MyPaipoBoards Forums

It looks pretty much like the board above (the one with the black pinline). I made some additional small tweaks to the rocker and the rail shape, but outline, bottom contours and fin placement are the same.

Bob, I find that getting into some of the weaker waves of FL, increasing the thickness did the trick. And that was regardless of what I weighed in a 25 lb range. Once the waves reached 6 ft and pitching range I could move to my thinner, narrower Checkered RPM. Sometimes a little tail rocker helps getting into those waves, but if you are paddling a lot to catch a wave like longboarders do it could slow you down.

I'm going 2" longer, 1/4" wider and about an 1" thicker - a lot of the board was around 1".

So...final dims?

54 x 21 x 2ish. It's likely going to be made from 2" sheets. The last 2' may be a little thicker.

Finally! After an 8-week wait, my new G-7 has been completed.
What you can't see is the belly-to-concave-to-exit concave-with-V bottom contours. You may notice the large 5.1" twin fins that I've installed. There are two reasons for this; the first is that the surfer who ordered the first G7 reported that he found that this size fin gave the best performance in even small waves, and second, it was the only set of red fins I had on hand I have a set of black 4.6" fins which I believe will give the best performance, but I have an open mind. I will be traveling down south to San Diego this weekend where I hope to get some decent waves and give this board a good trial.

Caught a solid combo swell Mother’s Day Weekend in San Diego. Clean conditions in the AM on both days, sand-filled reef point with 3’-4’ faces on Friday, bumping up to 6’-7’ faces on Saturday. I surfed the G7 Twin on Fri with 4.6” fins (TA Side-Bites) and 5.1” fins on Sat (TA Twin). The G7 Twin with 5.1’ fins performed better across the board when compared to the G7 Twin with smaller fins. When using the smaller 4.6” fins, the G7 would occasionally drop 3”-4” down the face of steep sections. Turns felt drift-y, imprecise. The 5.1” fins corrected both of these issues.
When comparing the G7 Twin to the G5 Quad I found that paddling speed was similar, although the G7 seemed a bit faster. This may have attributable to the slightly flatter rocker and less fin drag. Speed on the wave also seemed similar, except when the 4.6 would loose traction, and “stumble” down the face a bit, losing speed. The other differences were those typically seen when comparing twin fins to quad fins; namely better hold with the quad and better sustained speed in the upper-third of the wave face, but looser handling with the twin. I was pleased that the simplified bottom of the G7 performed well. Building a G7 Quad would seem to be the next logical step.

Eureka! moment...I bought a set of fins for my new but still-being-glassed kneeboard, and on a lark I installed them on my G7. WOW! The improvement in performance rivals my quad G-5. The fin template is the Wayne Rich Nightmare Twin by True Ames fins. Wayne is a shaper's shaper, having won the prestigious "Boardshow"/Sacred Craft shape-off at least three times. At first glace, the Nightmare looks like waaaay too much fin for a prone board. Surface area of one fin is over 25 sq inches. But the fin has a unique shape and inside foil that is similar to some of Robin Mair's Hanalei fins. This set of fins allowed the G7 to perform as designed; fast, smooth and just loose enough. Did I say "fast"? Yesterday I caught a building SW swell at my local point, with 4-5ft set waves. On the first wave, the G7 dropped in and clung to the highline, ripping across a hissing section with me hanging on in disbelief. Absolutely the fastest I've gone on a prone board, and I've had some speedy prone-board rides. Cut-backs were not as quick as a typical twinnie, but they rivaled turns on my quads. Bottomline, great twin fin for lined up pointbreak waves. Jury is still out on beachbreaks...
Yeah, they're huge...

Geez. They look like a pair of meat cleavers. A site I looked at stated they were 4.9" tall. Is that right. Futures base?

Both FCS(2-tab) or Futures (1-tab)
HEIGHT: 4.90" / 124 mm
BASE: 4.80" / 123 mm
AREA: 25.30"² / 163 cm²

I'd be interested in trying them out but was concerned about my FCS 2-tab fin boxes being sturdy enough for all that torque. On top of shelling out so much for more fins! Take 2 inches of height off sounds for doable on my end but I don't see that model being produced.

I've been using FCS Fusion and more recently FCS II boxes for over 10yrs, with all types of boards and fin templates, and I've never had a fin box or a fin tab failure due to a surfing maneuver. I've seen fin boxes of all types' e.g. Bahne, Futures and FCS dislodged following collisions with rocks, other boards, etc but never from a surfing maneuver, and that's after 11yrs in a busy ding repair/ glassing shop. But that just been my experience. I know that the early FCS "pots" were notorious for pulling loose, but with the advent of FCS Fusion, this problem was eliminated. I never worry about fin or fin box failure while surfing, and you shouldn't either.

I see no reason for it to be 2" shorter. That would reduce fin area by more than 20% and would defeat the purpose of using fins this size. I've used twin fins ranging in size from 3.25" depth to 5.25" depth. Like you I was hesitant to go over 4.6" depth, but a customer convinced me to try the Mark Richards Twin template, and while an improvement over the "Large" size(usually 4.6"-4.7") of a variety of templates, it didn't have the "grip" that my quad-fin boards have. The Nightmare template and foil is very different from anything else I've used. They compare most closely to the Hanalei fins, which I was always a skeptic. Not anymore...

Turbo fan blades

Interesting thought...although airplane prop speeds are much greater. I really don't understand the science behind either. The basic fin template has roots that go all the way back to the Dewey Weber "Hatchet".

Summer doldrums are putting a kink in my R&D plans. I've got another twin fin set to try out. Too early to start thinking about a Fall Paipo Gathering?

I am all tapped out for additional travel in 2021, but definitely consider another paipo gathering. Please start a new thread for that discussion.