Thruster-ectomy

[Old School 213]

I'm thinking about having fin boxes added to a Starboard 10'6" Wide Point to change it from a thruster to a quad.  The stock fin set up has a large center and small-ish side bites. I'm just finding the board to be really tight on the face of a wave. This may be because my only basis for comparison is a 7'6" thruster I prone surf on.

So what do you folks think?

A) Try a new fin set? If so, do you have a recommendation?

B) Do the quad thing and don't look back? If so, any recs on a good So Cal shop to do it.

C) Don't mess with it, learn to surf *that* board better. 

Another interesting thought about fin placement, can I still use the stock side bite placement and if so, should I add the other set in front of or behind the stockers?

[Old School 213]

Oh, and the current center fin is the stock Hexcel 220 fin.

[JimK]

Quads are (generally) looser and faster than 2+1 fin set up But...

Don't try to add another set of fins to Starboards they are NOT reinforced for it and will probably fail

JimK
www.extremewindsurfing.com

[PaddleCrazy]

On the advice of Joe Blair, I took the big center fin out of my 10'6" and just surfed it off the two side-bites.

It was definitely no longer "tight on the face of a wave", in fact, it was a bit "squirrelly".  At times, the board would actually slide sideways......maybe someone with more experience would be able to surf that better, but where I was at the time, that wasn't gonna get the job done.  It was also a pain in the arse to paddle, as it yawed quite a bit with every paddle stroke.

Went and picked up a smaller (4-1/2") center fin and that sure seemed to be the way to go with that board.  Loosened it up quite a bit and paddling straight was much, much better (obviously not as much with the bigger fin, but it got the job done nicely).

Just another possibility.....good luck.

[AJR]

Definitely try some different fin sets first.  K5 in Oceanside has several SUP sets on their loaner tree.  I ditto the recommendation to try a smaller center fin.

[PaddleCrazy]

"AJR" (or anyone),

Do you know of someone in San Clemente, Dana Point, or "South OC" that has loaner fins also?  

I'd like to try some different setups on my newer board (9'6" x 31' x 4-1/4"), or if anyone might have some suggestions, that would be appreciated.

"Old School", hope I'm not hijacking your thread, but thought that a discussion on "surf" setups would be appropriate.....I can start another thread if you'd rather.  Just lmk....

[OUTSIDEWAVE]

try taking the center fin out or just using a very small fin  see if you can get 2 deep side biters and  try it like that  it is very good  stable but loose.

[abmatt]

My Blair came with three fins the same size, the same as on a thruster prone board. It seems to work well. (Joe didn't speak highly of the 2 plus 1 set up.) Wonder if your fin setup would allow you to experiment with something like that?
Definitely the easiest thing to do would be to follow the advice of others to try a small --- probably smaller than you think -- center fin. Will make a ton of difference.

[AJR]

"AJR" (or anyone),

Do you know of someone in San Clemente, Dana Point, or "South OC" that has loaner fins also? 

I'd like to try some different setups on my newer board (9'6" x 31' x 4-1/4"), or if anyone might have some suggestions, that would be appreciated.

"Old School", hope I'm not hijacking your thread, but thought that a discussion on "surf" setups would be appropriate.....I can start another thread if you'd rather.  Just lmk....

sorry but I don't - oceanside isn't that far from San Clemente though.  Or you could call around and ask threw shop if they have the Futures loaner tree.  Start with Paddle Surf Warehouse maybe.

[Ake G]

I have a Starboard 10'5" wide point.

Have found the stock Hexcel 190 moved all the way up in the fin box w/the 4.5 sides really work the best after much experimentation.

Second best was a 170 center w/5.5 sides (from another board)..... still 2+1 but almost a thruster set-up.

A bit looser but not a huge difference.

Maybe try 3 narrow-based 5" or 5.5" fins.

A ten foot board is still a ten foot board and is always going to ride and handle (more or less) like a ten foot board. Not much you do fin-wise is going to change it that much on a wave. Especially with a big 32" wide board like the 10'5" wide point.

[SUPerstitious]

I have tried out several different fins in the center box on my 10'4' x 32" Focus.

Going from a 10" to a 7" fin made a huge difference for me. I could hardly turn the board with the 10" on it, no matter where I placed it in the fin box.

With the 7", it is a whole new board.

I think you are better off trying some new fins before you start modifying your board.

[Surfworld]

Drop the size of your center fin to something smaller, I have gone much smaller and had good results on the drive. I don't know how radical the 10'5 widepoint will be since it is 32 wide. But if you drop the center fin out all together or ride it as a twin and you should have some fun.

[Old School 213]

Thanks  for the ideas/input. I'll give some different fins a try. Looks like there are a few SUP options out there plus prone fins.