quad placement sim-sup type board

[bajasurf]

I am finally up and riding my 8' simsup, and I am not liking my glass-on 9" keel fins very much, way to stiff. I put them 4" from the tail. I love the big keels on my mini simmons, but not on this board...  Any numbers for quad tail & rail placements on these wide tailed boards?  Any fin preferences?

Any help is appreciated...

[supsurf-tw]

Shoot for 7 1\2 rear and 14 for the fronts. 1\4" toe for the fronts and 1\8 for the rears. When you sight nose to tail the front fins should have more outward tilt than the rears.

Rear edge of front fins 1 1\4 from rail and rear fins around 2" give or take a little either way depending on how loose you want the board.

There are many options but for me this is how I set mine up for a boards like yours

[bajasurf]

If I get a chance this weekend, I will cut out some fins and glass them on at your recommendations... Thanks for the input..

[supsurf-tw]

If I get a chance this weekend, I will cut out some fins and glass them on at your recommendations... Thanks for the input..

I'd install some FCS plugs and play with different fins. The mistake we made with quads in the late 80's is that we glassed the fins on. I don't know how many boards we threw away when all we needed was slightly different fin templates to dial things in just right.

[bajasurf]

I glassed them in and the board surfed much better than before.  That is when I caught waves... I think I got lucky and the glass ons will be fine...

My next board will be a 8.8 or 8.10 SIMSUP type board and I will use fin boxes...  the problems with futures, is the jig costs so much. $250 or so, just for jig and router bit, the add another $ for the fins.    I am a white boy living in Mexico for the lifestyle and only make a few boards every year...   Anybody have a used futures jig they are willing to sell?  The probox jigs are cheap.  Problem is not much on fin selection with probox. 

Any ideas on futures install without jigs?  Looks like two different levels...

[Dwight (DW)]

  The probox jigs are cheap.  Problem is not much on fin selection with probox. 

Huh 

Largest selection in the world... FCS

FCS fit all proboxes without any modification.

Who uses probox in probox? 

[bajasurf]

Thanks, for the info.  Makes cloices easier..

I didn't know all FCS fit Proboxes.

I have lived in Mexico last 32 years, so not 100% up on anything US and the world.], including politics, celebrity status and of course Proboxes and FCS fin systems..

[raf]

I made a jig for futures fin installs in about 15 minutes out of a 50 cent piece of MDF. 

[bajasurf]

What's MDF?  Any pictures?

[supsurf-tw]

MDF is a very hard type of particle board ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[raf]

mdf = medium density fiberboard.  its super flat and consistent density.  very good for veneering applications.  Cheap too. comes in 4x8 sheets of varying thicknesses.

Lay your futures box over a 12" x 6" piece of 1/4" mdf, line it all up with a center line.  You should have a trim router set up with a collet and 1/4" straight bit.  Measure the difference between the outer edge of the bit blade and the outside edge of your collet.  Thats how much bigger your hole in the jig needs to be (than the futures box itself.).  Drill it out however you want, and finish it all off nice and neat with a file and sandpaper.      Sorry if that doesn't make sense, but its pretty basic.  No need to get too crazy...epoxy/cabosil will fill hairline voids.  I keep the jig stuck to my foam with double face tape.

This is just to cut the outer flange depression.  For the inner hole, I just freehand it since I'll be setting all the boxes with thickened epoxy anyways. 

Apologies for getting a little off topic

[bajasurf]

Thanks for the info, very helpful.  Making your own jig makes perfect sense for a backyard builder...