I’ve shaped and laminated a 6’ 11" 2+1 egg for myself. Low entry rocker, moderate tail rocker, modern rails, 2 5/8" thick, me: 155lbs. I had shifted the template back a couple of inches on the blank to put more foam under my chest. The unfortunate result was that the tail of the board is on the edge of being too thin to accomodate the ~1" depth of the center fin box.
At 6" from the tail it’s 1" deep. at 7" it’s about 1 1/8" deep. I sanded down the base of the box which give me another 1/16"+ clearance.
My options seem to be 1) use a 10.5" box and try to eek it in at 7" from the tail, possibly routing too deep and seeing the box from the deck. 2.) Using an 8.5" box, start it a little further up and deal with not having as much range as to where I set the fin.
I’ve never surfed a midlength. Any advice on fin placement for a board like this or dealing with the fin box/board thickness?
Ok I waited 2 days for the wordy pundits & other experts to have their say, I’ll chime in with my thoughts. Put it as far back as you feel you can comfortably fit it
Like within 1/8" of the deck would work for me. You can’t accidently router too deep because your router depth won’t change once you set it. Just be sure you measured your thickness correctly.
Get a fin with the screw tab in front.
I can’t say where it “should” be, but I say put it where it has to be and play around with different fins to get the ride you like.
It’ll be ok.
BTW this has been discussed many times before, do a search of “tail too thin” or “too thin for fin box”.
There is a possible problem with that fin; if the fin is struck hard on rocks, it is possible the rear edge can puncture the glass at the back of the box. So better to set it no further back than the rear of the slot of the box.
True but if cut out a bit “taller” less danger of that and I have ridden boards w/ fin like that for years and never a problem. Don’t hit rocks! Also, if you really want to put box in where board is thick enough, but also really want the fin further back, I think this is your only option. Worst case, not all that tough to patch the glass same time as you fix the torn out fin box from hitting that rock.
That’s certainly a valid concern, but another possible solution is to rout in a little 1/8" thick panel behind the finbox to disperse the load if the fin gets pushed back. Like a 2" length of a wood paint stirrer.
After a certain point doing glass-on main fin becomes a practical alternative.
Add three 1/8" thick corcell patches on deck side. I would vacuum bag but no need in this case. Make three 4" wide x 12 " long x 1/8" thick corcell patches with epoxy resin/ fiberglass in between.
Deck side, wet out fiberglass, corcell, wet out fiberglass, corcell, wet out fiber class and final corcell. Place weighted something over deck patch over planned box. Let cure as needed. BOTTOM Cut box hole considering percise router settings. Check fitting before jig is taken off. I preglass all fin boxes as a rule. Futures boxes have a flange and will give added lateral support that traditional boxes don’t provide. Set and true box, fiberglass patch box. Now work on deck side feathering corcell to shape .take off as much as you feel comfortable with. Hide patch with logos or paint. bullet proof with a futures box.
You’re likely about as far as you can go with shaving down the box itself. I’ve routed quite a few to (but not through) the deck glass and just mixed some white pigment and foam dust to make the installation invisible from the deck side. I have also bumped the box foward a bit as mentioned and have also trimmed the trailing portion of fin and fin tab if the fin was a screw forward type. All work. If cosmetics aren’t a huge concern, you could also just punch the box clear through and build up glass patched on the deck to cover it. I can’t find a photo but I promise it’s been done. A common method of finbox placement back in the day was to measure the box thickness with calipers, add about 1/4", slide the calipers up from tail until they drag and bingo - that’s where the trailing end of the box goes.
I doubt you will have a problem with fin range even if you place your box 8" from tail. I’ve got two boards with the box at 8" and they both have room to move the fin forward/back more than I have ever needed (and I like to try different fins/locations). I had a board one time where I knew I wanted the fin further forward than the box would allow. Not ideal, but I just shaved the front of a fin off a bit and re-foiled it (relocated the pin as well).
tsimpson Thanks. Yeah that was one of the things i was wondering about and why I created a new post. Wanted to see how often people tended to surf a board like this with fin pushed way back or way forward.
