Thick fin foils.

I’m wondering what you may think about thicker fin foils cutting through the water better then thin flatter foils? I was just thinking back in the early 70’s they made the Dolphin fin. It was twice as thick as a standard fin.  Greenough always liked a bit thicker base then most. 

I’m thinking about building some Bamboo / glass on fins but want to create a little more volume at the base. Just looking for some insight from some of you fin addicts.

Is a fuller base foil going to be more efficient ?

They say it is…

I remember the big, thick, plywood keels and singles back in my high school shaping days, when I actually used to make my own fins. They seemed to work pretty darn good. Too easy to just buy them from the guys at Rainbow or True Ames these days…

I read some research done a few years back that tested glass-on fillets. Thicker fillets were proven to create less drag in those tests than thinner fillets.

There is a long and informative thread from a few years ago on this subject here on Swaylocks - just do a search on “thick fins”.

If you have seen the futures hatchet fin or i think it is called the “soulis” rear trailer that thing in HUGE! very thick… also i prefer to foil my single fins thicker… not by much but enough to tell.

I found the old thread from 05 great info. Thanks RDM great info. I had made a longboard with a thick base Greenough Bamboo with extra fillet to create a strong base glass on. That board was the best LB i ever built. Here’s that old thread on thick fins. 

http://www2.swaylocks.com/node/1014783

Thanks for the input guys.