Installing an FCS plug

As far as the fin placement, the recommendaiton is 3.25 from the tail. Its a medium swallow I would say. It's a shame neither photo actually shows it, but in pic #1, there is about another inch of board or so right out of the photo where the bottom of the V from the swallow starts. So, as far as the placement, after looking at all my other boards, which are thrusters, It looks like the proper setting is going to be 1/2 to an inch further back than the back two fins in the quad setup. If the back fins are taken completely out of the equation then, the setup will be pretty much the same placement as my other thursters. I only have one other SB with a very tiny swallow, so the other 10 boards I am looking at all have squash, rounds or pins, so I am trying to look at it rail to rail really, since there are a couple extra inches of foam and glass on the other tail configurations.

Later, I will snap a picture, of the entire tail. Hopefully that will give you a clearer idea of what it looks like.

My whole deal is, I love the board. I am just a thruster guy. This board is about 5 years old, custom shaped for me and it's gem. Not a scratch on it. Taken it all over the west coast, mexico, SE and it really is a great board and it generally does exactly what its supposed to. I am just being greedy about it, but I would not sacrifice damage to it for the sake of experiment.

SO, I might be more inclined to actually convert one of my old beat up thrusters into a 5 fin/quad setup just to give it a test run and make sure I don't butcher it.

Cause to be honest, I have never REALLY tried a HPSB in a quad setup. They just weren't a popular choice for any of the guys I surfed with in CA which is where all my boards are from. Quads weren't even really in the conversation, ever. This fish is actually the first quad I had ever asked Micah for.The kid I surfed with during Arthur was on a little HPSB with a quad setup and he was snatching a barrel on pretty much every wave.

 

Haha. Not too much. I have dropped a few different fins into the front's and back's respectively. Tried the figure eight red FG3 foils in the back. A bit too big. Tried standard FCS FG5's up front. Really no difference there.

But the go-to fins that I use are the one my shaper put with the board to begin with. They are FCS M4 Quattros with an M5 template in the larger two and the M2 template in the smaller two. I messed around with it at one point and put the M2's up front and the M5s in the back, but I could feel that it did nothing positive, so I switched it back to the intended M4 setup, which is the M5's up front and the M2's in the back.



MORE:
Description Item # SPM8092218802 Model # 300096448
No M5 Sides M2 SidesThe FCS M4 quad design concept was pioneered by surfer shaper and inventor Bruce McKee The MSeries has a flexible tip for forgiveness and control at high speed The rear fin is designed to compliment the M5 template in the front and works best in conjunction with McKees fin placement guide The M2 Rear fin is designed for the lighter surfer and featuring inside foil technology and a consistently smooth flex pattern This smaller and round fin is extremely fast and lively and sits between the G1000 and G3000 in area Can be used across a variety of different conditions The Inside Foil technology offers superior drive and hold Glass flex offers a flex pattern modeled off a handfoiled fiberglass fin and the ability to hold highly technical computer generated foils accurately The M4 quad set can be used on a variety of board templates and offers drive and control



Any advice would be appreciated. Again, I think I am splitting hairs a little with this whole thing, because I have this board dialed in. I was overall a little unhappy with it's responsiveness in the barrel, but again, I never thought I would be using this board for barrel riding when I got it shaped. On the west coast, this is what I would use in chest high, mushy reefs and points and it was a monster.... So, I am not completely hating on the fact that it's a quad. But I really change my whole style somewhat when I ride it. In order to get a really big radius on a snap or tail slide, I have to stay more upright over it and keep my center of gravity. I feel like the lack of a pivot fin doesn't allow me to let the board slide out some and take better angles. With that being said, I know a lot of that has to do with the rails and tail on the board, since its a fish.... I can just feel that the board WILL do it... that quad just seems to prevent me from just tossing it out in front of me on a layback snap. It just doesn't recover. When you do an erratic turn on it like that, its over basically.

 

Forgot to get a pic of it last night. I was out on a job site until after dark. Will get some in at lunch. I will go through my OLD google+ pics. I think I got a shot of it from tail to nose when I first bought it.

 

So, I poked around the internet. I knew that Micah posted a picture of this board on his blog/website when he was done shaping it for me.... This doesn't give you the exact measurements, but at least you can at least see the fin setup....

It's 5'7x19.75 to put it into perspective.....

 

Based on the photo, how far up from the stringers tip on the tail should I think about dropping that center plug, or you could describe it based on how far "back" from the current back fins.