FCS Quads - What are you using ?

[bohdidontsurf]

Hey Dug i found a place in the US that possibly still sells whitelines..Well they advertise for them anyway..Maybe they are worth a try if you still prefer those.

http://beckersurf.com/browse/productDet ... ?skuid=459

Set of whitelines on Ebay now. Get on em.

[bohdidontsurf]

I tell ya what the one thing that really pisses me off about quads and would probably stop me getting another one is trying to figure out the right fin set up. what a fucking pain in the arse. NO THANKS.

No wonder you call yourself dinosaur with an attitude like that. Amazes me that you progressed from a single fin. Gee 2 fins , too much to think about compared to one type on a thruster.... WTF! Wish thats all I had to worry about.

[pridmore]

try m5's in front and m3's in back, I use doule foiled in the back, little bit less sensitive but seems to help with flow thru turns...oh, thats right there not FCS, so just use Futures versions of similar fins...
I know you said you dont like playin with them but think when you get a set that feels right, then it is well worth it....
Why no fins supplied ? what was recommended to you to use ?....

[oldman]

I remember when those boards got delivered and either you or fong (?) put up a pic.

Bloody nice boards, especially the quad, but I'll be buggered if I can help you with fin set up. On this and many other things I have no idea.

[Surfin Turf]

^^^^^

do you like to hang around in a mens gymnasium ....

have you ever been to a turkish bath house ...

[bohdidontsurf]

No it's definately not that design.

2newboards.jpg

Well I didn't get fins with it. And ive been using twin fins in the front and normal thruster vectors in the rear. I want to go smaller in the front, to the normal size i would use in a thruster and then slightly smaller but drivey in the back. As you can see the rear fins are on the same angle as the front and the placement favours the rails rather than the center. I'm concerned that double foils in the rear would not work too well with this set up, maybe create too much drag.

Maybe i should just PM this to Mckee for some free advice.

Theres only one set of fins for that quad board, Futures Hex Core Stretch Quad set. I use them on a similar board and they are unreal. If you want a bit more inside foil buy the same fins but in glass flex. You wont believe how good they are.

[Quangers]

I can't wait to start trying out some of those fin combos in my new quad - I'd like to get her wet first though...Fcuk it, I just need to show her off eh.

[DV8]

Tried M-7 on the front and M-5's on the back this morning in 3-4ft punchy beachys and very impressed took away the slide of the G-1000's and just gave me more range again . Happy camper !

[oldman]

what type/size board. whats your weight?

do you work out?

are you single?

have you ever seen a grown man naked?

^^^^^

do you like to hang around in a mens gymnasium ....

have you ever been to a turkish bath house ...

Do you like gladiator movies?

[Cpt.Caveman]

Hows everyones fin experiments going? Any new findings to share?

I've been playing a little bit with fins for my new quadfather (6'0" x 19 1/2" x 2 9/16", I'm 5'11" and 83kg) and reading about the physics of fins to try and decide whats going to work best for what I want in the board.

MP suggested M3 in front, and double foiled M1000 in the back. This worked a treat for small and medium waves, and was a real treat to turn. It was a little stiffer on my backhand than a K-fin thruster that I used to surf at the same dimensions, but it didn't take much getting used to.

This combo didn't handle double overhead waves all that well, so I tried M5 front and M3 single-foiled fins in the back. This worked really well for bigger point waves, but I found that it didn't reset itself after turns as well. I had to use my body to drive the turns around a lot more.

I was reading that if you want more drive, to increase the size of the front fins. Next surf in smaller waves I tried M5 front and double foiled M1000 back, and the drive was amazing. The downside was that the extra stiffness was a bit harder to handle on my backhand. Forehand is was manageable, and I actually really liked it for fast down-the-line waves.

I had a thought, you have a lot more hold and fin area to play with for a quad, so what are everyones thoughts on using more pivotal fins in front? e.g. the K2.1 or another similar pivotal design?

It seems as though whenver the fin size goes up in front, the board gets a lot stiffer. What if those fins were a more pivotal shape like the K2.1? Added to this, some sort of slightly smaller double foiled rear fin. This could be rocket speed and nice pivot, what do you guys think?

[Cpt.Caveman]

I'm going to head to an FCS test-drive centre and try to experiment a little. My thoughts are:

If you increase the size of the fins in front (e.g. M3 up to M5) you not only increase the surface area and drive, but you also increase the amount of rake in the up-size. This seems to have the drawback of being a little more stiff through turns, especially on the backhand.

What if you increase the size of the fins in front, but use a more upright and pivotal fin with less rake, like the K2.1? or even an MR twinny fin (very little rake from what I noticed)? I could imagine that you will have more drive, but not much more stiffness through turns.

Added to this, what if you still have a smaller back fin to allow for more pivot (or "oversteer" according to McKee) but that fin also has less rake than usual, like the Q1 or GX?

I'm hoping that this combination will still have the advantages of a quad (more hold and security through turns, more drive, less speed lost through turns, etc.), but be able to pivot similar to a thruster?

What do you guys think?

[Wingnut]

I bought a set of these the other day, a lot cheaper than FCS and they've got a 70/30 foil. They appear to be well made so I'll give them a go.

[Cpt.Caveman]

Has anyone tried a fin set that are meant to be for quads? There seem to be a fair few of them out there, but just seem like a typical mix of bigger front fins and smaller back fins.

Nothing all that different to your thruster fin set.

[pridmore]

some people enjoy H2's on the front and 1000's on the back, maybe try M3's front and back, thats what I have been using in a 5'7 " Fat-Bat and they go a treat up to head high...which the board is predominantly designed for anyway...I am playing with some timber fins ATM and they are goin well so far, seem to be much lighter and the float seems to be a benefit in small waves thats for sure....

[Trev]

Hey Mark. Where've you been?
OS?

[pridmore]

Thailand...it was all time, great holiday spot... Had 3 surfs at Phuket....waves werent great really but still fun. warmest water I ever surfed in.....3 ft wind swell every day I was there....Food was epic...so cheap......

[WANDERER]

I have refined my setup slightly again and yet again I have been enthused with the improvement in response from the board. I have now moved to M5 single foiled side fins in the forward/outside position and single foiled GX's in the rear/inside positions, this is by the best feel so far, previously I had the fins in the opposite way with the smaller fins in front and larger in back, making the change has removed almost all twitchey-ness and is now 100% rock solid and super drivey under foot, this is is long way from the absolute abortion that the first set up was (M5 single foiled front and M5 symmetrically foiled rear).
Next I would like to try maybe AB1's or 2's in the front, or possibly M3's, I still think that the surface area of the M5's is well and truly above and beyond what is necessary and I reckon that the balance of control and drag can still be pushed further, reducing the size of the forward fins and even possibly moving the leading edge of the forward fins closer to the tail of the board may yet still improve the performance of the board further, at this stage that would be a bonus as at this point in time the current set up has the Liquadeighter absolutely shralping on big open faces and carving buckets off the top.

[pridmore]

interesting stuff, I always prefer the leading fins to be the bigger of the set, I tried plenty of mixes of fins and not once did a smaller front fin feel better IMO.... Wasnt the first set M5 side foils and M3's double foiled ??? I still find this a good set for my Fat-Bats and wide tailed quads but too much area for my Quadfathers ( narrower tails...and too much fin area as well as diff placement )...The board you are riding seems to be going well and thats the main thing and if you are chucking buckets on the 8ft quad, than the fins must be doin their thing... I am chatting with Taylor Jensen and am doing him a quady soon, prob a 9fter for high performance stuff, should be good considering he won Noosa and just won the Aussie title....now I need a name for a 9fter ...???