The latest melaleuca missile # 5

[CHRISPI]

I like the rail thickness as well; I see it can be difficult to interpret pictures at a first glance on unconventional shapes. Nice board

[soulglider]

Bob, I don't see wings?

[GeoffreyLevens]

I did wonder how twins would interact with the wings - might go well or work against each other. Like many of our boards - its a bit of an experiment.

Bob

Yes, I think fin placement w/ twins could be a very finicky deal vs the wings. If done just right the wings could act as canards or similar. Maybe...

[nomastomas]

The FCS Fusion plug sets 5/8"/16mm deep. My glasser likes an additional 1/4" of foam between the bottom of the plug and the deck, so I add another 1/8" to that and shoot for 1" thickness minimum where I'm planning to install fins. These are the kind of things that have to be considered during the design phase, and carefully monitored while shaping. I like the "wing" rail for a finless board. All of my doodling of finless shapes have wings to one extent or another. I don't think it would interfere to have rail fins with wings, as long as the fin is not set too close to the rail. In my mind, such an application would be similar to a quad-fin set up. I would guestimate that you have 25L-26L of volume. How much does your new board weigh? How does the ride differ finned vs. finless?

[GeoffreyLevens]

Never rode it in big, powerful waves so do not know about ultimate strength, but I have installed old school FU long box in board that was thin enough that the tail end of the box was through on the deck and needed to be ground down and glassed over. Worked find as hard as I worked it anyway.

[bgreen]

The AKU shaper drawing listed volume as 21.9 litres - that's the basic shape without foam removal.It's pretty thin in the tail. I'd never ridden a single fin bellyboard so was happy to give one a go. Could it ride better with more fins - maybe, maybe not.

It tuberides well finless - it really gets some hold, but maintains speed. The big difference is in fuller waves and probably getting around whitewater. Hopefully I get to test it out on a couple of trips coming up.

It doesn't weigh a real lot. I can't weigh it at present as it is now wrapped in a board bag with my handled board, ready for a trip to Indonesia. Both boards came in under 14kgs on a set of dodgy bathroom scales the other day.

[krusher74]

its so different to what I ride I would love to have a go to see how it feels. Will it slide out if you want it too?

[bgreen]

its so different to what I ride I would love to have a go to see how it feels. Will it slide out if you want it too?

I'm not exactly sure what you mean about by sliding the tail out, but finless, I can weight forward and it will pull through the wave face. It certainly handles a tube, probably better than any other board I've had.

I hope to have some photos of the trip, of the board in action.

[bgreen]

Here is the new board being ridden finless. I rode it finned on the bigger, less hollow days.

Finless1a.jpg (69.26 KiB) Viewed 6471 times

A sequence at a fun right. The observant will notice a dive-fin. I lost 3 fins on the trip and the strap of another broke. A dive fin as well as an odd fin that was found where I was staying, kept me in the water.

Finless2a.jpg (67.28 KiB) Viewed 6471 times

Finless2b.jpg (74.12 KiB) Viewed 6471 times

Finless2c.jpg (78.59 KiB) Viewed 6471 times

Finless2d.jpg (71.11 KiB) Viewed 6471 times

[krusher74]

its so different to what I ride I would love to have a go to see how it feels. Will it slide out if you want it too?

I'm not exactly sure what you mean about by sliding the tail out, but finless, I can weight forward and it will pull through the wave face. It certainly handles a tube, probably better than any other board I've had.

I hope to have some photos of the trip, of the board in action.

I meant break the rail traction free and slide the board, say if you were in a bottom turn and turn up the face, to start a 360 you would push at the rail till its water traction broke, you would then be sliding on the flat bottom of the board.

[bgreen]

Ok, so if you're on a right going up the face from a bottom turn, your inside rail would be engaged. So are you pushing on the outside rail to break traction or do I have this wrong?