Thunderboat Vertical rear fin?

[Ron Zaker Jr]

I have been watching this class ALOT lately and the boats are very very nice. My question is why doesn't anyone run a vertical fin behind the driver? Almost every Thunderboat from that era has one. Just asking not looking for a battle. lol.

 

[Tony Jacuzzi]

Ron like this one ?

 

[Ron Zaker Jr]

yeah you don't them often at all,just wondering why.

 

[El Zorro]

yeah you don't them often at all,just wondering why.

It has been my experience that the fin on the rear cowl is something else that will break off depending on what the boat does when you dump it. Of course the removable cowl usually comes off, but if your dump is violent enough things will break. The Thunderboat I have been running for a lot of years has been dumped a few times and I believe I have broken the fin only one time. I think the fins make the boats more realistic looking like the big boats. I assume that they were on the big boats to help counter the propwalk of the boat at speed. Just my opinion.

Dick Tyndall

 

[JimZaremski]

I have been watching this class ALOT lately and the boats are very very nice. My question is why doesn't anyone run a vertical fin behind the driver? Almost every Thunderboat from that era has one. Just asking not looking for a battle. lol.

say what?

 

[Ron Zaker Jr]

Beautiful, watched this past weekend 15 or so boats not one fin.

 

[Ray Sametz]

I had to show off. The cables help.

 

[Hydro Junkie]

It has been my experience that the fin on the rear cowl is something else that will break off depending on what the boat does when you dump it. Of course the removable cowl usually comes off, but if your dump is violent enough things will break. The Thunderboat I have been running for a lot of years has been dumped a few times and I believe I have broken the fin only one time. I think the fins make the boats more realistic looking like the big boats. I assume that they were on the big boats to help counter the propwalk of the boat at speed. Just my opinion.

Dick Tyndall

And your opinion would be correct.
According to the late Ted Jones, the fin on the Slo-Mo-Shun IV and V were installed to make it easier for the driver to handle the boat. The rear of the fin was turned to the right to help counter the prop walk the drivers(Ted included) encountered with the then new three point set up.

 

[Wayne Johnstone]

Mine has one

 

[Paul Dadswell]

Crashed several times it always hung on.

 

[Ron Zaker Jr]

Man that's nice ,the fin makes the whole look vintage.

 

[JimZaremski]

It has been my experience that the fin on the rear cowl is something else that will break off depending on what the boat does when you dump it.

the solution is "don't flip your boat"

seriously, though, it's a trade-off. I'm a scale guy so I accept the risk of breaking the fin in order to have a scale-looking boat.

I've also heard the claims that these boats will turn better w/o a tail fin, but I've never tested that.