Widowmaker side bite fin templates??

General Discussion
1

Hey all, im close to ordering a 6’10’’ egg from an aussie shaper, and im keen to try the widowmaker setup. At the moment it will be surfed with a LB fin, but im saving up for a greenough fin and i’d like to make some side bites to go with it. I really like the look of the sidebites on neil purchase jr’s boards in glass love ( the bit where he’s sanding them ), and i’d like to know know rough dimensions of the sidebites, and hey, what the hell, even the big centre fin.

Im pretty sure they are smallish sidefins, so i’ll probably be able to make 2 sets, as i’ll just get enough glass and resin to make a 8-10’’ square panel.

Cheers

P.S Neil purchase jr is my all time fave surfer, i replay his section on glass love more than any other. Just though i’d throw that in!!!

P.P.S i expect chipper to chime in here hahaha ( i’ve sent your fin mate! )

2

Beery, check your email. you will be surprised.

3

There was a really nice Purchase Jr. posted on this on a thread called - for your viewing pleasure - front fins were 4.13b x 4.134H, back fin was 5.11 base and 6.1 high. Front fins were located pretty much like a standard thruster, fin box started 5" up from tail I believe.

I’ve got something similar coming in a longer version, closest match I could find in off the rack fins were 4x4 Futures up front, 6.25 Rusty Flex fin in the rear, which I’ll foil down a bit after a few test rides if necessary…

4

Thanks mate, i just dug up a fin that i didn’t finish. It’s 5’‘base x 7’'deep. I might stuff around at work with it this weekend, and try to modify the shape and foil. Im going to try to make the tip smaller, as i think there’s too much area in the tip. Any thoughts guys???

I’ll first try it in this board

Cheers

5

check the post “for your viewing pleasure”- as it did include some pretty good pictures of the fin set-up.

post=377701

6

Nice board. Does anyone have information about fin cant and tow in on the rail fins? Mike

7

Thanks mate, i saw the pics, pandanus was good enough to send me more pics. The boards in glass love that NPJ is hand sanding seem to to have "shark’’ like fins, with not much tip area, to my eyes anyway!. Im selling a board at the moment, and its going good, so i may buy a set of stretch quad fins, the rears are 3.88 base x 3.8 deep. Im interested in them purely for comvenience and cost, as a set of gx sidebites will cost me around 70 bucks, and the stretch quad set will cost 90, for 2 extra fins, so i can try the rears on my 2+1/widow, but also use all 4 of the stretch set on a 6’4’’ round tail “disk” im halfway through shaping, and i can also mix and match them with my occy’s ,and plain old g5 plastics.

Though im still keen to make some small side fins. Maybe the ones i make can be a little extreme, ie, one set really shark tooth like, and the other set can be keel like?. Anyway, plenty of choices, just gotta get the time!.

8

The 7.5" Island fin with the GX sidebites worked really well on this South coast 6’4" DT slider. Nice and loose but good drive. See top photo.

The Kelly slaters side fins with this no name centre on the 7’2" Miller egg felt over finned. Bottom photo.

The LB (Layne Beachley) fins which are the same template as the H2’s are great fins. No humming. Loose but positive. Favourite fins and would go well with a 6-7" centre fin on a 7’ egg. Got mine for $90 and worth it.

So who’s going to lay you an egg?

Why are the GX sidebites so expensive? I’m sure I paid nowhere near that.

9

Well, i modified the centre fin. Its has a 5’’ base, and is 6 3/4’’ tall, not much rake though.

I’ll probably hot coat it today with a heavily tinted blue resin, then i just need to thin the tab and install the pin, and its ready to test with some occy sides.

Do you guys think the occy’s are better than g5’s for sidebites??> The occy’s are stiffer, but im not sure if the sidebites should have flex, or should be stiff???

Cheers

10

how far from the tail is the center fin?

if you don’t mind me asking…

11

either fin set-up is putting a lot of rail fin on the board - widowmaker/Purchase 2+1 set-up’s seem to run more in the 4" range for the rail fins.

Your rear fin does seem pretty straight up compared to the FCS fins you mentioned…Purchase seems to favor proportionally replicating the fin shape on front and rears.

Slap it in the box, move it around until it feels best, and if that best isn’t good enough, try some more fin combos, perhaps downsizing the rail fins to GX’s, and maybe something like a Rusty 6.25 Flex or 6.0 Wayne Rich power fin…or make yourself another rear fin…

ride it and let us know…

,

12

On the Miller (blue & yellow) egg the end of the centre fin box is 10cms from the tail. At present I have a Wavegrinder fin it with the leading edge of the fin 28cms from the tail. Using it as a single and it works very well.

The other board is in a rack at the surfshop awaiting someone to give it a new home.

13

hi mark !

for what it’s worth , i can send you a few templates this week if you like ?

as discussed on the 'phone , i go with around half the height for side fins , compared to the back fin

so , with a 7" deep back fin , for example , i’m using around 3 1/2" deep sideys

something like the GS or GL` templates are fine with say a JB1 back fin [finbox]

also , you could take about 1/4 - 1/2" off the base length of that back fin , to get more rake , if you like ?

and the narrower tip looks good, and works well , i find !

don’t be afraid to play around with different sized back AND side fins , and move your back fin forwards and back in different size and conditions of surf .

THAT is why i LOVE the widowmaker setup , with a back finbox and multiple side plugs !!! [there is method to my [supposed] “madness” , after all, you see !]

well, ‘Mr .Beery’ , I hope / trust this has been helpful to you ??

cheers mate

ben

p.s. - …thanks HEAPS for the fin , Mark [ yes , i have slightly thinned and modified it …]

14

Hey ben, i dont need them just yet, but i know where to get them!. Im going with a full tint and polished finished on my custom, so i wont have as much spare cash floating around as i first thought.

I dinged my twin keel this morning, so i might get some time on the 2+1 in the next few surfs, so hopefully i can get used to it. Im so used to the twin keel it throws me off when on my 2+1.

I had one finger jammed into my free ear the other night, to block out baxters screaming!, he know how to pick his moments for sure!!

Cheers mate

15

no worries mate

i figure EVERY young kid screams [for attention?] whilst dad is on the phone [at least , all MY friends’ kids do !]

it sounds as though maybe i 'should ’ just bypass the templates ,and send you some FINS instead , already !

i still do "widowmaker type " setups with thruster side fins and a bigger back fin , too , from time to time , by the way

like , today for instance … i used 4" deep thruster sideys with the 5 1/2" back fin you sent me

it went really well in the fairly gutless waist to chest high northerly affected waves this arvo …it loosened the tail up . i was riding the 7’ singley with three fins for a change…

ben

16

Ben, i reckon the full size side fins make the board too loose for me. I just got a set of fcs PC7 quad fins, and i’ve got the rear fins in as side bites. Unfortunately i cracked the tab on the blue centre fin. Its still in the box, and im gunna try it anyway, but im pissed off, as i spent an hour with some 180 grit getting all the shinies out, then hit it with 360. Felt so smooth its not funny, then i crack the front tab D’OH!!!. Im not giving up though, im trying to think of a way to keep it in the box . I rckon if its all the way to the back of the box it wont come out, though, the length of the base of it means that the plate is right where the wide part of the box is,so it just swings out, D’OH.

Still feels tight enough though.

Live and learn, i was probably a bit heavy handed with the screwdriver!!.

17

hi mark

i have a pair of carbon fibre sideys i made that are i think pretty similar to the neal purchase ones in glass love .

they are a 4" base , 4" deep and have 1" rake …[with pretty small tips]

here’s a “frame grab” of neal’s ones …[used without permission …sorry , andrew kidman]

also , mark …

with regard to the single fin box fin tab , have you seen the [?paul jensen’s , was it?] post with the photo of the u-shaped [on its side] bit of metal wedged into the front of the fin , with a screw hole in it ?? that seems to do the job with broken box fins…

18

7 3/4" back fin , 3 x c.4 1/2" [base] sides …

neal purchase snr's…[a six channel bottom , looked fun in ‘glass love’ !!]

19

Hi ben thanks for pics and dims. I surfed this today

This board and setup seems to like waves with push. I got a nice little bit overhead wedge pop up in front of me today, and i was able to turn up and down the face quite easily. With a bit more time on it i think i’ll like it. Turning off the top was great. The cracked fin tab didn’t have any effect, luckily the fin stayed where it was.

20

hi mark

how deep are those side fins ?

i can send you some small sides , if you like ?

also , I’m LOVING the green bonzer5 type [but uncanted!] runners with my 7" fin on the mal , so that might work well with a 6" back fin in that board of yours …hmmm… got me thinking …would you like to try that , mate ?

cheers !

ben