so i've been looking at a board at the shop where i work...it's kinda been "calling" to me for a while & i'm really considering grabbing it when i get my tax refund in a week or so. the only thing that has kept me from jumping on it before is that it's a kind of fishcuit-like quad, & i've never had much (or any) success w/ them in the past. i pretty much only ride thrusters or bonzers. so my question to all you quad riders is, what fins do you like best? it's fcs, btw...i've been looking at the stretch quad set, the mayhem set, & maybe even running 4 pg-3 side fins in the thing. i've previously tried the pc-5 & 7 quad sets, the m-5 set, & a few random hybrids made up of random fins i had laying around. the main thing i have felt lacking in the quads i've ridden is drive. i'm not really too concerned w/ keeping the thing loose b/c i'm a fairly big guy & can pretty much put anything on rail w/ enough effort. i just don't want to grab the board, ride for a bit, & realize i've been wasting my time b/c i hate it.
The ones u sold me LOL But I only ride Futures I wanna try the FSA4 Hex RTM if they are on the fin tree I here great stuff about them
it's not you,quads are weird. but tri's have lots of drawbacks,too. i found bonzers really frustrating more often than not,but on certain days on certain waves they're awesome. i like single fins,but sometimes they are limiting. twins can be really great fun,or way too loose. but quads,yeah,better in some ways,but,a little weird in others,like,they don't feel natural. my shaper told me there's no such thing as a perfect board.
it has stock fins w/ it, but they're a set i've tried before & didn't like...m-5 fronts w/ g-xq rears. i got no drive out of them. plus they're the glass-flex material, which i have a tendency to break. right now, i'm leaning towards a pg-5 front/pc-2 (side fins) in back. i think that should provide me a nice combo of the drive i'm looking for & a bit of maneuverability.
How are the fins placed? Are they both out on the rail, toed in about the same, or are the rear fins set closer to the stringer, with less toe? Does the leading edge of the rear fin sit about an inch back from the trailing edge of the front fins, or is it set further back, closer to where a trailer would be on a thruster? Got a pic?
Right on. The shaper may have better insight as to what other fins may work for your wants/needs than another poster here. It's all about the hold and release. Shapers build more hold (or release) in the board itself with the rails or bottom contours, which directly affects how much fin is needed for a given type & weight of surfer. Those fins may not have worked on the last board you tried them on, but if this board has more soft rail and/or less concave and and/or less tail width, they may just work. I'm not saying they will. You may be able to save yourself $50 to $75 by giving them a test drive.
It's all about the hold and release. Shapers build more hold (or release) in the board itself with the rails or bottom contours, which directly affects how much fin is needed for a given type & weight of surfer. Those fins may not have worked on the last board you tried them on, but if this board has more soft rail and/or less concave and and/or less tail width, they may just work. I'm not saying they will. You may be able to save yourself $50 to $75 by giving them a test drive.[/QUOTE] I totally agree at least try the quad set that comes with the board. I personally when going quad fins prefer a flat inside foil. I have the Slater (5 fin set) but that quad set up is great, but if your bigger the board is a really wide tail you probably need a bigger fin. I would try the MR quead set up for a fish type board, Basically a big ol set of twin fins with some smaller stailzers in the back, should be really fun in a fishcuit syle board, having that much fin in the water with a flat inside foil you should get some drive out of them. If you work at a shop you should be able to "test drive" plenty of fcs fins right?
I posted this on the surfermag site as well: try the Hynson Quads, Rusty Quads, or Mayhem quads. You want more surface area on a wide tail board and if you want drive, you want rake. Rusty Quads would be a good start.
I've owned three quads all fishy shaped swallow tails... First one was a 6'0" with the fins a bit further back and much further off the rail, closer to the stringer with less toe. To me the board felt sluggish and no drive out of turns. I thought i didnt like quads....but eventually gave quads another shot. The second two quads the rear fins were out on the rail just behind the front fins, and with almost equal toe in. the boards feel faster down the line and spring forward out of turns.
I have 3 fish shapes (All quads) and a different fin set up for each one because they all perform completely different. I did the try it before you buy it route with fcs at a local shop and slowly got each board dialed in.
I have a round tail fish setup as a 5 fin i got a few months back. I had never ridden a quad before. I ended up settling in with what is described above. MR twins up front and small GX trailers in the rear. I thought I would experiment more, but since I settled into this setup, I've been reluctant to change. i get lots of drive and still enough out of teh turns for me. I'm 210lbs and can muscle the board around with this fin area no problem. In tiny surf I've taken the trailers out and ridden as a twin. Went well, but a little less drive it seemed. I got the set of gx trailers double foiled so I can use one as trailer in a twin plus trailer setup, but I have yet to try that. I keep meaning to, but then when it comes time, I just end up leaving the quad set in there cus I know it works for me. I really don't know much about fins. I tried this setup after reading some reviews for Todd Proctor's little Rascal 2, which is somewhat similar to the shape of my board. He puts this setup on his stock...I copied. Mine are glass flex, so their not as stiff as they should be, but I cheaped out. The fronts are the MRTFX. I had someone that knows alot more than me about fins suggest the Rusty set previously mentioned as well. Supposedly they have a lot of drive for bigger guys.
True, everyone has a personal preference. Here's what I've figured out for myself, and it might make sense to you... The general rule for me is, the closer the rear and front fins are on a quad... a true quad, not a twinzer, etc.... the closer the fins should be in size, shape, and foil. As the cluster spreads out, the need for the fins to act independently increases, and the more the fins need to be a different size, shape and foil. If the toe is about the same, and the fins are only an 1 - 1 3/8 apart (leading edge to trailing edge), regular side fins from a thruster set work best. You can have some difference in area, but not much... bigger fins in front if you do. These two fins "work together." The exception to the rule is the speed dialer type fins, which I am not a big fan of. They're supposed to work like a split keel, but for me, a regular well placed, single foiled, slightly toed and canted keel works a lot better. As the fins cluster spreads out... rear fins back further, and closer to the stringer... the toe and cant angles should change, the size of the fins should change (larger fins in front, in most cases), and the foils of the front and rear fins should change... in extreme cases, you can use double foiled fins as rear fins, if their toe and cant is nearly straight. This is to accommodate the different arc the rear fins trace out during a turn than the front fins... the front fins have a bigger radius than the rears, so they have to travel through the water at different angles to minimize drag.
i have a set of the MR fins in fiberglass & a couple of double foiled trailer fins...i'll have to give that set up a try. do you know what kind of foil comes on the rears for the slater quad set? they're flat, right? i looked at that set up as well, but wasn't too stoked on the front fins...maybe my g-am fronts & slater quad rears in the back? this thread has given me a LOT to think about, fin-wise. i'll have to take a second look at the mayhem, rusty, & slater sets when i work next.
awesome! thanks! i'm thinking that, whatever fins i end up going w/, i'm going to want flat foiled all around. inside foiled fins have never been my thing.
At 200 lbs the stock m-5 fronts and qx rears didn't work for me either. My thruster set up is TC redlines. Long story short I smashed my center fin on a coral head and got out of the water to replace it but only had my stock set in the vehicle. TCs up front & Qx in the back. I'm am so stoked on it I have yet to change it back even though I have another set of TCs and 2 sets of MRs. Speaking of which does anyone else hate the trailer on the MR sets? I thought it was a regular GL and tried to surf it as such and was embarrassed.
