I built my own. Used Beebe for basic design parameters and then built the rig using the same size materials as are used on the 58' seiner across the dock. My boat is 40' I love them, I have no problem deploying or retrieving them and I'm a single hander. I have never had one pop out of the water but I run them rather deep. When entering a shallow area from rough water I do not attempt to retrieve the fish prior to the entry. I have mine set so the with the poles up the fish are at keel depth (5'). So just prior to the entry I simply pull the poles up and leave the fish in the water till I'm in and tied up or anchored. If you want to see some digital pictures send lemme know and I'll email them ... Jim Slocomb M/V Sea Ottter 40' Skookum San Juan Islands, WA Message: 5 Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2003 23:48:47 -0700 From: "Keith Pleas" <keithp@guideddesign.com> Subject: TWL: RE: Flopperstopers - was High efficiency hulls To: <trawler-world-list@lists.samurai.com> Message-ID: <FUGIOSRVDrxxnSYe4nh000000a4@mail.FUGIOLTD.COM> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >> But active fins are expensive and flopperstoppers are difficult to >> set up, which may be OK on a long voyage but no fun on a three hour tour. Does anybody have any source of good information on designing and building these things? I've been contemplating adding paravanes to my 44' trawler (ferrocement, round bilge, fairly heavy at 30 tons). One of the sites - I think it was Krogen's - had a fairly long piece about how active fins were better and that the cost was almost the same, so fins were the clear choice. Well, Wesmar estimates about $23K for my boat and I simply can't believe that it would cost anywhere near that much for paravanes. Unfortunately, Kolstrand (fabricators of the fish) here in Seattle have absolutely no design guidance to offer. I've been taking pictures of F/S rigs that I run across and there is darned little commonality. There was an article in PassageMaker a couple of years ago about a guy who built his own, but everything else about that boat was so wacky looking that I hate to base anything on that. Keith --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.512 / Virus Database: 309 - Release Date: 8/19/2003