What's the CORRECT fin thickness?

General Discussion
21

1st of all the only people who differ to Pope

are catholic or when in vatacan city all defer to the Pope.

 

most protestant s or revolutionaries take exception

to anythin’ the pope says because he is the pope.

 

the Pope don’t surf

old and cranky is because 

you believe you know shipe

because you have tried a lot

I MEAN A LOT OF STUFF

THAT WAS WRONG.

and the conclusions you draw

are a happy mediun (like the divider in the road in P.V.)

thicker fins are way better

unless you want to explore the Flex

component i.e. it is hard to make a

fin over 3/4’’ thick flex…there by the pope is a 

relative fin proponent in the surfboard universe

there are small moons and planets even asteroids who orbit 

planet pope and some even worship the design principals

he sends down from the mount

there are others (protestants) who orbit other

design planet masses … far seeing designers

from apple or switzerland or new mexico 

who surfing for 9 months after designing plastic

cases for laptops in lap land are ready

to set the surfing world on it’s ear

 

 

we learn to humor these galactic visitors

by not hurling cutting sophmoronic comments

although that was what was said to us

when we wanted to make a fin that was 2’’ thick

only mike ,bunker and vinny and the values

could get away with 2’’ fins  because bunker had

lots of money and peote and a beach house

at the pipeline before the dawn of time…

 

now as to picture #123

and the comparative analsis

of the fins there in:

they are all junk fins

not worthy of your talent

throw them all away and make 

three sets of 3 fins . 3  templates

one thin ,one hollow,  and one thick

of each.

Now you will have to organize a test sampling

and then execute.Your conclusions will be yours.

Out of every  ten people you share your conclusions with

you will find some who wish to orbit your planet

others who believe you are street rat crazy

some who won’t care enough to listen to you finish talking

and yet some who will be harboring secret emnity

because you dont respect their choice of discount 

boards they buy from costco yard sales…

or the HOT shop where the world chump

gets his chipmunk models.

 

 

 

this is not funny.

this is intended to be informative

this is cryptic because all the magic in surfboards

is held in trust by a secret society of madmen

who feel they have been outcast from A society

that buys only fins that have been mass produced

by people who will never surf.These products are very well done

except the ones that have to be reshaped before clark allows to put them on 

a board he rides.

Who is clark you may ask

he is the leader of a sleeper cell

of revolutionaries who appear

only at obscure times in the finest wave riding spots.

when you see a fin clark has refined your life will be 

changed forever.

some people who actually surf

believe the same thing about

curtis hasslegrave’s hand shapes…

Then there are three kinds of geppys

the china ones and then the patch ones

and then the real geppys…   

too much information?

I hope so . I have risked assassination 

sharing this information with you.

and you think I am being funny?

I am funny. But the truth that will set you free

comes at a cost…you must become a fool

to think you can know anything about fins

that some one will just choose to call

stupid.

 

AND HALCION IS NOT EVEN HERE…

Yet?

 

…ambrose…

 

fins are unnecessary.

fins are training wheels

fins slow down one end of the board

and the rest of the board with it.

lateral resistance is for the  insensitive 

to overt torque.

 

 

Trim  is science

that is beyond

the common surfer’.

 

 

 

and if you hear vague traces of skippin reels of rhyme…

 

it’s just a ragged clown behind

 

I wouldn’t pay it any mind

 

it’s only a shadow you’re  seein’

 

…that he’s chasin’…

 

appologies to

bob dylan

and my father 

machinist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

22

[quote="$1"]

 Then the fin started to fill up with water when I used it.....

[/quote]

That made me laugh!    In 1959 Velzy was making a hollow fiberglass fin, with two halfs bonded together with a thick bead of glass rope.   (clamshell style)   They looked high tech, in the balsa era.     But, THEY LEAKED.    It was comical to see boards  with the fins half full of water.   The slightest crack, or pin air, would allow water to intrude.   Needless to say, they were soon abandoned.   Seal ALL the seams on your Pope fin with super glue.

23

ambrose, Always enjoy your posts my friend. Just watching (-: Mahalo,Larry

24

you can experiment with fin thickness easily by quick bagging balsa wood onto the fin  with 5 minute epoxy, and refoiling it with sandpaper and painting with resin. then you can feel the difference on your fin and then easily sand it off and feel the difference without changing fin

25

That’s a great idea and I’ll try that with my longboards 9" fin. 

26

Good stuff Ambrose.

27

Enjoy your posts Ambrose, though the long ones tend to give me a headache.

28

from you,

I deeply appreciate

your support

in these times

of darkness

and ignorance.

…ambrose…

 

my best to your dad.

29

stop and rest

while reading

my posts…

otherwise 

eat something 

you might just be

hungry…

///ambrose…

30

ambrose in rare form today....

 

31

thank you I have been working out all morning.

I harvested 16 japanese fishing fleet plastic floats

from the rocks down coast from crack 14

big swells and east winds have driven

many onshore.Climbing up and down

the low cliffs and rock hopping and

soft sand trudging have proven to be

a considerable effort,Then I tied twelve

of the floats to my beach cruiser

and peddled them home three miles away.

I am surprised you can tell over the blue campfire

that my conditioning has resulted in a form change.

hmm…

…ambrose…

thanks for the support

my new diet

and training

are going well

32

Guess what?  I'm a Protestant....I don't have to follow the Pope......

So........Billy.....you could by a stock fin...come by my place and pick up a bag of 6oz scraps................and......make a fin to what ever thickness you want..........

..........It's all for fun......A smile improves your face value................................

Stingray

33

[quote="$1"]

ambrose in rare form today....

[/quote]

[quote="$1"]

(to jesus)

from you,

I deeply appreciate

your support

in these times

of darkness

and ignorance.

my best to your dad.

[/quote]

classic!

34

Thanks for your offer stingray but I also have large bags of cloth scraps waiting to be used for something. And I like Paul’s suggestion to use balsa wood because that might end up looking much nicer. Either way I think that what I get from this thread is that I’m going to do just that, build up my fins to that 10 or 12% and sand down from there…if I need to. And I now also see a bigger need to just make my own fins so I get the foil I’m after. 

35

Hi Billy...

Thanks for staying postive...I tryed the whole fin making thing....I'm OK buying fins :)

 

Ray

36

When MIke Hynson developed the Dol-fin it was thick. I think up to an inch. My brother and I did a few thick fins using wood and foam and rode them (glassed on). It was so long ago that I can’t tell you whether I could tell the difference between the thick fin and some we made that were really thin. I like all kinds of fins, so I’m not as concerned about flex. I know a lot of guy that like to have flex in their fins. Thick fins won’t flex, but then Hynsons fins were short, like only 6". My flexy single fins are all at least 9".

The nice thing about the thick fins is you can get a really good foil, and working with a softer material makes it easier to shape. Use the images you can find on the NACA (sailboat) website to get your foil.

I would use the Pope as a starting point for width and make it with a solid center piece of layered glass, then add on something easy to shape to each side. I say start with the solid glass core because the fin will be stronger if it’s for a box. You could even take a fin you have now and add bondo to it, then just foil it down and ride it, thin it out some then ride and keep doing that, or make a couple with different thicknesses.

Making fins from layered glass is a nasty job. You might think about layering the glass so that you don’t have to sand as much. Build out the thickness at the bottom, and make it thinner as you get towards the tip. Then you just need to refine the foil and not cut it out from a thicker flat piece.

I think the key thing about real fish fins is that they all flex and change shape as the fish swims, so it would be impossible to get both the shape and flex characteristics with fiberglass. I think you would need advanced technology to be able to change the flex and shape like fish and dolphins do.