Will a Twinzer Fish Work?

General Discussion
1

I have seen twin keels, and quads, but I have not seen twinzer fish.

Has anyone ever seen one, do they work, and if so at what dimensions would you place the fins.

Thanks

2

Hey NY,

The twinzer is a good call. I made one not too long ago and for our waves around here, it’s unreal. Previously, my short board was a 7’-6” fun gun with a 2 + 1 fin set up.

With that big single fin, I could take late drops backside and always hold. I was a little worried about that with the twinzer. Ends up it’s a non-issue. The width and bouyancy (it’s a balsa compsand, that could be a big difference too) help to catch the wave earlier.

Here is my comparison on recently ridden friends boards:

  1. 6’-4” Balsa Compsand twinzer fish (mine): Very buoyant, some say you can feel the surface ripples right through the board. Nice drive, turns on a dime, controlled slides (still learning the control thing). If you do a cut back with speed and keep it banked on a rail, it will run fast all the way through the turn to roundhouse. If you keep the board flat to the water and push with the back foot, it will slide until you stop pushing. I like this difference, sometimes it surprises me, but it is always fun. It allowed me to pull a 360, which may be no big deal to you, but the last one (first one) I did was 15 years ago. The only bad thing is tube riding, more of a width thing than a fin thing, I think.

  2. 7’-6” fun gun 2+1 (mine): Fast in a straight line A to B. Really had to push the tail to get the thing to turn. Always had glide, projected out of every turn.

  3. 6’ Rainbow quad-fish w/speed dialers (normal cant): crazy fast, mucho drive. I was tempted to bust off my twinzer glass-ons and install speed dialers after riding my brand new board for about a week. Speed dialers are killer.

  4. 6’-4” Firewire thruster: I was dyeing to ride this thing. It is far from any shape I would make myself. But I got a couple nice ones on it. I missed the glide.

  5. 6’ Devocean poly Quattro: MeKee style, nice drive, no sliding, more directional than the twinzer. Similar to the Rainbow without the crazy speed.

Overall I’d say the drive was about the same with all the boards except the 2+1 and Speed Dialers. The Twinzer just has another element to it with the slide. I see people sliding on thrusters all the time. I don’t think I could though.

Here’s where I put the fins:

Large twins: 1.5” from rail, 7” up from tail, toe ¼” over 4”, 6 degrees cant

Twinzers: 1” from rail, 11.25” up from tail, toe ¼” over 4”, 4 degrees cant

(I had measurements from a KG twinzer, it was ½” further from the rail (inboard) from where I put mine. That board had a double bump and the back fin dot matched the bumps. I marked them like the KG, but at the end moved them outward.)

http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?do=post_view_flat;post=290718;page=1;mh=-1;guest=9585285;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC

WM


3

Weird, I’m having problems with the photos. One more try, or check the link above for all of them.

WM


4

They rule. Awesome design. I have all the variations-quad, keel, twinzer. Twinzer is something special.

check this one out

5

Check the photo achrives in the 6 footer range,lots there.

I’ve built them for almost 10 years now.

6

I had a Kane Garden Twinzer Fish by Larry Mabile - great board but it little too beefy - I sold it and ordered a clone from Mike Walker, who uses the same fin templates as LM - it’s more pulled in on the nose and more tapered on the rails - Dims are 6’2" x 21 x 2.75 - rides loose but does not spin out as much as a keel - catches waves very well and can handle a bigger wave - check newyorksurf.com for more info on Walker shapes - there are a few other twinzers by Walker in NY

7

My fish works the best as a twinzer, c5s up front, future twin fins back. Certainly alot more drive with the c5s added and certanly alot more drive than a my friends board with similar outline and keels placed much further back. The fins are placed way up, but that’s just what suits me. It’s looser than a quad setup, but has less drive.

regards,

Håvard

8

Thanks for the feedback and the fin dims.

I have a battail twinzer that I love and now based upon the above will make my new swallow tail into a twinzer as well.

I will post some pics in a couple days. just waiting for the weather to warm up some so I can glass it.