I ordered a 5’6" Rich Pavel Speed dialer. It’s a quad-fin fish. Tail width is about 15 3/4". The width from swallow tip to tip is about 8 3/4". It has two bumps in the outline close to the tail. Nose width is about 15 1/2" maybe 15 3/4". Center width is about 20 or 20 1/2 (I never measured this). It has very thin, pinched rails. It’s a quad. The front side fins are toed in about 1/4" and single foiled. The back fins are double foiled and not toed in, but canted.
The only problem that I am having with this board is getting a little bit more release off the top.
When I first tried it, I had difficulty coming off the bottom hard and doing more progressive maneuvers. This was with the fins being centered in the box (Lokbox fins). I tried it in chest high+ offshore beachbreaks.
So the next time I went out, I tried moving the trailing fins about 1/4" forward and it worked with quite a bit of success. It works a lot better for progressive maneuvers as stated, but I still think it could be better. This was in waist-chest high clean, but crumbly beachbreak.
I think that the reason why this board doesn’t come square off the bottom or release off the top is probably because of the fins. Not the outline, which is pretty progresive.
So I was wondering what kinds of fins you guys would recommend? I think the double-foiled non toed-in back fins are sort of what could be holding it back, but who knows. I am 5’10" and about 140 lbs.
I think the fins that are currently on it would work great at a pointbreak, but not at beachbreaks where maneuverability are a little bit more important.
I can relate, I have 2 Pavels. LeeD is right, this board is not a small wave fish, goes good in shoulder hi++.
W/Lokbox try pushing all the fins forward, tightens cluster and loosens it up alot. This is my default setting and I move the rear fins back 1/8" in overhead, lined up conditions.
interesting , JLW’, as I am pretty much the same size and weight as you, and [apart from my ‘prawn’ being 5" longer] , the other dimensions are pretty much the same ! [Is your “quad” 2 1/2" thick , also ?! ]
I find mine goes well as a quad fish with five inch deep front fins , and a 3x3" to 4x4" [maximum!!] back side fin set .
…Also , with a small trailer fin in the back fin box , WITHOUT the two back side twin fins [ie: yep ! as a thruster setup]
Any chance you could get a small back fin box put in as well ?
From what I have seen [photos only] of that kind of board you mentioned , I think it would still work fine as a THRUSTER , or even a SINGLE fin , in certain conditions .
Maybe I will be able to tell you in a few months , as I am contemplating 5’6-5’8" dimensions myself , from stripping an existing 5’8 x 24" [!!] kneelo I have …
Yes, the board is about 2 1/2" thick, although I haven’t measured it. Like I said though, the rails are VERY thin and high-performance looking. They are about as thin as a standard 2 1/4" thruster’s rails, but slightly differently shaped.
I looked around and I think I found the solution to my problem, though:
The fins in that link are strikingly similar to what you recommended, except the trailing fins have a slight cutaway.
Hey chip, if you need the specs of the board such as rocker, widepoint, width every 6 inches, etc., I’d be glad to give them to you. sbvfive also asked for them, so I could send them to both of you.
its a quad , theres the problem , why do you think they died the first time around ???
youll never see consistent pro level surfing on a quad in small waves …
moments of glory maybe , but all round consistency in a range of small wave scenarios , na …
ive flogged the whole quad thing to death , to the point where everyone of my team riders were off the things and were just about wringing my neck trying to get me off the trip as i was sure that somehow i could make them work …
big waves and they have something , but the small wave quad is a waste of space …
i know you will get the crew who will jump in and say but mine goes off and it works real well , thats real well against all the other bad boards youve ridden …
this crazy retro trip is breeding a generation of very average surfing …
yea you can put 4 fins on a board and it still goes , but for true top to bottom reliable predictable power surfing , 3 is the magic number …
Yea, I actually can sort of relate with that. Sometimes the board has this sudden stroke of brilliance, and I regain faith in it.
I really do think this board is different. I think this board really can work with the right fin setup and a little bit of self-adjustment. I’ve only ridden the board twice, I still have to ride it at least 2 more times before I really can say “it doesn’t work for me”. Mostly, it does work well. It’s faster than any thruster I’ve ridden, equally as responsive, looser, and does “lateral” (as in not going vertical) surfing just as good, if not better (it retains speed better than any board I’ve ridden). But as soon as I go to hit the lip, it feels sluggish.
And Bert, I think this board has potential to do everything that I want, including vertical surfing. By moving the trailing fins 1/4" forward, it helped immensely. I’m going to try it with some small 3" trailing fins set further back in the box to see how it goes as soon as the waves pick up again.
I’ll ride this board a few more times and make my decision. At this point, I really can’t say too many definite things about the board.
when youve exhausted all posibilities , i would be real curious as to what the installation of a tail fin would do …
as most of our quads were converted back to thrusters over time and everyone said it was a vast improvement …
except for all the big wave quads , they went better as quads …
my theory is the trailing fins are picking up to much dirty water from the leading fins and therefore cant work as effectivly , but at speed with longer arcs the tail fins are working in cleaner water so the bigger wave boards still functioned …
Well I did another session. I moved all the fins all the way forward in their boxes.
The waves were small, about waist high. But they were clean.
The board was a bit looser and responsive, and did release quite a bit more.
This board does not have as much release as a standard thruster. I think no matter how much I screw around with the fins, it isn’t going to happen. The board is just as responsive and quick-turning as a thruster, but it simply will not let me slide the tail out. What it lacks in release, it makes up for in extreme down-the-line speed and LOTS of acceleration through turns. I was thinking about selling the board, but I’ve reconsidered after this session.
My original plan was to keep this board if I liked it, and if I didn’t like it, I would sell it and replace it with a small-wave thruster. I think I’m going to keep the board, but still buy a small-wave thruster. The board still has its place in my quiver, but it doesn’t REPLACE a thruster like I thought it would.
For anyone who wants to know, quads lack the ability to throw the tail out and do controlled slides, etc. What they do have, though, is down the line speed and acceleration.
proly a simple explanation…there’s just a lot of fin in the water…wonder what kind of total fin template area you would get if you added everything up…there’s likely a lot less area with a thruster…the rear fin(s) rail/stringer positioning proly has a dramatic affect too…you could proly release a centered third fin lots easier than two fins, were one of the two is likely to stay attached into the wave…maybe go real small trailers like Lee said…wonder how it would ride w/o the trailers? hm like a twinny…