[How much ] can you feel any difference with a ‘turbocharger’ this small?
what is the best sort of distance to place it in front of the side fins ?
what were the best sized side fins you found these to work best with ?
Anything else you could share about them , please , Herb ? [optimum wave size/s , board size/s , conditions … THAT kind of stuff would be very helpful .]
Man, I’m glad I saw this thread. It jogged my memory about the set of superchargers I had stashed away and thought I lost! It occurred to me I finally have a board on which it would be worth installing them. And I have the experience and confidence to install the FCS plugs to accomodate them. The lightbulb turned on deep in the back of my brain and I remembered that I had stuck them in a snowboarding jacket I retired long ago. My wife wondered why I just tore into the depths of our narrow but deep livingroom closet and started throwing clothing onto the living room floor, and when I managed to emerge victorious with a small bag containing the superchargers in my hand with a manical smile on my face, she shook her head like she was half dumbfounded and half understood!
So, Herb, now that I have your attention, what would be good positioning, toe-in, and cant for them on a high-rockered, “high performance” squash tail shortboard? I tried searching, but the search function here stinks, and I would rather hear from the expert’s mouth than second- or third-hand.
Thanks again for the superchargers and thanks in advance for the advice!
Half of the Supercharger’s base length should be forward of the leading edge of the effected outboard fin(side fin) and half behind or no more than 70% of the SCs base length should be forward of the leading edge of the outboard fin.
The width of the gap between SC and Fin is between 1" and 1-1/4".
No,but faster than a board with a comparable set-up w/o Superchargers,a very noticable faster.
I surfed many different designs in my life over 40 years,and have either been at the forefront of them or created them all together…and as far as gps readings,don’t care, don’t need them ,my surfing tells me what I need to know.
I have a glueon version and it works,but I can feel the difference between the glueys and the tabbed…I believe the major difference is in the SC’s base flex/stiffness.No matter how/what you use to apply them, the surface of the board will flex making the SC glueons less efficent.If I was going to use glueons on my next board,I would dual post them w/ dowel or stainless rod,an run them deep.
Herb I just dug mine up and have to apologize for not trying them yet. However, I’m leaving for OZ tomorrow and can’t think of a better place to give them a go. I’ll report in when I get back. Thanks for sending them to me and again…sorry. Jim
Thankyou for your honesty…a rarety these days…my mood the other day was fueled by a golf ball into my windshield.Just can’t keep anything nice,anymore…And it’s no excuse for calling you out,Sorry.
You have a great time in Oz,and BTW…I’ve always admired your fin system from a far…it’s fresh and original…Have Fun !
And post the truth…if they suck or you can’t feel any difference…man’s answer to sliced bread whatever.Thanks again.Herb
No worries Herb your completely justified calling me out lol. You went out of your way, and I didn’t. I’m glad you told me to tell you negative as well as positive because that’s what I always tell people. Always throws them for a loop as well. How the heck are you gonna improve something if everyone blows a bunch of smoke up…well you know the rest.
I forgot to add that because they reduce most of the outboard drag that you gain positivity which = better forward drive and stability.All this and it’s looser too !
Oh BTW those glueons are just poly resin and diaperfiller…The tabbed jobs do require about 6 layers of 4oz fiberglass floated in a polyresin diaperfiller mix.
