Buying my first new pair of fins for my 7"4 advice please!

[Tomi_li]

Okay guys Im about 137 pounds and my board is 7"4 and the fin setups are plugs

Now I tried to search online but can't find anything regards of the length of my surfboard and what type of fin setup is best. I was looking at a thruster setup like these http://www.surffcs.com/shop/surf-thrust ... -3-tri-set

Or I am not sure if a single fin + 2 $5 side bites would suit me better? I have been surfing for the past 4 months pretty diligently and last month I broke my center fin and need a new set for Christmas.


Also guys what is your experience buying off brand fins? There are quite a few off brand fins on amazon and some do not have a website and basically sell them half the price of fcs brand. Like these

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KE6 ... _i=desktop

If these are any good I could save $40 bucks for buying them but they would probably be between medium and a large fin.


Okay guys I know I asked allot but I appreciate it!

[jaffa1949]

If you were quite happy with what you were using why not just see if you can get the centre fin, , going a bigger fin with the plugs puts quite a bit of pressure on the plug and there may not be the forward and back adjustment that a fin box would give. Some centre fin fin systems have multiple plugs to give that but it still lacks some fine tuning!
At the max a single would be a 7" but if too far back it will be stiffer in turning.
Now the generic fins that copy FCS el cheapo Chinese ones the tags break more easily.
Depending in which country you reside there may be some choices of local fins.
Glass, Composite, Plastic are options too, were your fins doing it OK for you?
Another thing that may interest you there are places where you can test fins around the world , and get an idea.

[waikikikichan]

Please clarify the fin set-up you have. If all three fins were set into 3 FCS plug sets, then you have a thruster set-up. It is possible to go with a Twin-stabi ( large side with small center ). It is NOT possible to do a 2+1 unless your board had a center box and 2 side plugs.

The fiberglass - composite honeycomb fins are lighter and stiffer ( and more expensive ). But I would stay with the glass-flex bone colored stock fins. Cheaper and more scar resistant to reef, beach and parking lot. But be careful of the off brand plastic fins, they maybe more rubber than plastic.

Can you tell us what is written on the side of the fins still on your board ? M-5, G-3 ? What's the maker of your 7'4" ?

[Tomi_li]

Hey, thanks for replying guys. The fins were okay I guess but it always felt like it was really hard to turn on it. I also didn't know that a 2+1 generally has a center box so thanks for clearing that up.

To answer waikiki I have standard G-AM fins on my sauritch board, I did break one fin a few months ago and it costs 5 bucks to replace. I think they are size large.

[dtc]

If the board is really hard to turn your fins may be too large - they 'track' along the wave rather than being 'loose'. It might be technique, of course, but going smaller can really make a difference and you aren't very heavy. I reckon you could try a small/M3 size and see what happens.