Materials

A fin design is only as good as the materials used for construction. At True Ames we carefully select the most well-suited types of fiberglass and wood for producing the highest quality fins available.

E-GLASS:
In order to achieve the performance characteristics that have become the standard of solid fiberglass surf fins, we use E-glass. It is the most common type of fiberglass used in surfboard construction, and its qualities translate with great success into fin construction. E-glass has excellent flex characteristics and performance longevity, while featuring the bonus of outstanding color vibrancy that allows for the variety of colors we offer.

VOLAN:
Handmade by the True Ames team in Santa Barbara, CA, the appeal of the fins we offer with volan fiberglass construction goes much deeper than their distinctive coke-bottle-green color and raw finish. Each of our volan fins is cut from the highest quality fiberglass and perfectly aligned for optimal flex characteristics. These limited supply fins flex from the body of the fin thereby producing increased speed and projection off the bottom and through turns.

G10:
G10 is a premium grade industrial fiberglass that has a higher cloth to resin ratio, resulting in a stronger and stiffer building material. We make select certain specialized fin designs in G10, including the Greenough High Speed Series.

HEXCORE:
The Resin Transfer Method (RTM) allows us to construct a composite fin, inside of which hexagonal pieces of lightweight coremat displace fiberglass and resin. The result: a fin that is 25% lighter than a normal solid fiberglass fin, without compromising performance. Our Hexcore fins have become the standard by which system fins are measured.

WOOD:
The evolutionary curve continues at True Ames with the construction of Marine Plywood and Bamboo fins. These ultra-light glass-on fins come in a variety of templates that is rapidly expanding, and they all feature wood’s characteristic positive buoyancy — they float! We make them in-house in Santa Barbara, CA, using cad/cam for precision foils before sealing with a layer of glass and sanding. We end up with the highest quality wood fins that are ready for top-level board construction.