The Silver Bullet has been one of my biggest success stories to date. First designed over 15 years ago and as the clock turns it has now actually become very relevant again, particularly purely as a quad. The idea of a dedicated quad only, has now been fully accepted since the market is aging and needing vehicles like this that give you free speed and excess paddle ability. Not to mention they will sit in the shade in the barrel more comfortably than any other design. This design was also the first to incorporate my cathedral hull design that has proliferated into many of my other designs and been copied by many other designers around the planet. Which I mean sort of proves that it works!
PLAN SHAPE
Now that this is purely a dedicated quad, it allows me to put a little more area forward of centre without the fear of making it too front heavy. Remembering that quads are firmly in the Twin Fin family which are a long way from the single fin family where the thruster design dominates. Having said all this the Silver Bullet is in my view still a performance design so it does not need to overdo its nose width. The round tail is by far the best tail shape for quads hands down so it is prudent to incorporate this tail design on any quad.
BOTTOM SHAPE
The original Silver Bullet sported the cathedral hull up front running into a concave through the guts then into a long vee through the last third out the tail. The 2026 model has a slightly extended cathedral hull and that is all. If it ain’t broke there is no need to fix it. If you are not up with it the hull lifts the nose for better paddle up front and encourages more front foot engagement minus the fear of nose pearling. The concave through the guts is elementary dear Watson but the deep long vee out the last third is as you would say less elementary. Vees are not known for creating speed but more so for actually controlling it. The mechanics of a quad gives you free speed and the vee enhances the control of that speed.
ROCKER
Since quads are a much looser option than the tri fin they do not need excess tail lifts to make them looser so the Silver Bullet even though it has a nice constant exit curve the numbers a low. And so it is with the nose lift - due to the lifting action of the hull the nose lift is kept to a minimum enhancing the paddle in no end. Having a flatter nose entry scares some punters but when the hull is immersed during the drop the lifting action saves the day.
FINS AND RAILS
The rails have a slight shoulder to them but not to the point they are hard to bury. Because the quad fin system is so drivey the balancing of rail thickness that does immerse but not too easily is an integral competition between the length of the turn without throttling vertical freedom which most quads yearn for. The size of the rear trailor quads is very important particularly if they are over sized which makes them over clingy. I always recommend the GX size for the trailors.
DIMS
5.10 X 20 X 2 3/8 = 30.26 LTS
6.0 X 20 ¼ X 2 7/16 = 31.8 LTS
6.2 X 20 ½ X 2 7/16 = 33.33 LTS
6.4 X 20 ¾ X 2 ½ = 35.53 LTS
6.6 X 21 X 2 9/16 = 37.86 LTS
6.8 X 21 ¼ X 2 5/8 = 40.36 LTS