Aquacraft Upgrade Turn Fins

[Hydro Junkie]

I just received one of the black 2mm fin assemblies from Tower Hobbies and am curious if the bracket is heavy enough to hold up on a Dumas Pay'N Pak. I've been looking at the small area of contact the bracket has to hold the fin against the sponson, not sure I want to trust it on a wood hull. Can anyone tell me how well this fin works on their boats, don't care if it's a UL-1 or Vegas and what kind of internal backing is in the hull. I'm very concerned the bracket won't hold up and will damage the transom due to rocking or pull the 3mm mounting screws through the transom. I know I've beefed up the transom with a 1/32 ply face and 1/8 ply inside doubler but I'm still concerned over this one

Thanks

 

[toyotatruckin]

HJ if your worried about the bracket you have a mill, make a new one that will ease your mind

 

[Hydro Junkie]

That's not the point Yota. As you know, I've been doing a build thread in another forum and want to use "off the shelf parts" as much as possible so others can copy the build if they wish. Making parts negates that so if I can use the bracket, I'd rather use it.

 

[Robert Elder]

I added the 15/18 polished turn fin to my Miss Vegas Deuce and it's been much better than the stock one that came on the boat. It has held up fine so far. Corners pretty well at speed and throws up a pretty impressive wall of water from the fin. No issues so far but I have only had the boat a month or so.

 

[PropNut]

HJ,

Yes, the bracket is flimsy. Kintec Racing has a decent alternative.

http://kintecracing.com/Turn_Fins.html

 

[Tim Strange]

I don't know of anyone that has had an issue with the bracket on the Vegas/Deuce. I did make a new bracket because the bracket didn't fit right on my Deuce. This was just made out of 1/16 aluminum angle from the hardware store. Nothing fancy needed...just a hacksaw, a drill and a couple of files. It's held up fine for two years.

I would think that making a new bracket with a wider footprint to spread the load would be a good idea on a wood hull. Or back the sponson with some 1/8 aluminum an tap into it.

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Okay, I'll reply to each individually on this one:

Robert, I never had a problem with the fin itself but if it's working on your boat, that's good to know

Propnut, that is what I was looking for as the Aquacraft bracket isn't any better than what Dumas sells in my opinion

Tim, I thought about the aluminum plate but rejected it for one simple reason, the transom has a core of Dumas supplied mahogany and it's easily crushed. Even with the facing I laminated to the transom, my concern is that the 1/32 ply won't be able to handle the stress without the mahogany under it crushing. If that happens, the facing probably will fail and I'll end up with a major repair on my hands even though the 1/8 ply internal doubler and aluminum backer could be undamaged. I was thinking a larger footprint as well which is why I asked how well the Vegas and UL-1 are holding up

To all, Thanks as I do appreciate the input

 

[Hydro Junkie]

I decided that it might be "helpful" to show the difference between the bracket I made with a Mike Hughes fin for my remanufactured boat and what I purchased from Tower. To me, the difference is almost shocking

 

[Peter Gise]

I decided that it might be "helpful" to show the difference between the bracket I made with a Mike Hughes fin for my remanufactured boat and what I purchased from Tower. To me, the difference is almost shocking

View attachment 30227View attachment 30228

My son just picked up a UL-1 hull and we were wondering if you are using that Mike Hughes turn fin on the UL-1...it looks a lot different as well as a lot larger!

BTW, I'm using a Hughes turn fin on my JAE 21 rigger and prefer it over the one supplied by Zipp Kits...

 

[Hydro Junkie]

No I'm not. I using two of the Hughes fins on a remanufactured and reworked versions of the Dumas sport 20 Pay'N Pak kit and the Aquacraft fin on a semistock kit build of the same boat. My thought is that the reworked boats with NR 21s for power will need the bigger fins while the semistock kit with an OS 18CVR-MX will use the smaller Aquacraft fin mounted on a heavier machined bracket. The heavier bracket is to increase the mounting surface area against the sponson transom since wood is softer than fiberglass and will dent over time more easily than the glass will

 

[Tim leyde]

I used the same black fin and bracket on my kneeler. Worked great.

TL

 

[Hydro Junkie]

Tim, if the boat's sponson transom was all aircraft grade birch ply instead of a thin almost veneer over a very fragile mahogany doorskin, I might have used the supplied bracket as well. I see this as a way to prevent the bracket from damaging the transom and still use the fin. Granted, the new bracket will be heavier but, in this case, I prefer to overbuild rather than needing to rework or repair later

 

[Tim leyde]

Tim, if the boat's sponson transom was all aircraft grade birch ply instead of a thin almost veneer over a very fragile mahogany doorskin, I might have used the supplied bracket as well. I see this as a way to prevent the bracket from damaging the transom and still use the fin. Granted, the new bracket will be heavier but, in this case, I prefer to overbuild rather than needing to rework or repair later

Anyone would, just telling you how it worked for me.

TL