After reading pages and pages of contradictory information in the archives I decided to ask for help. I’m shaping a 5’8 x 21 double wing quad fish. 17" noes & 16 1/4 tail. My wings are placed near where I think the trailing edge of fins should be @ 11"& 5". My notion was to place the trailing edge of the front fins at 11" from tail tips @ 1 1/4" off the rail, a 4 1/2 in fin. Rear fins at 5" from the tail tips 1 3/4 of rail, a 3 3/4" fin. That fin placement is copied from a friends 5’10" Lost V2 stub. I’m planning on using rainbow heater fin template. I know the cant & toe. Im just concerned with location. Does it sound right? Does anyone know the pavel speed dialed numbers?
Dunno about Pavel’s settings. But we set mine 1 1/8" off the rails for trailing edges for fronts, rears at 1 3/4" . Hope this helps.
I dont know what the rules are yet for spacing according to length. But i thought i heard if we go 5" for rears you double length for fronts. So fronts at 10" .perhaps a expert might chime in.I’m pretty sure i set my rear 5.5", and fronts @11 on my 5’11".
Thanks shapaholic. I set tacked them today at 11 & 5 1/2. 1 1/4 & 1 3/4 off rail. So guess I nailed it. Stoked
I think 1 1/4" off rail should be ok. Mine are 1 1/8" off the rails and it works fine on my end. Let us know how how it feels k. I still trying to learn how to ride a quad bcuz i was predominantly riding twins and thrusters in the eighties and nineties.
Nice looking board there, Mr. Relaxed.
Looking forward to a ride report. Just for comparison (if you don’t mind me asking) what’s your height/weight?
Thanks new school ,
I’m 6’2 & 180lbs. The board is 5’8 x 21 ish x 2 3/4 with full rails. It floats me well but I wasn’t super stoked on its ride. Compaired it to my keel fish, which is almost the same template without the wings, it seems to have less drive. It wants to turn instead of fly down the line. I think it’s the rear fins so I’m in the process of switching it out for a speed dialer style rear. Hopefully that’ll fix it.
Like the board but the foil on the rear fins looks a bit odd.
I made a fish with the speed dialer style fins a while ago and I remember somthing about the gap between the front and rear fins being important so that they work together.
Lots of info in the archives. The good thing about glassons is you can take them off and shift them about 
Only surfed that board maybe ten times but it went really well light and flexy is great fun till they buckle.
sorry just re read your first post yes its the picking and combineing the posts from the archives to get somthing useful that is tricky ;-]
Update- this board sucks in mushy waves 
bummer. I wanted a one board quiver type board. Today I sanded off all the fins and it’s back to the drawing board. More hours into this dog. Prob a days work to get this thing surfable again. Any ideas on which fins work well on a quad fish for a heavier surfer? Guess I got a date with the archives tonight. Thanks Zack
Hmmm. placement sounded good from everyone. The board’s outline looks fine and the dims are not dogging it. Never can tell what rocker you put into it… I presume tail rails are hard down rails… flat bottom or flat vee planes?
The rule I prescribe to with quads is to keep a tighter cluster between the front and rear fins so I can keep the rear pair out closer to rail… but that is already been said… rear pair trailing edge in 1-5/8" to 1-3/4" is what I do with a 1/8" toe in and two degrees less cant then the forward fins that are toed in 1/4". The spread from trailing edge of the front pair is 2-1/4" to the leading edge of the rear fins… sometimes quads dog out because guys go too small in the trailing pair of fins.
You also have to consider the foils of each pair of fins. Simply stated, what I have found is flat front pair and flat rear pair are the driviest while replacing the rear pair with 50/50 foils is the loosest… any assymetrical foils in the rear depend on which direction of the two previously mentioned you are using: 80/20, 70/30 or 60/40.
You can also play with “IFT” aka “Inside Foil Technology” to change the dynamics of water flow. Then you can look at flex or stiff… if they flex a lot the fins can be larger as the flex will spill off energy thru hard turns like a sailboard sail twisting off releasing wind from its foil.
Quads continue to be a mystery to many surfers because of all the possible combinations they can have. That means if they are correctly dialed in, they can be lightning quick magic… or OTOH, a complete disaster.
I know Pavel’s settings for the creekfish, but it has a 17 1/8" wide tail and 10 1/4" pin to pin.
4 7/16" base front fin 11 1/8" up and 1 1/4" in
3 7/8" base rear fin 5 3/4" up and 2" in
this is different than speedialer placement, and this is for regular looking fins
Anybody have the fin placement of the Mike Hyson Black Knight? or the Vol Sol Fish that looks like a close to the The Black Knight?
Thanks deadshaper. I often question my decision to pursue the board building craft & want to just buy a board that works. I always look at your minimax if I went down that road. On the other hand linking turns on a self built craft in extreamly gratifying. I’m 29 years old and only built 19 boards. More then half of them didn’t surf that well. I obviously have a lot to learn and advise from an expert is greatly appreciated. I’m in the process of foiling a new set of normal looking fins and pretty much setting them to the specs in this thread. Thanks to all for the advise and I’ll post an update when after a surf.