Kneeboard Surfing USA Community Forum

I read about how George customizes his own fins years ago, but just tried it myself. I have used makapuus churchills since there introduction and have sworn by them. I bought a pair of Voit Duck Feet for five bucks on ebay and did a Greenough custom cut and sanding to them. Tried them out to day and they kick butt -- much faster than Churchills, stay on better, and glide through the water with ease. Has anyone else tried and discovered this?

you should try vipers

I heard that George strengthened the weak points ... I personally prefer the Force Fin Pros ... but I am 100kgs and George is 60kgs

ive did this to a pair of superxl ducks and found an increase in comfort and acceleration....i didnt trim the blade verry much though...just grinded down the ribs ,maybe too much....i suggest anyone who tries this just eliminate the center rib comp;etly and try it out before continuing to the edges.....

...i had vipers for less then a year before one blade broke off the foot pocket!!!....if i bought vipers again id reinforce with carbon fiber.....more gg inginuity

BC, I've heard all kinds of tales too about Greenough not only cutting down his UDT's but adding carbon spines to increase the snap

Here's a good thread with lots of info, probably more than you need:
http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.c ... =ASC;mh=25;

There are also some pics posted somewhere of a pair of gg fins pre- and post-modification but I couldn't find them.

On a similar tack - my son inlaw is a standup and surfs a lot near El Porto. He ran into an older cat who is supposedly the inventor of the UDT.
Will investigate next time I'm down.

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Beach-Cove,
Nice job. I cut down a pr of UDT's, but i did a hack job (literally w/ hack saw). What did you use to grind down the ribs? I left my ribs untapered (like Vipers), but yours look more 'finished'. Stiff w/fast acceleration---works awesome!

Beach cove-lots of good stuff on Greg Deets(considered the udt man by some) revived the old tooling to the best of my knowledge. Google in greg deets -link above also mentions his work and I believe the materials are very different from the sbr used in the originals.
btw happy new year to all and the worlds looked insane! I have a new job working in the adhesive and epoxy market so if anyone has questions I will help any way I can. Sure wish winter down here would normalize -Snow in the canyon passes is pretty weird
peace to all and thanks to the people who shared the experiance of Santa Cruz to all of us down here and around the planet who get stoked just seeing the vid or the pics!
peace
Kevin

Kevin--
Congrats on the new job. Your first assignment: What's the best adhesive for bonding neoprene to duck feet? (eg old wetsuit patch applied to inside foot pocket of fin for comfort).

thanks

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Hey Mike -- I cut the fins with a metal yard stick and a long handled exacto knife I had laying around from my 1980's auto glass days. I sanded the ribs down with a Makita drill with a barrell cilender sander attachment that I got at ACE hardware for 5 bucks. I might try taking the middle rib out--but since the fins seem to work damn good maybe not. Thanks--Mike H

I this how Vipers were invented.

True --- but Vipers cost $55. plus tax--- about $60.00 and have a track record of not last to long (So I've been told). Duck feet cost around $30 new and have a good track record of lasting a while. Also duck feet are easy to find used in great shape for $5. or 10. bucks--with 15 minutes of retooling you got a kick ass fin.
(aka - a poor broke surfer)

Beeline - correct. it was a shiitepipe