Quest 45

[Stevie Boy]

Ski Buddy of mine has just brought the D3 Quest 45, he has run 39off , but gets 35off @ 36mph, on a regular basis, he is still dialing in, and getting to know the ski, I have to say, that I have never seen him so early, wide and settled on a ski, as the D3 Quest 45, very impressive, if you demo one, check the setup, D3, have made some changes to the setup, Boot placement + Fin numbers, some of you guy's, probably already aware of this.

[Ilivetoski]

what is the difference in the quest and the 45??

[SkiJay]

The Quest 45 has a different layup than the Quest. I think the 45 is a reference to the orientation of the carbon fibre in the tail. In any case, the Quest 45 has less torsional flex in the tail and "enhanced" flex in the forebody. I've been testing one the last few days and am skiing at PB levels despite the water getting cold. Apparently it's the ski Nate has been on all summer.

[webbdawg99]

You definitely have to run a different fin setup than you did on the previous Quest. My fin is longer, shallower, and more forward than my previous ski.

 

Quest #'s - 6.925, 2.500, .740

 

Quest 45 #'s - 6.930, 2.490, .760

[Marco]

@webbdawg99 - You certainly had an interesting fin setup on the Quest when you rode it at Nat's. I think you had a little too much tip; made it bite through the gates:)

[SkiJay]

@webbdawg99‌

Assuming that you too are on a 66" Q45, you and I have arrived at almost exactly the same numbers. I'm at: 6.935, 2.490, .760, 8°, 29.2, R-35, and I'm .005" longer than what I thought was ideal in an effort to see how much tip I can get in the water early in the pre-turn. What is your current binding placement?

[webbdawg99]

Im actually on a 68 @SkiJay. Proportionately, you have a lot more fin in the water than I do. My Reflex is at about 30 3/8"

[SkiJay]

Ha! Interesting @webbdawg99‌. I've arrived at this coming off of a Helix, which by comparison is quite nimble. This long/shallow setup is a bit of a departure from factory spec and it would be unruly if the pre-turn were ridden tip-high into a sudden tip-engagement at the ball, but for a tip-low approach, it has really set up the Q45 and I'm falling in love with this ski!

[ozski]

@Skijay Do I need to get on to one of these? I've hardly broken in the Helix...

[SkiJay]

@ozski "Need" is such a strong word. Probably not. I'm sure not selling my Helix yet. They present two different ways of skinning the same cat. I've been keeping notes so will attempt to compare them in a separate thread.

[Stevie Boy]

Before buying the D3 Quest 45, my ski buddy, had a demo on the Helix and stated that it was super quick, but it had no feel, which he did not like, said it might make a really good 34mph ski.

[webbdawg99]

@SkiJay Update: We had a 3 round backyard tourney last week. I did something I'd never done before....I ran 35 all 3 rounds. I was pretty happy about the consistency, but wasn't getting as far down 38 as I was expecting/wanting

 

I skied a couple practice sets the next day and my ski partner commented that it looked like my ski was digging too hard on the offside and not carrying speed through the turn. So I made a fin adjustment. (took out tip) Now I'm actually shorter than I was on the Quest.....but barely. Seems to feel pretty good! New length is 6.922. Everything else remains unchanged. This is exactly in line with what @bishop8950 had told me about the new 45 at Nationals.

[SkiJay]

Congratulations on the solid tournament scores and consistency @webbdawg99!

 

I'm not surprised your new ski's tip was digging compared to your old ski. What if I told you were actually running .025" more length on the Q45 than on your previous Quest, and that now you're still .017" longer?

 

What . . . ?!

 

Of course your length is exactly what you've measured, but it's only part of the story. The length measurement is widely used as a measure of tip sensitivity, but you also have to take into account "where" the fin is. You're running the fin on your Q45 .020" further forward than on your old ski. This moves the fin's leading edge forward .020" too. Reducing length by .008" made it less sensitive because it moved the leading edge back. Now your fin's leading edge location is actually .003" further back than factory stock.

[webbdawg99]

@SkiJay I see what you're saying and that makes perfect sense. I'm not much of a technician when it comes to fins. I reviewed my earlier post and realize that I had a typo in my dft. I had written .760, but its actually .750......