wooden vs Glass thruster fins

I’m about to embark on a fin makign mission for my next shortboard. I’ve got some of those Pro Box Hawaii fin boxes.

I’m considering making either a set of fiberglass thruster fins or a set of wooden thrusters from some Marine Ply.

I’ll probably surf the board in anything up to 6ft surf.

Can any of you experts advise me on whether the wooden fins will be strong enough. Will they flex loads.

Thanks

since you’ve got boxes…

my advice for what it’s worth is make BOTH. And mould the bases out of epoxy and milled fibre. Yes , the wood flexes a bit …depending on how many layers of cloth and [what] resin .

fin making is fun !!

good on you Brian …any chance you could post a pic or two when they are done , please ?

cheers !

ben

I’d look forward to hearing from you which you prefer too, once you’ve ridden the glass and the wood fins…

p.s. - nearly forgot …on this weekend just gone , I made a pair of foam core twin fins for my fish . Bases still need to be moulded…

hey,

solid fiberglass fins are somewhat heavy…wood fins will likely float…the diff has been discussed in the thick vs thin thread…

sorry i cant help more

im on project now…vac bagged balsa/pufoam carbons…im hoping theyre ultralight, stifff and floaty…

Use 7 ply Baltic Birch. 3/8 or 1/4, once it’s foiled your going to cover it in a layer of 6 oz glass. I’ve got wood fins on my 9’6" gun, the’re plenty strong. I think the question is how you put them on. You don’t see many big guns with FCS plugs, mostly glass on. wood fins are stronger than the plastic composite FCS fins you get with a new board. But the strongest fins are glass. if you’ve never seen glass on fins before they are glassed on to a board, you’d be amazed how thin and sharp they are.

It’s all in how you foil them, how thin the tip, how much rake, how wide the base, etc. Take the time to get the design right…and you got to do 3 of them the same way, or your going to have an asymetrical board.

I’m rambling…

-Jay