Gearbox Surf | Company
Gearbox Surf
Phone: +61 417 243 592
Address: Slipp'ry Creek 2446 via Beechwood
Website: https://gearbox.surf/
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15.01.2022 HRD-KORE 2021 RANGE After much effort and a lot of testing, we have finally settled on the next designs that will be added to the HRD-KORE range of RTM molded f...ins. We are hoping this will be the first batch as we have a few others that we would like to see added as well, time will tell. We are looking at early 2021 to see these in full production as we are only now embarking on the process of creating the molds and then make some test runs. Here is a rundown of the designs that will make up this new range. - A4C-425 - small fin primarily aimed at use as a back fin in a quad setup - A4C-450 - mid-sized fin for use as either a small thruster or smaller quad setup - A4C-500 - the large size that will serve as the primary large thruster and quad fin - A4C-550 - extra-large size for use as a twin fin or in a twinzer setup - A4C-500CK - standard KAHI cutaway thruster center fin - A4C-450CK - mid-size KAHI cutaway thruster center fin - KAHI-350CN - canard-style fin for use in a twinzer setup with any of our larger fins, the base has extra 6 cant - KAHI-400L - back fin for a quad setup, designed to also work with some of our other fins - 4Q-500CK - elliptical center fin with KAHI cutaway, primarily a center fin for the Q2, works well with the A4C These new fins are on their way to the factory, as soon as they arrive the process of making the molds will begin. Once the molds are completed we will get a sampling of these fins to test before ordering a large number of production fins. The hope is to have the samples by the first of the year and the production run by mid-March! All of these new fins are going to use a solid fiberglass construction method in order to produce the strongest possible DUAL TAB bases, these solid fiberglass fins will use different TINTS to differentiate the various series of fins. For the fins shown the A4C will be an AMBER TINT, the KAHI will be OPAQUE BLACK, and the 4Q will be a RED TINT. All of these fins will be offered with GEARBOX, DUAL TAB, and FUTURES bases. Each of the new lines has its own logo that will be used on the fin to designate the design followed by the height of the fin. This style of branding is being standardized across all of our existing HRD-KORE fins as part of the process of adding these new designs. The logos for these new fins are shown at the bottom of the photo. It has taken a huge amount of effort to get to this point but we are stoked to be finally starting the process. We realize there are probably a large number of other fins that people would have liked to see go into production, we hope we can do more, but we chose these because they have tested well and the majority of them are likely to appeal to the widest group of people. For sure we are going to be adding a keel fin to the mix in the very near future once we have a little more testing of the newest designs. The keel fin will also be accomplished by the PWR fin as a nurse fin, but of course, it is intended to be used with many of our other fins to add power to a quad setup.
14.01.2022 '21 HRD-KORE FIN RANGE The process has started to get these new HRD-KORE fins into production. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, we will start machining... the new molds. Once the molds are done we will do some sampling of the fins and then proceed with the production of these new templates. Super stoked to get these into the mix! NOTE: there are some additional new design candidates that will be joining these ones at a later date. Just need to finalize some more testing, then we can get them going as well. Stay tuned!
10.01.2022 LATEST PROGRESS REPORT ON CUTAWAY DESIGN Things have progressed very quickly with the design process for the idea of a fin design with an extreme cutaway. Hopef...ully, this post will bring everyone up to speed with where we are in the process. But first, we need to introduce a new word to our vocabulary as we will be using it moving forward with this new design concept. The new word is "KAHI", which is Hawaiian for "CUT", it is a nice compact word plus there does not appear to be an exact match for a word meaning "cutaway", so we will start using this word to refer to fins featuring this new cutaway design as it will extend over several different fin designs. The first version using the KAHI is the A4C-500CK center fin design. This takes the existing A4C-500 template and adds the KAHI. Making this change to this fin has turned it into an incredible center fin. Testing has blown the thruster surfer's minds. Most of the testing has been done with either the A4C or XPD2 side fins, and it has worked equally well with either. The consensus is that using this center fin makes a thruster set feel and behave more like a quad. The center fin creates very little drag through a turn like a typical thruster center fin. This is largely due to the reduced base and the fact that the effective part of the fin is much higher off the bottom of the board. The feeling is that this fin is a game-changer for a thruster! This template has undergone a slight tweak since this photo was taken, the KAHI is now a little deeper vertically. The second fin to introduce is the new Q2 center fin, which will replace the existing one in the lineup. This new center fin - Q2-463CK is a very similar outline to the original but now incorporates the KAHI cutaway. This modernizes the fin and adds to its versatility, allowing it to be used with other templates if needed. The JIB series now has a new center fin design as well, the JIB-538C v10, this is the latest version of the cutaway. The height of the fin has been increased to compensate for the loss of area due to the cutaway. This new template has been testing well when combined with the JIB-513 v10 side fins. After making several modifications to existing designs and working on the JIB series we got to thinking about where we could take the KAHI concept, so naturally, we decided we needed a KAHI range that is completely different utilizing a more extreme version of the KAHI. The first of these designs is yet another center fin, the KAHI-500C that pushes the cutaway to the extreme and also adds a new blade shape that has more area. The fin is more raked than the JIB series that will give it better projection. It has a leading-edge outline that is loosely based on the same rake as the A4C template, but with the curve being flattened in the bottom half of the fin. This fin is currently being tested in combination with the JIB-513 and it has proven to work well. It is especially good at pumping a board down the line and in smaller surf gives the board more of a quad feel when ridden as a thruster. We have now also made up a set of KAHI-500 side fins that are being tested with the newer fins described below. Next up the introduction of both the JIB and KAHI designs has prompted us to take a look at whether the KAHI concept could successfully be applied to something like a Hammer design. The idea being that this would allow for a fin design that had really good holding power, for the size due to the blade. This would then make for an ideal back fin in a quad setup, whether in combination with another KAHI design or some other fin design. Through removal of the base area and focusing all of the fins abilities into the blade, it will provide a lot of drive and holding power, without impacting the looseness of the setup. We started with the H6 template and applied a KAHI to it to see what we type of outline we could create. We are super excited with what we have created, this is one cool looking fin and it ticks all of the boxes for the goals of a fin of this design. While it is another generation of our Hammer design we chose not to call it a Hammer instead it is another KAHI variant - the KAHI-400H v4! We'll attempt to try and describe the foils used on this fin but it is going to be difficult as it has a very different HOLOFOIL on the inside face. Plus the cutaway is not foiled away as one would expect, instead, the inside face of the cutaway is left blunt to allow the water to flow off the foil. The bottom edge of the blade has been scalloped away to form a hollow foil that is more open along the bottom, forcing the water to flow more off the bottom than the top of the blade. This is a very unusual looking fin, much like most of our fins, but for anyone familiar with our existing Hammer designs you can see its heritage! We have done one additional design specifically as a rear fin for a quad setup. This one is loosely based on our LS template that we have had around for a long time. It is very similar to the Hammer based version, but with the leading bulb removed. This version has an even more unusual foil than the Hammer version. Moving forward this new foil is going to be used for the Hammer based version as well, now that we have figured it out. This photo should provide a better idea as to how this new fin is foiled as it will be hard to describe the foiling. Hopefully, this will give some idea as to the foiling of the fin. Essentially the cutaway has not been foiled away to allow the water to flow off the fin unhindered. These new KAHI based fins are turning out to be a revelation as they work remarkably well with plenty of power and hold!
04.01.2022 A4C-500C Center Fin with Cutaway (Kahi) After working on the JIB series of fins we decided to experiment with the main feature from that design on some of the e...xisting designs. First up we did this tweak to the A4C-500C center fin to see if this would improve on the existing center fin design for the A4C series. Here is the comment from our chief test pilot. "Ultimate Center Fin! For us old guys that don’t get their back foot all the way on top the back fin of a thruster, it makes a huge difference in my turns. If you do get back there it is still like a normal thruster. " Next up we are going to be experimenting with one of the other more recent designs - 4Q, stay tuned!
