I’ve just finished a hollow wood shortboard from balsa and I think the final shape has just a little too much rocker and was wondering what I can do with the fin placement to compensate?
it’s a 6ft shortboard designed for kitesurfing, so basically it’s very simmilar in shape to a modern shortboard but maybe the rails near the back have a little more edge for release.I’ve copied another working board and was simply gonna copy the fin placement too, but my build has just a little too much tail rocker and probably a bit too much entry rocker too.
dimensions are 6ft x 17 1/2 x 2 1/4. i’m very nervous about the tail rocker especially.
should I move my fins a little forward from the copy board so they get too work before the tail rocker kicks in too much,
or…
do I go a bit back with my fins so there is not too much tail flip behind them…
It’s my first build and in all the info on Swaylocks about fin placememt - i can find very little to with my problem
my local spot has mostly mushy, wind generated swell, but sometimes in winter we get very nice waves, maybe 4 or 5 feet.
I’m trying to give the board good ‘surfing’ characteristics. when I get on the wave, I ‘park’ the kite and simply use the board to ride the wave - maybe use the kite only to get a good position on the wave or avoid closeout sections.
Try a couple degrees less cant and maybe a little less toe. Or, put 4Way in the board and you can tweak it for different conditions and try different toe, cant and fore/ aft fin placement.
yeah… I decided to go with 4 way fin system as I don’t know much about fin setup, so this gives me toe in changes, cant angle and some forward and aft changes.
glad to hear yours worked and it’s a similar shape!
just about finished the glass work so gonna cut the holes for the fin inserts soon!!!
I’m with Tom. Set the fins so they create less drag (straighter & more upright) and let the rocker outline turn the board. Hopefully what you’ll end up with is a fast loose board. I like that fin placement in my travel boards. Do something like 1/8th toe and 4 degrees cant,
That would be the difference between the leading edge of the front fin to the trailing edge of the front fin. Another way to set the fins on that same set up would be to point the fins about 2 1/2" in off the nose…Use a long flexible straight edge.