flexable skeg for exploring rivers?

[sup_romer]

Lately I've been going down a lot of rivers of my coast runner. Florida rivers have a lot of submerged logs and my skeg keeps getting caught. Has anyone seen a flexible skeg that could be installed or some other solution? A folding skeg like a spring loaded dagger board would be cool.

[kayadogg]

Corran makes a flip-up skeg.  Not something you could add to your board but that's probably the idea that you'd want to explore.  I'm not recommending a Corran SUP however, just showing you that this does exist.

[Larry Allison]

I just enter a Allison Urethane Lunar keel to my fin line for River and Fishing Sup Boards. This fin is 6.5" by 9"Base not to much flex but strong. Will have available in 6 weeks. Mahalo,Larry

[ninja tuna]

Hey Romer,

I have that Larry Allison half moon lunar keel fin on my fishing board.  It works really good and might be what you are looking for.  Here is where I talked about it

http://www.standupzone.com/forum/index.php/topic,24189.0.html

It is flexible enough to where it I would think it should not get caught up, but stiff enough to where it won't take away from performance too much.  With it being shorter it won't be as deep so that should avoid more of the underwater hazards. And with it being fuller it still should track good for you. Larry can add in all the science stuff for you.

Here is a photo of the flex on it.

I am pushing kinda hard too.

[robon]

How does that Lunar fin handle in turbulent currents? I did some rapids with whirl pools yesterday and a 9" fin catches the current almost instantly and tries to spin the board. The fin is a few inches shorter but still has a lot of suface area. Would it be better than a 9" dolphin fin for a fairly noobish swift water paddler?

[capobeachboy]

SurfCo Hawaii has been making flex fins for awhile.  Lots of Jr Guard programs put them on their paddleboards for safety and are a good solution for keeping your SUP fin boxes from getting ripped out.  The make everything from a soft edge fin to a full flex in 7" and 9".  ULI started using these as an option on their special edition models with fin boxes:  http://www.surfcohawaii.com/category-s/63.htm

I love Corran's take on the old surf ski / kayak flip-up fin.  Great application for running rivers and shallow water.

[airSUP]

we have a few models now selling 8" and 4.6" flexible fins, and soon 3" and 9" flexible fins.

you can order via our website : www.air-sup.com

[spookini]

I can vouch for the air-sup flexible yellow fin.  Bought it in order to get better clearance for low tide paddling.
It's a nice product and arrived very quickly.  Domo!!   

[AirJunky]

Paddling rivers is one reason why I went inflatable. The Lakeshore ISUP has a fin box like the NRS ISUPs. And you can get 3 different sizes, all of which are tough plastic. And their stupid cheap.

http://www.nrs.com/product/86101.02/nrs-sup-board-fins

[sup_romer]

What about removing the skeg completely? Will the length alone still make it track pretty straight?

[AirJunky]

What about removing the skeg completely? Will the length alone still make it track pretty straight?

I have all 3 lengths & they all act different.