Composite Fins - The beautiful world of ultra light and ultra strong

The discovery of bronze enabled people to create metal objects which were better than was previously possible. Tools, weapons, armor, and various building materials, like decorative tiles, made of bronze were harder and more durable than their stone and copper ("Chalcolithic") predecessors. - Thanks Wikipedia

So, what does bronze have to do with surfboards?

Since the surfboard trade has two main production facets; industry production lines and the backyard shaper, a stark contrast can be aligned with the discovery and subsequent use of bronze in antiquity versus the use of composite materials in surfboard building today. Especially when examining the "backyard" shaper.

Bronze (an alloy of copper and tin) completely changed how the known Aegean world (approx 1750BCE) would live. Think "Brad Pitt" and "Troy" and "Mycenae"; Bronze allowed humans to build weapons, armor, fountains, sea fearing ships (the trireme), oars, tools and just about anything else that would require: a corrosion resistant, flexible and durable metal cladding or core.

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Welcome to the world of "composites"; I shall use the term inclusively to refer to a mix of:

PVC rigid foam, EPS foam, Wood, Honeycomb plastic or just about any other workable substrate
+
Fiberglass, Carbon Fibre, Kevlar, Wood laminate
+
Epoxy
= a composite super material.

Any combination of these materials will yield a wide variety of strength (tensile and mechanical), flex and energy harness and release.

Currently, the Five lab has been playing with a multitude of variations in fin design. Unlike, the large companies composites, our fins are made one by one, hand shaped and glassed using a vacuum bag to ensure a superior mechanical bond.

Here are a couple fin sets in production right now;

FCS - K-2 Keels - 6/4oz + epoxy - light sand and ready for design and hotcoat

FCS - K-2 Keels - 6/6/4oz + red/blk resin swirl - ready for trimming and vac bag

Future - Quad Controller - New pair-a' shoes for The Wombat

(from L to R) Future K2 Keels, Future MR Twins, Future Controller quads
(sorry for the blurry pic)

Not pictured: Future Kelly K-3 thurster, Future production quad, FCS K2 Keels, Future Stretch Quad, Future Rasta Keels.

We are hard working on some real numbers for Strength to Weight ratio of these fins. With the few tests completed thus far; none of the fins have broken...not even a single FCS tab!

Stay tuned.
Nev

5' 10" Sweet P - Gets new bottom rails

"Surfboards are as disposable as Dixi cups"

With a slow last week of surf, the Five Lab has been pumping out work;

Fins, glass jobs, pie shaped tail rebuilds, blank building and a whole slew of repairs on a wide variety of boards. Its always interesting to reverse engineer a surfboard. Envision its first stages as a production blank, the first passes with the planer, to the careful examination of the complicated contour lines all blending together seamlessly. All of this, to simply make a "surfcraft" - sometimes it seems overwhelming that so much labour goes into such a disposable tool of the sport.

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5' 10" - Sweep P - Bottom Rail Shaping;

The steps are simple - use a series of geometric measurements to obtain either a 50:50 (boxy) or a 60:40 (down-turn) rail. As Harry has requested a 60:40 rail to make the board surf better while maintaining a substantial amount of thickness for float. We will be focusing on the ":40" part of the ratio. Special tool jigs and a keen eye are very important for the bottom rail; As the bottom rail line is the main contact with the water and the first to "grip/release" when "setting a rail".



It all starts with the squarest edge you can obtain.

Photo: Harry S

  

The Rail Walk
Photo: Harry S




Rail Screen - a tool best served dull
Photo: Harry S

 

Bottom blend complete
Photo: Harry S



Inspection
Photo: Harry S

5' 10" Firewire - Sweet Potato - Concave Shaping

A fun weekend of surf and more on tap for the next few days.
Fall is the best - Wind is up and water temperatures are still in the moderate range (55 - 65F) simply requiring a 3/2 or 4/3 with or without booties.

Fall is notorious for producing the first run of swells for the season, no matter where you are: Lakes, Right Coast or West Coast.

Great to get back into the water locally, especially when its solid 2-3FT peaks and no one else out but you and a few buddies.

Small Peak - No one out



Off the top



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On to the shaping;

Local water and lifestyle photog - Harry S stopped by the FIVE Lab to check out his new custom 5'10" Sweet P come to life and get some base concave work.

Blending single to double channel concave
Photo: Harry S

The board has low entry rocker and we wanted to maintain the paddling advantage by simply adding a moderate single concave up front to help the float forward board pick up waves in smaller mushier surf.

Assessment is time consuming
Photo: Harry S

To compliment the speed obtained from the single concave up front we added slight double channel concave out the back to help direct that fast moving water towards the fins for better drive.

Slight double channel out the tail
Photo: Harry S

This combination concave complimented with a full tail volume and outline should make it the board of choice when its a 1-2FT summer slop day; but still have all of the fun of a snappy fish.



Critical Measurements
Photo: Harry S



Ready for rails
Photo: Harry S

With surf on tap for most of the week, production on the Sweet P is halted to the weekend; with multiple boards in for repairs - there is lots to come in the near future.

Thanks,

Nev.