I have made 5 or 6 5’10"x20" boards, that look very similar to Al Mericks “pod” I have made them all try fins and I like them very much. Currently I am shaping a 5’8" that is very similar, and my friend says I should make it a quad? Why should I? What would be the advantages and disadvantages?
Quads are more for boards that surf off the rail and are designed to stay high in the face. Especially boards with narrower tails, aka shortboards. As the tail gets wider you may want to consider going for a thruster (a twin fin with more thrust). The reason being is that the centre fin will more likely engage when needed rather than when not needed on a wider tail. You may even want to check on Greg Griffins five fin work if your tail is wider.
Huh??? The more fins you have the more tail width you need. That’s why Roy uses singlefins with his extreme pintails.
A little board like that works fine with quad and it´s very fast an manoevrable…
but as the wave grows, the manoever goes down… and the speed grows…
It´s different…and in some circunstances they are “confortable” as the thrusters !
I need to know a little more than “5’8” to comment.
But at the most basic level, a quad will give you more fin area… which translates into more speed and drive…especially on boards designed for smaller or weaker surf, when all four fins are engauged more often. They’re also more responsive than a twin keel with about the same amount of fin area.
Dean’s right about quads riding high on the face. Much better hold in the steep, critical part of the wave. I’v surfed quads with tails between 14 and 16 inches, and find that the wider tailed versions suffer from the same problems as most other wider-tailed boards… they’re harder to get onto a rail. But once they’re on a rail, they have far more drive than their three-finned counterparts, as the two rail fins are fully engauged in the turn. On a thruster, that trailer might not be working full time.
Plus… quads never spin out unless the tail is fully free. That could be good or bad, depending on what you’re after.
When I get home later I will post some pictures of the boards I have made, and the one I am shaping. If I make it a quad what are the best deminsions for fin placement for riding small waves?
yes, please discuss quad fin placement for riding small waves.
Here is the 5’10" The fin placement I use here is 3.5 from the tail for the center fin, and 11 for the side fins, 1 1/8 from the rail with a 3/32 toe. But I know nothing about fin placement for quads, and before I do one, I would like to know where to put them for ripping small waves.
I have a firewire quad that got me hooked on quads,very fast and drivey,loves a high line on the face,never slides out on a hard bottom turn and is very easy to turn off the top…feels snappy and quick when hitting the lip.It recovers well on sketchy landings also.I checked the fin placement a while back and realized that it matched the mckee quad placement in the link above.
Thanks for that link. That is some good info. What size board is your Firewire?
It’s a 6’2" x19 1/2 x 2 3/8 swallow tail.
The McKee placement is very widely accepted and seems to work well, but there are also other valid setups with the rear fins more on the rails. Do a quick search and you will find some really good threads.
Wide tailed boards work well with quads (contrary to a statement above) also, see pic below. This board works in knee high slop as well as head and a half. My go to board. I havent measured, but Im fairly certain this is very close to the McKee placements.[img_assist|nid=1041272|title=DR Stubbie Quad|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=475|height=629]
I have the 5’10 x 19 1/8 x 2 1/8 Firewire swallowtail quad. It has much more drive than my thrusters. I compared it to the McKee fin placement and found that the FW fins are further forward.
[img_assist|nid=1041382|title=|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=362]It’s fun to change it up
I have never been good at pumping on a thurster. The quad fin allows me to set my line and go, or drive bottom turns and anything else. It’s like the best of both worlds between a thruster and a twin.
What kind of fins are in your high proformace quads? and what kind of bottom contures are in the board?
“Why should I make my next board a quad?”…
Because you have made 6 boards 5’10" x 20 with three fins…Why not make a quad?..
I’m trying to figure out this quad thing too…maybe you can help me out…maybe it doesn’t matter…
Here’s a link to my current board / train of thought…I’m not going with the McKee thing , but I don’t ride boards this small…
http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/help-me-build-better-fish
Ray
I have only ridden quads with mckee setups and twins…However a few people i know have simon anderson S4F’s for small waves and say the fin placement closer to a twinny (S4F) etc have much better speed in small waves than mckee setups.
Once it gets a bit bigger go for a mckee setup which is closer to a thruster…You will need that control.