Firewire Baked Potato

Sandgroper · Post by **Sandgroper** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:12 am

Modified a new 5'11" 22 5/8" Firewire Baked Potato by refining front fins forward and using it as a quad kneeboard.

http://www.firewiresurfboards.com/quive ... ked_potato

Surfed it up to 6' solid, fantastic board and does it carve. Super buoyant. Now my favorite board.

Bud · Post by **Bud** » Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:01 pm

Sandgroper · Post by **Sandgroper** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 12:43 am

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Fossil Man · Post by **Fossil Man** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 10:59 am

Fun experiment ! How far up from tail did your front fins end up being ?

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 9:19 pm

Wow, those fins are crazy far forward and close to the rail. Must be verrrry loose!

Fossil Man · Post by **Fossil Man** » Tue Jun 26, 2012 9:40 pm

Might not be too crazy loose cause there's a significant space between fronts and rears versus say a Parkes quad where they're tightly clustered

griz · Post by **griz** » Wed Jun 27, 2012 5:16 am

Doesn't do much to promote kneelo shapers . I'm not looking forward to the day when this may be the only option .

Sandgroper · Post by **Sandgroper** » Sat Jun 30, 2012 8:14 am

Fossil Man wrote:Fun experiment ! How far up from tail did your front fins end up being ?

From standard Baked Potato (FCS Fins) the forward fins I put 3" distance between next plug. Toe-in 8mm difference to centre line of board in between front and rear plug. If your going to do it I'll send you a sketch. 5 1/2 to 6 deg to vertical offset.

It works for me but it's totally experimental.

Sandgroper · Post by **Sandgroper** » Sat Jun 30, 2012 8:17 am

Fossil Man wrote:Might not be too crazy loose cause there's a significant space between fronts and rears versus say a Parkes quad where they're tightly clustered

I based the spacing on my Parkes board and Kneeon I have. It is very loose but the double concave makes it so. Change the fins to too big ones stiffens it up a bit and for size-able waves well you can put in 6 or 7 fins or any combo. Plenty of options. Just needs one to experiment.

Sandgroper · Post by **Sandgroper** » Sat Jun 30, 2012 8:49 am

griz wrote:Doesn't do much to promote kneelo shapers . I'm not looking forward to the day when this may be the only option .

Interesting point. I'm not trying to promote Kneelo shapers but the design.
If they want to shape something like this I would love to buy.
My next board will be a machine cut version of this with a tweek here and there and epoxy.
Innovation comes from experimentation and this only helps promote kneeboarding.

Sandgroper · Post by **Sandgroper** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 3:09 am

Fossil Man wrote:Fun experiment ! How far up from tail did your front fins end up being ?

album_showpage.php?pic_id=30698

Sandgroper · Post by **Sandgroper** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 4:16 am

Sandgroper wrote:
Fossil Man wrote:Fun experiment ! How far up from tail did your front fins end up being ?

album_showpage.php?pic_id=30698

album_showpage.php?pic_id=30701

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21 Inches from end board to front of Front Fins

This works well but you could try anything with refinning.
I'm thinking about RE BOXING it now for A Tri set up with maybe a fin Box so I can experiment with a single fin set up as well.
The central Tri box will be well forward similar to my Friar Tuck Dimensions for a start point. About a minimum of 14" from end of board to front of Cenrta tri fin and longer for a fin box to allow for Single fin set-up.

It will be well and truly butchered after I've tried a few of these options.
Won't know until I give it a go.

Fossil Man · Post by **Fossil Man** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 11:47 am

Great bunch of data on positioning ! You got me curious so I just checked my Parkes quad , it's spacing is 1 3/8'' from rear edge of fwd. set plug to front edge of the trailing fin set plug. Anytime you use measuring guidelines from Parkes, Kneeon , Flashpoint, or Blast, you can never go too far astray. Amazing amount of double -barrel concave in that board, must feel like a little rocket on the bottom turns.

Robert

Bruzer · Post by **Bruzer** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 8:37 pm

Keep us posted on your experiments, and how each new design tweak works. My daughter may soon get a Sweet Potato or the upcoming Hot Potato as a footie board, plus am hoping she'll try the soft kneebd I got on this site several years ago, so your posts are doubly interesting and timely!

Sandgroper · Post by **Sandgroper** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 11:50 pm

Fossil Man wrote:Great bunch of data on positioning ! You got me curious so I just checked my Parkes quad , it's spacing is 1 3/8'' from rear edge of fwd. set plug to front edge of the trailing fin set plug. Anytime you use measuring guidelines from Parkes, Kneeon , Flashpoint, or Blast, you can never go too far astray. Amazing amount of double -barrel concave in that board, must feel like a little rocket on the bottom turns.

Robert

The double barrel concave is quite extreme but it does something good somehow and it makes the board super FUN to surf. It kneeboards much better than the converted Sweet Potato but maybe more to do with extra length, sharper nose and more kick-up in nose(less flat).

It gives it a very loose feel, which can be counteracted somewhat by putting in bigger fin combo for bigger surf.
I managed a great 5-6' surf on small standard fins and mini rear fins. Great performer. It does stuff easily my other boards does not do so easily.
It's different.
The riding style changes a little with this board and have found that my closest leg to face slides back a bit compared to the other to enable wall riding on the face.

I based all my fin positions on both my 6' Pin "Friar Tuck" Parkes Tri and 6' Pin "KneeOn" Tri. Theses boards work so well so used this as a baseline.

There is a lot of area in the Baked Potato tail compared to the pin tails I have. But the board works and well and I'm stoked the more I surf it.

It is SO EASY to paddle and catch a wave, VERY light and buoyant I sit another 3 higher out of the water . Very easy to duck dive too.

I am so impressed with this shape I ordered the 6' 1" Baked Potato and will do the same again and over the next 6mths surf them and work out best layout of fins.
There are a multitude of options here from single fin to 7 fin. It make a great experimenter kneeboard platform from which I can derive a basis for getting something shaped from our local shaper here. Probably in Polurethane core /Epoxy and tougher. The small single FCS plugs are not so good in polystyrene because there is too little bonding area to the foam. Larger Futures boxes or similar in an FCS Box is the better choice for fin box in these boards.

The Rapid Fire glass job on these factory boards is also very light and are less expensive than Future Shapes Glass jobs. I like the bamboo deck but underside glass is very thin, so easy to rip out a fin or put a dent in rails with a finger grip. I guess is was built light to fly in small surf.
With the polystyrene foam core I'm not sure on long term durability compared to a traditional Urethane core. If one wants better durability I would go for the Future Shapes Glass job and pay the extra$$. Though I don't think this is an option on Baked Potato at this stage.

As a standup board it can't be beat for the fun factor. Buy It you wont look back.

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