Dorsal brand clear FCS fins
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Dorsal brand clear FCS fins
I've seen them on e bay. They're clear like the old Lexan transparent colored fins from the late 60s and have FCS tabs. Anybody know anything about these? I thought the FCS tab/setup had some kind of patent protection but maybe it expired. The fins are cheap enough and the transparency is kind of cool but I can't find anything about them on the internet and I don't know how well they actually function.
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Re: [Alex] Dorsal brand clear FCS fins
I have 3 dorsal fins for the standard long center box, not the FCS type. I got them because they are cheap. They are not the best choice. I re-foiled one, and another one I have buzzes when I turn hard.
Re: [Alex] Dorsal brand clear FCS fins
I haven't drawn the final conclusions yet.
But so far the evidence points to these FCS-style clear thruster sets being precisely "not the best choice".
Here's the link to the thread>>
http://www2.swaylocks.com/forums/my-thruster-humming-fins-how-to-diagnos...
Re: [Alex] Dorsal brand clear FCS fins
I thought the FCS tab/setup had some kind of patent protection but maybe it expired.
Im fairly sure there was a court case about this and FCS cant stop people making fins with the tabs but you cant replicate any single complete fin design of theirs or their plugs/ boxes.
Same with Futures, they dont have any patent on their fin base but they do on their boxes.
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Re: [Alex] Dorsal brand clear FCS fins
I have a set and they are very soft. I would say the material is not rigid enough.
Re: [mako224] Dorsal brand clear FCS fins
I have a set and they are very soft. I would say the material is not rigid enough.
One of the top possibilities in my list is that one.
Another is, as one swaylockee already mentioned, that the foil and general shape of the fin is not very hydrodynamically conducent to a good thruster side fin functioning.
Or, a combo of those two.
When I got the brand-new set in the mail, and held the side fin in my hand, I could clearly see that the excess edge that forms between the 2 parts of the mold has not been leveled off. It runs the entire length of the leading edge of the fin.
I sanded that off, but the fin still "hummed" and slowed the board down. Which leads us back to the fins probably being too soft and vibrating like a flag in the strong wind.
Re: [Alex] Dorsal brand clear FCS fins
They are now manufacturing a fiber-filled fin/fins. Similar to the fiber-filled fins that come with Surftech boards. Much stiffer. They have a website and I have never had any trouble finding it. Don't remember the exact address, but just google Dorsal surfboard fins. Forget about calling them. They are worse that lawyers about returning a call. I think I saw a set of Dorsal Quad fins listed on Ebay for $28 . Rumor is that they will be manufacturing a center box soon.
Re: [Alex] Dorsal brand clear FCS fins
By the way; You can buy a full set of FCS thruster fins, plugs and screws for $32 at Fiberglass Hawaii in Ventura. I think a Quad set is $36. They will ship.
Re: [Alex] Dorsal brand clear FCS fins
OK. Final conclusions are in.
These fins are significantly dysfunctional. And that goes for both the clear plastic ones and the "fiber-filled" black ones, as well.
Although the black ones (marketed as "ENVY") are indeed a little stiffer (not much stiffer), they still hum and whistle when you get up to speed on your board.
I just surfed an hour ago and made the final experiments swithching the fins.
The outline of the fin is exactly like a k2.1 FCS, but the foil is faulty. The foil thickens toward the center of the fin and tapers toward both the leading and trailing edges.
I have compared them to FCS fins, and the FCS fins have foils which pretty much start out thicker towards the leading edge of the fin and then gradually taper down throughout the fin.
That's that.
Re: [Alex] Dorsal brand clear FCS fins
After weeks of back-and -forth with the Dorsal Fin Co. through ebay, I have to say that it's been a bad experience.
The person in charge has repeatedly tried to avoid repaying the fins, even though I returned them.
Taking a wild guess, I can imagine that this guy had the bright idea to make transparent FCS fins and then went ahead and made a huge order to the China factory.
Then he realized that he hadn't done his model/material testing correctly, because the fins worked like crap.
But now it was too late, because he had already paid for thousands of sets to the China factory, and all of those sets were a defective fin shape.
So looking for a solution, he comes upon another bright idea: "Let's sell them on ebay at really low prices, and at least until we get exposed we'll sell a bunch of them. Maybe even cover our costs?"
So that's what they're doing right now: selling ultra-cheap FCS-like fins that work like crap so idiots like myself are lured by the $20 "super-high performance" promise on ebay.
So, learning from my experience with Dorsal Fin Co., I have to say that I hope they straighten up and make good. Because right now, they are thiefs in my book. They still owe me money (and that is even though I returned the fins to them).
So that's my rant.
Thanks for reading.
Re: [Alex] Dorsal brand clear FCS fins
I don't usually comment on the forums but I thought I'd set the record straight. Our fins are made of the same exact material as the turbo tunnel. We are working on developing stiffer resins but the current flex properties were requested by the Weber shop and is widely used and accepted. OK this is important...I make these fins myself here in the USA, they aren't perfect but I'm working on it. We are releasing new versions of the clear and some totally new fin types and system soon. Lastly member that had a problem returning the items waited months to send them, and when he finally did they weren't in original condition ( he rode them, and scratched them up ). We still sent him money back but not the full amount. DORSAL WWW.DORSALFINS.COM
DORSAL