OK, so I have a board that I bought in the past, as I do more research on it, I think it is some sort of extruded epoxy and I think it may have been made overseas. I would just sell it, but I think I might keep it as sort of a “beater” board/fish. You know, when you just want to run to the beach and not have to worry if it is in the bag, or worry about dings, etc…
Anyway, I think the plugs are set a little too close (see the pics). I tried a set of FCS H2 in the front and some canard cutaways in the rear. The board seemed to be really squirely and didn’t ride well. I am thinking it is because the H2 cants are soooo big (10 degrees) and because of the cutaway canards and the fins are soo close.
Here is an alternate set up that might work better??? Less cant, MUCH larger front fins (these are also much larger than a typical 450 fin as well) and fins further apart. Will this improve how the board handles??
The fin set-up on that first blue board looks like a twinzer
Hmmmm, interesting point, it came with 4 of the same standard 450 fins, but I bet your right. What does a twinzer ride like compared to a quad or twin?
Rod, Look familiar? You will never find a fin set-up to work in that Blue board with the plug placement and wrong cant in front plug set-up. After doing this retro with the Proboxes in the same place as the plugs the fins were
set all the way apart before this board performed to the riders liking.
Rod, Look familiar? You will never find a fin set-up to work in that Blue board with the plug placement and wrong cant in front plug set-up. After doing this retro with the Proboxes in the same place as the plugs the fins were
set all the way apart before this board performed to the riders liking.
Interesting, maybe I just need to sell it and have GH shape me another one of his designs? If we had some decent surf I could try a bunch of configurations, but lately when it is decent, I haven’t felt like wasting sessions of tuning my boards. CRAP. I will probably take it out once or twice with it done like pictures or in a twinzer config, and if it still is really squerly i’d just sell the dang thing. No sense in trying to make a ferarri out of a pinto, that might just be too much work.
It was to you as you could easily see this fin placement was not as good as it could be.
In the early days of mountain bike suspension Rock Shock came out with a line of suspension forks that were the most in demand forks made.
The dampeners and springs were so bad it created a whole other company to supply new new ones as aftermarket products.
This is parallel to well known in demand shapes that need aftermarket fin help.
How many times have i read on Surfermag , i just got a such and such board and i can’t wait to switch the rear fins out because the ones that come with it are to small.
It was to you as you could easily see this fin placement was not as good as it could be.
In the early days of mountain bike suspension Rock Shock came out with a line of suspension forks that were the most in demand forks made.
The dampeners and springs were so bad it created a whole other company to supply new new ones as aftermarket products.
This is parallel to well known in demand shapes that need aftermarket fin help.
How many times have i read on Surfermag , i just got a such and such board and i can’t wait to switch the rear fins out because the ones that come with it are to small.
It wasn’t that they were so bad, the design was very very poor. It used a sealed cartidge that was soooo freakin small AND was made out of plastic (LOL). The oil would heat up and blow the cartridge (I am talking about Judys). The original Rock Shox were soo bad because the concept of using air pressure for a spring in such a light wt application was still pretty new. At that time there was only RS and manitou, they were totally different and opposite ends of the spectrum as far as how they handled, design, etc…When Marzocchi finally entered the bike market, they finally “GOT IT”!!! They used tried and true motocross designed forks and POW, they were the best thing out there (all they lacked was marketing and they were a little heavy). They handled the small bumps well, the big bumps and they were very reliable. Not sure why Marzocchi aren’t more popular, myy guess is that it was marketing and the fact that all the bikers are traditionalist, so if someone says RS are the best, they believe them.
btw, I use to race down hill mountain bikes, I also use to work at a shop and specialized in suspension tuning so I enjoy the discussion.
Rod, Look familiar? You will never find a fin set-up to work in that Blue board with the plug placement and wrong cant in front plug set-up. After doing this retro with the Proboxes in the same place as the plugs the fins were
set all the way apart before this board performed to the riders liking.
Larry, thanks for the insite. Are you sure that the thing simply will not “work” or that to be like a normal quad, some alterations need to be made?
If I just keep the larger fin in the front and NOTHING in the back, seems like it would “work” just fine as a twin. Add the smaller fin in the back and maying it “works” like a twin with just slightly more stability (but not as much as a true quad?)??
It was to you as you could easily see this fin placement was not as good as it could be.
In the early days of mountain bike suspension Rock Shock came out with a line of suspension forks that were the most in demand forks made.
The dampeners and springs were so bad it created a whole other company to supply new new ones as aftermarket products.
This is parallel to well known in demand shapes that need aftermarket fin help.
How many times have i read on Surfermag , i just got a such and such board and i can’t wait to switch the rear fins out because the ones that come with it are to small.
Ah Greg, I see you think I did this board to start with! This board was shaped by Larry Mable at KG. A friend of my bought this board thru a surf shop he used to manage in Huntington Beach. When he rode the board a few times he complained he hated the board and was going to sell it at a loss. I asked him to let me retro fit the board to see if we could make the board ride better, because Larry Mable is a good shaper and I didn’t want my friend to take a loss on a really good board because of bad fin placement. So I did the retro fit in the same place so the board would not have that reto oops like look, someone made a mistake. My friend was happy and the board worked insane and I leaned another answer to what works and doesn’t work. And you are right I didn’t like the fin placement when I seen the board which is why the retro fit took place. As for changing fins out, this Blue board that Rod H posted will never ride right even trying every fin set-up in the world because there is no ability to adjust the existing fins. Thanks for asking Greg. Mahalo,Larry
No, i feel all these types of boards as the rock shock of surfboard design that have created a market for the aftermarket fin company’s
I could see who’s shape it was and i know you had nothing to to do with it. If you would like to really make something happen get your patent lawyers ready and have a talk with me.
The back fins on the board pictured are set so they ride in the turbulence created by the front ones, which, I imagine, makes it feel like the back fins aren’t even there.
The back fins on the board pictured are set so they ride in the turbulence created by the front ones, which, I imagine, makes it feel like the back fins aren’t even there.
Interesting, and maybe you are Larry are right, but why would Shipmans board have the exact same fin placement (I think he would know something?). Would his work because he uses slightly smaller fins in the front vs Rear???
OK, so I have a board that I bought in the past, as I do more research on it, I think it is some sort of extruded epoxy and I think it may have been made overseas. I would just sell it, but I think I might keep it as sort of a “beater” board/fish. You know, when you just want to run to the beach and not have to worry if it is in the bag, or worry about dings, etc…
Here is an alternate set up that might work better??? Less cant, MUCH larger front fins (these are also much larger than a typical 450 fin as well) and fins further apart. Will this improve how the board handles??
for reference, here is what my new GH fins location look like:
