaw at the hardware store. Makes a great handtool for small fibreglass cutting tasks.)
Real pleased with the results.
The fins are solid white pigment; board will be ‘hospital’ green pigment in the lam coat.
Will post some photos next week after I start lamming.
hey sine i dont know how much this will help you with the canard set up specifically due to their unique spacing but the mckee site has good info on quad set ups in general
Thanks presidio, I have that information.
Which leads me to the next question: canard setup vs. standard quad setup (McKee’s guide)?
Could someone please enlighten me or point me in the right direction regarding this?
(Search is not yet working for me, and my bookmarks are useless.)
All I can say is that I can vouch for the McKee formula. I’ve used it on small wave boards and big wave boards, and they work great.
I can also say that I’ve tried the canard fins in the McKee placement, and was not happy. I think you need to go one way or the other. In your case, I’d find out what the canard placement is and stick to that, since you’ve already shaped the fins.
I take it by canard quad you mean speeddialler placement ?
''Front fins @ 11" toed 3/16ths 1 and 1/4" from rail
Rears @ 5 1/4" toed 1/8th 1 and 3/8ths" from rail'' - from Lokbox's Jimmy Roberts.
Cant 7deg on the fronts and 4 on the rears.
When I laid out the fin marks on my quad( all 1/2 ‘’ further forward cos the board is 6’ 7’’ ) I cross referenced the toe to a point 2’’ off the nose tip , perpendicular to the stringer and both methods matched perfectly.So far I’ve only run mine with standard fins , and I’m happy with it.
There seems to be two schools of thought with quads , the style that evolved from the thruster ( eg McKee ) and the style that came from the twin keel.
When you can , search the archives under ‘quad fin placement’ and you’ll find threads with enough info to blow your mind.It all shows that within reason everything works for someone somewhere. Profuse apologies if all I’ve done is state the obvious.
I really dig that outline. You may want to check Bruce McKees quad formulas at mckeesurf.com. Sorry don’t know how to hyperlink with the “new” Sways. Would you mind telling me what length and width that board is as well?
This is very sound advice. I used Jimmy’s recommendations for two of my quads, each a different shape but the placement worked beautifully. I used the Speed Dialers on a 6’2" fish and the LB1/LB4 combo on the 6’ disk/pod thing. Both work Great!
Hey Nuclear: “stating the obvious”; definitely not. Solid info.
If the search was functioning I would be able to dig up more.
My Canard’s are similar to the Speeddialers, but handmade fibreglass for glass-on, won’t be using boxes.
Those measurements are close to the McKee setup for a similar sized board,
but the subtle diffirences obviously more applicable to the placement I’m looking for.
Thanks for the cant and toe-in info. Very helpfull.
I just made myself a 5’6 x 19 quad for head-high and smaller waves. I did some searching on fin placement and read somewhere that moving them up makes the board a bit looser, which is what I wanted for small waves. Also, somewhere I read about more cant to loosen it up. I went with someone’s suggestion of 8 degrees front and 6 back, but I’m using Probox so I’m not married to these cants or fore and aft placements, either.
Compared to my 5’10 quad, I thought McKee’s recs were a bit too far back for what I wanted in small waves. I went with something inbetween: 10 13/16" front and 5 1/4" back. I have Stretch quad fins and the Hanalei elliptical cutaways, but I’ve only surfed it once because there’s absolutely no swell since I finished it.
I went ahead and layd out the Lokbox placement Nuclear provided.
This moved the whole cluster further forward than the McKee placement, which ties in with your thoughts on looser placement for smaller boards.
Since I’m using this positioning I’ll use the Lokbox cant measurements as well.
This is my first quad and only my second board, so I’m not really in a position to be playing around with my own measurements.
I see your trailers are cutaways.Did you use the existing trailing edge as your point of reference , or the ’ ghost ’ trailing edge that would be there if the fin was entire ?I think that’s what i would do.
But , I don’t know …
I’m just a garager who’s lurked and researched for a few years , not much practical experience - I wish someone more knowledgable would chime in.
Just seen your post . . . It’s probably too late now but attached is a link to the first board I made. It’s not too disimilar to what you’ve been working on.
I too thought the the rear fins of the McKee formula looked too far back so I place mine where I thought would work best. I havn’t riden the board but my son who has thinks it’is actually a little too stiff. Of course there’s many more elements to the shape of a board that determines looseness.
