I'm switching to a little quad fish and wondering about fins. I have the most experience with thrusters, singles & twin fins. I'm switching to a quad mainly for the experience. I know a bunch of folks on here have fish & quad experience.
I know there are tons of factors to consider with quads but for practical purpose here: both fins will be set close to the rail line, no mckee setup or anything. It's a real fish, 5'4" Lis Style fish, foiled.
I'm wonder about the difference in performance between upright pivoty fronts (k2.1) paired with longer quad rears (G-x) VERSUS longer raked leading fins (am-2, k-3) & pivoty back fins (Q-R, Q-1)
I've read as many of the quad discussions on here as I could but I couldn't find this topic addressed directly, so I'm hoping to get an answer than a link to quad thread.
I'm also wondering about the foil of quad rears set so close to the rail. One of the quad threads on here mentioned that quad fishes with fins set close together act more like twin with more control. I'm wondering what setups have worked best for people on here.
I read on here the rule of thumb is that close to the stringer, the more thrusterish the quad will act & the fin should be closer to 50/50. So, probably flatter or slightly foiled as it gets closer to the rail.
No experience with fishes but I have been riding quads for a bit. My first piece of advice is don’t go too small for the rears, otherwise bottom turns wont have much hold. Second, Bruce Mckees website has a lot of measurements on it for quad placement.
Thirdly Probox! You can shift the fin position fore and aft by about quarter of an inch and change the cant with their cant inserts with this system. I also ride the John Belik quad fin model from Larry (Allison) and there are nice and you can find Probox dealers on the Probox website.
Fourthly I like to have the rears closer to the rail than to the stringer but thats me. Also don’t place the rears too close to the fronts or the board will track. Or imagine water flow being forced into a straight line between the inside of the front fin and the outside of the rear fin. Not nice…
On quads with the fins on the rail I like to run the same size fins front and rear, but use the Bulkley trick of hard fins in front and glassflex in back.
For example, PG5 fronts and M5 rears. Also, when using a fin system with adjustable boxes I push the fronts all the way back and the rears all the way foward.
The fun thing about quads (which is frustrating to some) is the experimentation and ability to completley change your board with a fin adjustment
Agree about the experientation-- both very fun and frustrating...however not sure that the advice above addresses the original question about template. I have had the same question and even drew it on paper... for conversation sake (oversimplifing many things of course) -- lets assume same approx fin depth and base front and rear and ignore flex, material, stiffness etc --- question remains: is there a general concensus on performance differences comparing these four quad fin template combinations:
1) front fins raked - rear fins upright
2) front fins upright - rear fins raked
3) all four fins upright
4) all four fins raked
I have done some experimenting, and so far, for me, I am liking the upright front fins with raked rear fins on my wide tailed quad in weak surf.
when it comes to quad fins imho i think its all personal preference
i like my fins with more rake in them
ive noticed that with the more rake in the fins i get alot more control and with the pivot fins i get less control but more speed and lift
my front fins are single foiled and set a 7 degrees and my rear fins are double foiled and set at 5 degrees
ive seen just about every configuration with quad fins ( including right side fins on the left side and left side fins on the right side) and most people dont even notice
I have had a guy put his in backwards, yep, no BS, he was an absolute beginner and had no idea…should have let him go surfin but couldnt do it to him after he bought a new stick…
In my experience, more raked rear fins opens up the turning radius of your turns, but holds more speed through the turn. Less rake in the rear fins will give you more responsivness, but less drive. For me personally, if I’m riding a true retro fish, I think the more raked rear fins and more upright fronts compliment the design better. Keels, however, are my first choice for a true retro fish.
As for foil, the more your rear fins are toed in, the more asymmetrical you want your foils. More toe - flat insides. Less toe - some foil. Straight ahead - double foiled. Since both sets of fins are on the rail, it’s likely that your rear fins have some toe.
EVERYONES ideas are going to be different when it comes to quads. I’ve had people tell me they put the bigger fin in the rear. And they liked it like that. To each his own. Thats one great pro OR con about quads. You can really experiment a lot. Sometimes I appreciate it. $ometime$ I dont. I got my quads dialed in pretty nice when someone went and told me, “you know you dont have to use the same fins on both sides right?” Like a bigger fin frontside with a smaller backside setup OR VICE VERSA. Terrific… now I can play with my fins infinitely… DAmmit. As it is, I’ve got em dialed and I’m going to leave them that way. Experimenting with them was realy cool when I found what I liked. Then I was stoked. When I put fins in that felt like I added anchors to the board it wasnt so cool. I gotta mention the Takayama Halos… They really changed one board I had.