Broken fin... What to do?

General Discussion
1

Hello all,

 

So, my dad comes up to me the other day, and says he has a friend at work that needs some repair work on one of his board.  He told me that he broke a glass on fin and wanted to see if I could replace it.  Immeadeatley I thought it was a thruster, and, for some reason, the center fin.  I thought it would probably be pretty simple to just route out the fin and maybe put in a fusion box, so the guy could change the center fin to suit his styling, et cetera.

Today, I received a picture of the fin in question, and it was quite different than I had imagined.  Behold!

It’s a big-ass pivot fin, glass construction with black tint, and, maybe mine eyes decieve me… but… but is that the LEASH connected to the base of the fin?  I don’t have much info on the board, and this is the ONLY picture I have at the moment.  I know it’s a Bunger, and approximately 10ft.  Judging by the t-band, foam color, fin style and um… leash system, I’d say it’s late 60s maybe early 70s?  I’m not sure, I’m not a carbon dater.

Anyway, what would the scope of a repair look like?  I’d need to glue the fin back together, brace it somehow, than glass it with a minimum of 2x6oz. on each side, I’m guessing?  Slight black pigemnt in there to match?  Is this something I can do?

Also, I’m having pops ask if he wants a leash plug installed, and this time, I’m gonna do it right!

If I did an operational quality job, what do you think I should charge the dude?

As always, thank you in advance for all the tips!

2

I’m thinking a repair entails grinding the rest of the fin off and putting a new one on.  It is easy to make a fin panel, cut and foil a new fin.  Then you wouldn’t have to think about it breaking ever again.  

3

A bit hard to tell what vintage it is. It does look like the fin was made out of glass mat with just a layer or two of real cloth on the outside. Shoddy. If I had to rehab that thing back to its original state I’d charge about $200. And, I sure as hell would not put a leash plug in it if it’s a 60s board. Put a bridge on it.

4

The leash is not attached to the fin. Look close ...it's just laying there...so that means that the board has a leash plug or loop. The fin has been repaired before...you can tell by the discolored resin. Like Sammy said...this is not a cheap repair. The fin will need to be removed and replaced. Before giving a repair price you need to find out how much a new fin will cost.....and if it's just a vintage "look a like" you might want to install a 10" fin box......research time!

Surfers are cheap so do your homework first.....so you don't end up doing a whole bunch of work for free. The fin will cost you 30-75 bucks, maybe more....kind of depends on where you are and who you know...shipping is not cheap.

Stingray

5

OK ,,,I did my best to enlarge the photo and it looks like a hole drilled through the fin....might be more "vintage" than I thought................Ray...


6

So, Hurricane Sandy has come and gone, and luckily, I escaped without any damage done, although I had some friends who were not as fortunate.  Still, no one was injured, so that’s all one can ask for.  My local beach took a brutal pounding (Gilgo), and the highway to get to it was also impacted pretty badly.  It makes me sad to think about it, so, as of now, I;m not going to.  Plus, Christmas season is coming, and my sister’s wedding is coming up this Saturday, so there’s lots to do.  Gonna try to organize something in the springtime to plant dunegrass or something.  I don’t know yet, but I need to do something for my beach…

 

Anyway, My dad’s friend got hit pretty badly by the storm, but his surfboard is still on his mind (funny how one’s mind works…) and he wasn’t too keen on the idea of paying lots of cash (for me or others to do) to fix the existing fin.  So, he’s opting for a box (sacrilege!).  This seems more manageable for me…

 

Process: Grind down fin flat, mask off area, route, dry fit, resin and glass, set, cut, sand.  Is that the correct order?  I’ve never done a center before, but I’ve done FCS fusion (which is, as I’m sure you all know, just glued then glassed).

7

to protect the vintage quality of the board

aka keep it accurate is the #1 reason

to stick the original back together

the #2 reason is to keep it cheap.

Both reasons have nobility.

when you glue the fin together

before the glue of choice[resin]

cures ,clamp two flat boards to either 

side of the fin to make it straight up 

and down.two layers wasn’nt enough

to begin with…

Lam five or six to the sides

and down past the rope cove

for good measure.

fin box counter productive

as well as the grind off new fin.

arrange a trade with the guy

and protect this board from loss

from the archive of old stuff.

8

If I were doing this repair and was to repair the fin as opposed to cutting it of and replacing it I would paint the two halfs with styrene - that way any fibres that have been fractured would go clear so you shouldnt have as much cosmetic mess - if you do it quickly it would perhaps come out real nice and may actually work instead of using an adhesive.
Cheers
Rich
www.thirdshade.com

9

Id’s just grind it off and make a whole new fin… the construction quality on that original is poor and foiling fins isn’t that hard if you’ve done it before. Just lay up some glass panels using some of the posts by the user “Fins” (he’s got some great instructions on laying up fin panels) and use the old one to make the template as close as possible. That way, instead of having woven mat and a layer of glass you can give him a full glass fin. Use carbon if you want or just pigment the resin black. 

10

I don’t think that’s even the original fin (maybe), as it looks a bit too far forward, and already had a bunch of resin/glass built up around the base which looks lie an old repair job to me - please post pics of the rest of the board - I bet some of these guys could give you a whole lot better advice knowing the “rest of the story”.  

 

however, from what I see, I’d just put in a box & let the customer get his own new fin - they sell those pivot fins, or D fins, & I bet they’d look better than that one! you could even do a through the box leash attachment and kill two flies with one swat…