Twin Fin Surfboard
The 2020 Lightning Bolt surfboard range includes at least one model that is specialised for smaller wave conditions, the twin fin surfboard.
The twin fin was a popular model for Lightning Bolt back in the day with Reno, Bertleman and the mercurial MR riding them.
The recent popularity of the twin fin gave us every reason to include this design in the 2020 range.
The Lightning Bolt twin fin surfboard preserves some DNA from the halcyon days, combined with a mix of what we have learned since.
Wave Type: Small Waves 1' - 5'
Rocker: Flat
Rail: Small Box
Fins: 2 Future Fins
Tail Shape: Swallow
Dimensions: 5'8" - 6'6"
The twin fin is a little stubbier than its earlier cousins that were an attempt to be more versatile to appease the norm of the time… 1 man, 1 board! This 2020 design is wider in the tail in order to give it more squirt in the smaller stuff.
The flyer swallow is preserved since it is a very functional part of twin fin design in that it breaks the water flow that runs along a quite straight plan shape. This straightness gives the design drive and the flyer breaks this flow right behind the big fin giving the rider a very easy pivot point to find.
The use of a swallow tail is obvious since it is the most positive tail around and a board with only two fins certainly needs it.
We don’t think it’s rocket science to understand why the rocker on the twin fins is very flat compared with other conventional boards.
The extreme pivot of only two fins requires a reset in all the other facets of this design meaning that rocker, plan and rail shape need to be skewed toward regaining the drive lost from omitting the third fin.
This is where this 2020 model breaks away from convention in that the modern twin fin sports a con vee, rather than the old fashioned rolled vee, all the way through.
The concave through the centre adds for one more speed, but it also adds more rail rocker that creates more forgiveness through the centre that is unusually flat and catchy.
Alternatively, the inclusion of a longish tail vee straightens the rail line that increases drive, something that a twin fin certainly needs.
Lightning Bolt Australia offers 2 choices of finishes. All of the new 2020 range is PU foam laminated in the newest of epoxy resins. The Heritage range is Pu- Polyester with full pigment and polished finishes.
The Lightning Bolt Twin Fin adheres to the same glassing specs as all the other models.
The twin fin requires a bigger fin and therefore the strongest fin system available which is the future fin system.
DIMENSIONS:
5’8″ x 20 ¼ x 2 7/16 = 29.7 LTS
5’1″ x 20 ½ x 2 ½ = 31.75 LTS
6’0″ x 20 ¾ x 2 9/16 = 33 LTS
6’2″ x 21 x 2 5/8 = 36.2 LTS
6’4″ x 21 ¼ x 2 11/16 = 38.6 LTS
6’6″ x 21 ½ x 2 3/5 = 41 LTS
MODERN LAMINATING TECHNIQUES
As a point of difference and, more importantly, for superior strength and durability, the new Lightning Bolt surfboard range boasts a very different direction with laminating to the norm, which is already proving to tick all the boxes for what is required in today's need for the correct strength-to-weight ratios.
First and foremost, all boards will be laminated with the latest superior epoxy resins that have a lot more nose to tail flexibility than the more brittle polyesters. Indeed, epoxy resins are mostly used on polystyrene foam since polyesters resin dissolve polystyrene or EPS which is the common name for it these days.
Not many people know that epoxy resins are quite at home with polyurethane foam as they are with polystyrene and we have found that, for reasons still unexplained, our polyurethane blanks are coming up a whisper lighter than those glassed in polyester.
The ability to absorb shock much better than the brittle polyesters is proving to be a game changer with this combination.
The shock factor is the well know culprit for boards snapping. Another technique exclusive to the new Lightning Bolt range is the diagonal weave process.
With all laminates laid diagonally the snap line that is usually directly rail to rail has to negotiate double weave rather than breaking in between the east west strands and only across the north south strands in a standard layup.
This whole combination of diagonal weaves and more flexible epoxy resins not only breathes life into the feel of the Bolts, but also adds to their life span.
Another feature we have stumbled upon is the noticeable difference in weight between the Pu and Epoxy laminates. We are still working on a theory for this, but it certainly exists.
All boards will have inegra toe patches in order to structure up the rail edges in that last critical 12 inches of the tail.
All boards will use future fin boxes exclusively, simply because they are the strongest when it comes to fin base roll under pressure and there should be no shortage of this pressure if these boards are surfed in the type of waves they are meant for.
Again out of respect for the early Bolts the new stock models will be just as colourful and trimmed with a traditional pin line.
Surfboard Price Guide
3 future fin boxes, air freight within Australia, and GST.
Board Size
Approx Guide Only:
PU – Polyester with Polish
Starts From:
PU – Epoxy Sanded Finish
Starts From:
PU – Polyester with Polish
Starts From:
PU – Epoxy Sanded Finish
Starts From:
What Our Customers Say
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