I´m thinking about shaping a fishboard and I´ve read that some fish have twin fins with one trailer fin. What is a trailer fin? And what is a rear keel? And where can I get one. I´ve never seen a fish since the surfboardmarket in sweden is kind of limited. How should the rails be shaped compared to a normal shortboard? I´m thinking of using the Lost round nose fish as inspiration. How would that work with a normal thruster and G5 fins? Would be grateful for any advice
Honestly, as far as an opinion towards the Lost, its a slick board along with its cousin the Rip Curl fish with the fat nose (that i ride) They’re high volume fish with wide noses… quick to take off… pull deep bottom turns etc. I’m a big fan of the Lost I’d say if you were crazy enough, put a fin system on it (Red-X or FCS) just so you can have the ability to swap fins according to conditions.
“I´m thinking about shaping a fishboard and I´ve read that some fish have twin fins with one trailer fin. What is a trailer fin? And what is a rear keel? And where can I get one. I´ve never seen a fish since the surfboardmarket in sweden is kind of limited. How should the rails be shaped compared to a normal shortboard? I´m thinking of using the Lost round nose fish as inspiration. How would that work with a normal thruster and G5 fins? Would be grateful for any advice” ---------------------------------------------------------------- A trailer is the rear fin and its generally much smaller but it could be any size depending on the design and what you want to achieve. Since you have seen the Lost fish design outline you have a general idea but the rails are generally thicker with a flatter deck for extra floatation. Rocker again is flatter than your standard high performance shortboard, about 1/4" less rocker in the nose and tail but again this also varies depending on the shaper. Overall a fish thicker +1/8-1/4", wider +1/4-1/2", shorter 2 to 3 inches shorter with less rocker. Usually designed for small wave performance. This is all very general info and im sure other guys on here will elaborate more.
Hey Amnow, Trailer fins work. They stabilize the board and help it hold a line. They’ll work if the board is configured to accept them. Many good surfers choose a smaller trailer in a thruster set in smaller waves to give their boards a more fishy feel. On swallowtaild boards, if the swallow isn’t cut in too deep they give the board extra drive and added performance IMHO. Look at the archives and you see a set-up of mine that works quiet well on a 6’2" double winged modern fish with a concaved bottom. Small solid base fins are ok but I think a small cutaway trailer is the best way to go. Mahalo, Rich
The bigger the trailer the more it pulls down, lifting the nose and anchoring the tail. Having the ability to change trailers allows a fish to be ridden in conditions beyond it’s design prescription.
No fishes in Sweden? Strange… If there was one type of board you should see for Swedish condition, it would be modern fishes(besides the longer boards). A modern fish (in all shapes and sizes) is in general a shortboard made for small waves. Wider, shorter, flatter, fuller template, split tail and twins with trailers is the usual ingrediens. Twins with trailer means you regular thruster setup but with larger sidefins and smaller center(trailer) fin. Widely used here in Norway, good in waves up to headhigh and a little beyond, depending on break. There is also a quite a few members of the cult of the retro fish on this forum. Search the archives for info. regards, Håvard