Hi,
One of my friends has been riding one of my boards and wants me to make him a copy. It’s a 6’6" single fin, my first shape. I got the outline idea from an old G&S I have, but widened the tail and made it a round-pin. The board turned out surprisingly good (way better than I thought it would). Thanks swaylocks for all the tips.
For his board (this will be board #3 for me) he wants the same exact thing, but with side fins and a different bottom configuration. I’ve cut it out, planed it to thickness, cut the rocker, but now I’m stuck on where I should place the side fins.
The board is a 6’6", nose: 13 1/4", WP 18 1/2’’ (2.5 inches up from center), tail: 13 1/2’'. I put a 10" FU box 5" up from the tail in the first one, was planning on doing the same in this one.
The person I’m making it for is about 155 lbs. skilled surfer who will be riding it in surf mostly head high to a few feet over head.
wow …that IS a nice board, chad ! …I’d like to ride that !!
Does your friend not like single fins , then ?? […pity !]
Well, thrusters side fins’ back edges here are around 11-11 1/2" from the tail tip [depending on the size of the board] , and back edge [base] of back fin usually 3-3 1/2" from tail tip . So, the fin box thing may be a bit tricky for the backfin …unless you do a back edge of the fin overhanging the box , that’s an option.
Just a thought …if you went with a fin system for the side , he may then be able to move the side fins up or back a little , to play around with what feels good for him . [I guess the back fin box will depend on if he prefers thin tails to the thickness it will need to be to get a finbox happening for a back fin.]
So, how does that board you made ride ?
is he mainly a thruster surfer , and didn’t adapt to the single fin feeling , or what was the reason ?
ben
Thanks chipfish! The pics turned out alittle funky, my camera doesn’t like to take pictures at night.
He loves the way the board rides but said he wants to put small side fins in it to be able to surf bigger waves (he lives up in northern california now). He also said this weekend when he rode it that he felt like he was pushing the board just about to its limit on bottom turns and stuff and felt like he could push it a little harder with the side fins. He wants to use FCS plugs for the side fins so he can also ride it as a single if he wants to.
We’ve been surfing together since we were kids and he has a good feeling of what the board is doing and usually has a good idea of what design elements play into it. I’ll take his word for it, he probably knows more than I do.
It’s fun to have him ride board that I shaped and hear what he has to say.
good stuff !
I love having a 190 lb mate of mine ride my boards too , just so I can see how much [or little] they can be pushed through turns .
If you’re going with f.c.s. , you might like to consider three plugs per side …then you can get that fore and aft movement still , for your side fins .
Will he use small sides occassionally too ?
…maybe he might like to try some glass ones I made ? I’m always keen , like you seem to be , to hear / see how stuff I’ve made works for other people [besides… I’ve got too many fins sitting around, and only one or two fcs tabbed boards now !]
ben
Hey Chad,
with the widepoint forward like you have it, you can get away with moving the side fins a tad more forward, like to 12". I have an egg that’s a little wider than your board that actually has the fins at 13", and it works well as a 2+1 with the smallest fcs sidebiters and a 7" flexy fin. For more of a standard thruster setup, I’d move the center finbox back an inch, or, if you have the thickness in the tail, an inch and a half. That will spread the tri fin cluster out a bit more for the juicy waves up here in norcal.
Hey ben,
That would be cool to try some of your glass fins! We were talking about fins this weekend and he said he thought fiberglass fins worked much better. Not only glass-ons but fiberglass fins in boxes too. The only thing is, I’m in california and I think you’re in Australia, right?
From your guys’ advice, and looking around a little bit in the archives, I’m going to place them 13" up, 1 1/4" in from the rail, 2" outside of the nose.
Does that sound about right?
I finished putting in my concaves and cut my rail bands tonight. I’ll probably finish it up this weekend. I’ll post pics when I’m done.
