do you mean all 5 fins in? I have a Lost Stealth with the 5 fin set up and its nice for different conditions but nothing amazing. I use a thruster most of the time anyway. Ive never done all 5 though hahaha now im kind of interested in how it would ride.
lol,Na although that would be interesting.Do you notice any drag when using it as a thruster or a quad?
The thruster works better in most conditions. If its smaller the quad will provide a little more drive as it should. Overall though the 5 fin is more of a selling point rather than performance boost IMO. If you're leaning on getting one I'd say go for it but don't be afraid to get a traditional thruster or quad. Hope that helps...
I have a Felix Modfish from Greg Griffin that uses all 5 fins. It's an incredible board that will never leave my quiver.
i have a 6'0" dumpster diver style board w/ that set up. i've ridden it as a tri a few times & as a quad a few times, now i have it set up as a twin w/ a trailer (one of my all-time favorite fin configurations). we'll see how it goes if we ever get another stomach-chest high day... i think it's a good option if you're curious about quads, but don't want to take the "risk" of getting a straight-up quad that you may not like. it certainly offers a lot of versatility. you won't notice the empty plugs dragging either. if guys like slater, who seems to get all or most of his boards w/ that option now, don't have an issue w/ it, i doubt mere mortals like us will. if you've never ridden a quad before, be sure to try a few different sets of fins in the front & rear spots. they seem to take some tweaking before they get dialed in. thrusters are more "plug & play" where you can just drop a set of fins in & go. i generally suggest riding a board w/ the 5 fin option as a thruster first, to get a feel for the board, since that's what most people are familiar w/ normally. i don't think those boards are meant to be ridden w/ all 5 fins in at once...i think it would be horribly tracky & near impossible to turn. the few shapers out there who do genuine 5 fin boards use configurations that don't look anything like your typical tri/quad set up.
I have a Lost Stealth 5 fin as well. When I first got it I set it up as a quad for a month or two and I loved it. Then when I tried it as a thruster it really came alive. I've since tried it as a quad a few times here and there but prefer it as a thruster. It all depends on your style of surfing, if you like long drawn out turns then you will like a quad but I prefer the quick snappy feel of a thruster. It all comes down to preference and how you like to surf. Its definitely a good idea to grab one if you want to try out a quad for the first time without being stuck with a quad if you dont like it. Also its fun to always have the option to change it up when you want to try something new.
Just to clarify... there's 5-fin setups, then there's thruster/quad convertibles. Boards like Griffin's are true 5-fins, designed to be ridden with all five fins in. I believe most if not all of them have the rear three aligned in a row from rail to rail. Thruster/quad convertibles are not designed to be ridden with all five fins in. Usually there's a trailer spot, and two rear boxes somewhere in between the front set and the trailer. Putting all fins in a board like this will most likely feel very stiff and unresponsive.
I'm shaping my first quad/tri convertable and just installed the fin boxes this morning. Its a 6'2" x 20 1/2" x 2 1/2" thumb tail. I'll post a picture of the board and fin cluster. One thing i agonized over a little is that the front fins for quads seem like they are generally pushed a bit forward of where they would be for a typical thruster of the same size board. So this board will be set up with the fins pretty much where i thought the quad setup should go, but when set up as a tri-fin, the side fins will be a bit forward. That make any sense?
Shaped the blank a year ago, sitting in the shed not getting any glass love...the tail doesnt quite know whether it wants to be a thumb, or rounded pin,...i'll just call it a hybrid.
It does. When using a Canard setup, the location is a little different than a standard or McKee placement. Typically, the standard placement considers the front fins as the turning fins and the rear fins as trailers. As such, the toe-in & cant are also a little different. A Canard, on the other hand, intends the rear fins to be the turning fins and the forward fins to enhance their capability. Of course, there's no shortage of variations of each. Maybe LBCrew can weigh in and explain it a little better.
Dims are 6'2" x 20 1/2" x 2 1/2" Its a poly blank, but i'll glass it with epoxy resin. Decent about of rocker both in the nose and tail...basically shortboard rocker. Maybe 2" TR and 5" NR single concave under the chest to double concave through the fin cluster, vee out the tail. The front fins are slightly closer to the rail and have slightly more toe-in. Ray - i really dont know from McKee or Canard But i will say that the quad fin setup (all of it...distance from tail, distance from rail, toe-in, are pretty much copied from a couple quads i already have, or board repairs I templated...Jon Ashton, Xanadu, and WRVs. All of these quads have been small-medium wave fishy shapes. Definately not one of those quads setups where the rear fins are well back on the board, away from the rail, and parallel to the stringer...like the rear fin of a tri fin just split in two and moved a couple inches away from the rail. I had one of those once and didnt like it.
