Fin Adjustments / Pro Ski Coach Water Ski Forum

tjo · #1 Thu, May 13, 2010 5:55 PM

Two questions:

1) How often do you guys check your fin measurements? I set my fin last summer with the help of a friend and his caliper, then forgot about it. Purchased a caliper yesterday and checked my settings and they are off from last summer, in some cases by a decent amount. Is it normal for your fin to move around throughout the course of a season?

2) What is the best resource to understand what each fin movement does? Is there an article out there that would explain what each fin movement is supposed to do? I'm sure it varies by ski as the fin would respond differently to each ski shape...but there has to be some general guidelines. If you are aware of any literature on this, please let me know.

Thanks in advance!

davemac · #2 Thu, May 13, 2010 6:21 PM

Hey Travis,
I just found this...which gives a good summary of effects of adjustment... http://store.d3skis.com/Articles.asp?ID=142

You probably have read it, but the link at the bottom of this Pro Ski Coach page gives good instructions on how measurements are taken.

skidream · #3 Thu, May 13, 2010 9:52 PM

tjo wrote:
Two questions:

1) How often do you guys check your fin measurements? I set my fin last summer with the help of a friend and his caliper, then forgot about it. Purchased a caliper yesterday and checked my settings and they are off from last summer, in some cases by a decent amount. Is it normal for your fin to move around throughout the course of a season?

I check my settings almost every time I ski or every other time...with temperature changes, having the ski in the boat, banging it around, dropping it, etc. the fin settings can get out of wack! They make fin boxes that will help prevent this but it is a good idea to check the settings often. It only takes a few minutes and is well worth it! At the least check your DFT and Fin length if you don't want to take the wing off every time. Depth is something I would check though too. Hope this helps

Fin protector box: http://www.h2oproshop.com/h2o-wooden-sl … ector.html

Measuring the fin: http://www.proskicoach.com/gear/fin_measurement/

davemac · #4 Thu, May 13, 2010 10:35 PM

...or kill two birds w/ one stone, and get the following bag (which has a built in fin protector)... www.h2oproshop.com/eagle-sports-neopren … ector.html

tjo · #5 Thu, May 13, 2010 11:01 PM

Davemac, thanks for the link to the article...that's exactly what I was looking for.

Skidream, I think you're right on. I hadn't been checking it and was shocked at how much it had moved since last summer. Spent a couple of hours last night figuring out the measurement process and fixing my wife's new ski and putting mine back to where I thought it was. Now that I have the knowledge/experience, I'll be able to do it super quick!

h20dawg79 · #6 Fri, May 14, 2010 12:35 AM

Fin adjustments and their cause/effect can be Very subjective and open to interpretation.

I have about 4 or 5 different sources that I refer to when trouble shooting. (I only wish I had that kind of info. readily avail. for my wide ride!) I've found that the same Symptom/adjustment can be written or explained 2 or 3 different ways depending upon the source. ( several people explaining the Same Thing with different words...) This is very important sometimes for me. Because one example might not totally capture what I'm feeling or experiencing and thus might not "seem" like the right symptom even though the actual adjustment IS the one that I need. So, by reading thoroughly through different sources, I hopefully end up finding the correct symptom/adjustment written in a way or ways that make sense to me and I can proceed with my trial adjustments with a little more confidence...

Besides PSC,

Fluid Motion has some good info. in their FM Slalom Tech. Series...

Schnitz has some Good info.

Paperback Book "Complete guide to Water skiing" by: Ben Favret/David Benzel Is Full of priceless info. and can be had on Amazon for a couple Bucks! (this Book is totally awesome! and it covers Slalom, Trick and Jump!!!)