Boost Surfing Motorized Fin – Test and Review

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Updated April 9th, 2024

Manufacturer and Model: Boost Surfing Motorized Fin
List Price: $699

Summary

The Boost Surfing Motorized Fin is easy to attach to almost any inflatable paddleboard or kayak. It has a 2 button wrist band controller and phone app for controlling it and adjusting settings. It gives you enough power to cruise for 40 to 100 minutes depending on power level. The motor has 800 watts of power but has a slow enough takeoff so that even a beginner paddleboarder can control a board with the fin.

Boost Surfing Motorized Fin Review and Test

We have been wanting to try out a motor on our inflatable paddleboards for a while now. When we saw the new Boost Surfing motorized fin we had to try one. It has a self contained battery in the fin making it easier to setup than some other motorized fins with external batteries.

The Boost fin was originally designed for use surfing. They wanted an easier way for surfers to get onto waves without hand paddling that wasn’t so tiring. They created the boost fin so they could catch more waves without getting tired. The Boost Surfing fin can also be used to power SUP boards or kayaks too.

We ordered one up and stuck it on our Blackfin Model X and NIXY Tahoe Kayak to try out.

1 – Price

The Boost Surfing Motorized fin currently retails for $429. Mounting adapters run $19 (A US Fin box adapter is included). The popular Bixby motor will set you back $1299 plus another $35 for an adapter to use with a SUP or kayak. The Boost Surfing Fin is a great value compared to the other options out there.

2 – Motor Power

The Boost Surfing fin has an 800 watt motor. It has a top speed of 10mph. Boost claims it has the equivalent power as 15 people rowing full speed on a canoe. I’m not sure I buy that it has that much power. It has no trouble pushing a paddleboard or kayak around.

3 – Run Time

The Boost fin can operate in 2 modes for use on a SUP. The first is a burst mode that gives you 5 seconds of full power. It gives you a few second ramp up to full power. Then 5 seconds at full power and then a short ramp down. The second mode is continuous run. You hit the button and it runs for 15 minutes or until you hit the button again to turn it off.

The fin can be set to 1 of 3 modes in the app for continuous run

• Assist – 100 minutes of run time
• Trolling – 70 minutes of run time
• Max power – 40 minutes of run time

There is a long range version of the fin available that has double the run time and range of the standard fin. It also costs more.

4 – Mounting the boost

The fin has a built in 24 volt, 3500 mah lithium battery. There is no separate battery box to keep on top of your paddleboard or wiring to go from the motor to the battery. This makes the installation and operation very easy.

The Boost fin can be mounted to almost any fin box with a variety of adapters. The fin comes with a US Fin box adapter. You can get a nylon flip lock or slide in adapter. Those cover the most common inflatable SUP and kayak fin boxes. There are several other adapters available for less common fin boxes. We got the Nylon Flip Lock adapter to use with our Blackfin Model X. Our NIXY Tahoe kayak uses the US Fin Box adapter.

The fin attaches to the fin box adapter with 2 screws. The adapter gets completely covered with the fin. You have to attach the adapter to the board before attaching the fin.

For the US Fin Box adapter, the screw uses a different sized wrench than the included screwdriver. This could catch you by surprise at the lake if you expected everything to use the screwdriver for installation. I expected it to work for everything. I have a set of hex wrenches in my car for biking so I was still able to mount it.

For a Nylon Flip Lock fin box you have to lock the adapter in place and then mount the fin to it. This makes it impossible for the flip lock to flip open so no worries about losing the fin while out on the water.

5 – Wrist Band Controls

The Boost fin has a very simple wrist band for controlling it. It only has 2 buttons. 1 for burst mode and 1 for continuous mode. You can press either button to turn the fin off.

To turn the fin power on you need to use the included screwdriver which has a magent that activates the fin. Once activated the fin goes into standby mode for up to 30 minutes before powering down if it gets no signals from the wrist band. You can set the standby time up to 90 minutes using the phone app.

6 – Phone App

There is a phone app for adjusting settings on the Boost Surfing fin. It lets you adjust the power levels and switch it between surfing and SUP mode. It uses Bluetooth to communicate with the fin. The range is not very far. You have to have your fin a couple inches from the phone for it to work. You can connect to it while it is mounted to a board and underwater. You have to have your phone right above the fin box laying on the board.

The app allows you to adjust the power levels for the burst mode if you want a faster or slower burst. It also lets you adjust the power levels for continuous operation. You can also adjust how long the fin stays in standby before turning itself off.

7 – On the water

We mounted the Boost up to our Blackfin Model X inflatable SUP which has a nylon flip lock fin box. You have to attach the fin box adapter first. Then attach the fin with the 2 screws on the side. You use the included metal screwdriver for the screws.

It’s important to not lose the screwdriver. You also use it to turn the fin on and off by holding the end next to the power indicator light. You’ll hear some tones and a green light will come on when the fin turns on. You can test it out by hitting one of the on buttons on the wrist band.

It would be nice if there was a way to power up the fin without using the screwdriver. If you use the motor to cruise out somewhere and then stop for more than 30 minutes the fin will power down. You need the screwdriver to turn it on again. If you didn’t bring it with you out on the water, you can’t turn the fin back on. There should be some way to power this thing back up without bringing a metal tool along that can easily be lost.

Burst Mode

The boost fin provides enough thrust to get you moving quick in burst mode. It is not a super fast acceleration. Don’t expect it to rip the board out from under you. It will make you go but it’s not super aggressive. If you want a dose of power to get your moving fast to get out of the way of a boat, burst will get the job done.

Continuous Mode

We spent most of our time with the fin set to high power on continuous mode. 10mph seems about accurate for the speed of the board. You can go faster if you paddle hard. It goes fast enough to easily keep up with most average paddlers.

If you want a motor that will plane out your paddleboard and make it feel like it’s going really fast. The Boost Surfing motor is not that. It provides a nice relaxing amount of speed that will get you where you are going. It doesn’t make the board feel like it’s going really fast. More speed would kill the battery faster. A faster top speed would be nice in the long range version of the fin.

Steering with an extra large fin

We found the hardest thing to do when using the Boost fin was steering the board or kayak. We took the side bite fins off the board to make it a little easier to turn. The overall size of the Boost fin is much larger than a normal SUP fin or a similar fin on an inflatable kayak. It makes it more difficult to turn while using the motor or paddling.

The board likes to track very straight while under power. Trying to rudder with the paddle turns very slowly. To get any kind of faster turn you need to step back on the board and lift the nose out like you are doing a kick turn. Then you can get some leverage out of your paddle to get the board to spin.

The kayak was no easier to steer. From the seated position it’s easier to get leverage with the paddle in the water. The extra large size fin just makes everything track straight really well.

Using lower power levels gives you less speed. In assist mode, the slowest speed. The board will go just a few miles per hour on its own. It makes paddling a lot easier with the board keeping some speed and momentum all the time. If you want to paddle a long distance faster with less energy burn, then assist or trolling settings work well.

Recommendation – Buy or No Buy?

If you want some motor power for your stand up paddle board or kayak, then check out the Boost Surfing motorized fin. It is much cheaper than other popular options such as Bixpy. It provides a good amount of power and good duration in a simple self contained package.

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