Got a middle sixties Yater Spoon in for ding repair. Plastic unglassed fin was set into board, no finbox. Wobble is very very slight. Looks like it was resined a little back and front, for a quick fix, never even sanded down. Taking the fin out will be hard because of the stringers, don’t want to ruin them. How can I strengthen this fin???
I’d clean the fin and surrounding glass with acetone.
Take chopped glass and resin, let sit overnite to get air bubbles out. Catalyze and pour into margin. Wipe off excess.
This type of no box box was around for a few years back in 65-67 some time. The fin is not a glass fin and the resin will not bond to it. The board had a hole cut in it and then glassed, the fin would fit in the hole and then just resin was poured around it to hold it in place. If the fin got hit it would pop out and float all you had to do was clean up the hold put the fin back in and pour some new resin around it. If it was me I would cut out the old resin and clean up the hold, then put the fin back in and pour resin around it. Cool board I have s Surfboards Hawaii with the same set up.
I just did a similar repair on one of my old Santa Barbara boards. Bagman is right, resin does not want to stick to the fin plastic (polypropylene - sp?)
I did not remove the fin entirely. I dug out as much loose resin around the fin as I could with a pick and Dremel tool. Scuffed around the “box” opening about 3/8" all the way around.
After masking the scuffed area, I dabbed epoxy all around and flexed the fin back and forth to try and get resin between the fin and the insde of the box. A bit of resin was also dabbed around the base of the fin itself.
It’s solid now but I can already see where the epoxy is separating from the polypropylene.
Get rid of the plastic one…
Swap it for a fibreglass one…
Some folks are putting in replica fins and saving the original because the value is sometimes more than the board.
Be careful, check w/ KP
If resin doesn’t want to stick to the plastic fin, how can it stick in the box hole since it’s just resin and some cloth…also I want to keep this all original, hence no new fin. How about a fiberglass patch over the front and back of the box for a little more strength? Every little bit helps…
somebody brought in an old one in really good condition today that has the same situation going on. I’ll go take some pictures and be right back.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o156/easternpacific/IMG_0293.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o156/easternpacific/IMG_0291.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o156/easternpacific/IMG_0292.jpg
this one was just resined in.
Mine too seems to be the same way.
EP those photos are bitchin
those are the wonder bolt version
the box was set up before the fin was instaled
the board in question was the earlier mode
where they immersed the fin,
with an interlock feature in the base
into fiberglass resin matrix
not just resin mind ya
and there it has resided
for fourty years a testimony
to durability and longevity in surfboard design
, praise >Yater<
keeping the board original is a method of merit.
clean the crack and replace it with marine resin
and fiberglass matrix cover with a couple layers o’resin
as in hot coat and sand.
deeper under standing
you might just contact Tom morey
or just 'Y" and ask him as he was the fin source
when they ws makin them there fins and attachments
maybe they was called w.a.v.e.
or maybe they waass still called trask ?
…ambrose…
I am not a dude
these sheepskin chaps
are just to keep my legs warm after dance class.
do what Bagmman suggests to maintain original concept—i had an old grag noll , same deal, polypro fins, nothing sticks to them and they float—you can clean up the shape of the fin with a real! sharp razor blade shaving a bit here and there to fix the foil–be careful!
And here is another trick that I have done on those fins, after you have it cut to where you like it sand it down slowly working you way to 400 grit, then take a propane torch and do what is called flame polishing on it. You do this by passing the torch over the fin to melt just the scraches caused by the sand paper, it will gloss up like it was new. Just don’t get it too hot.
If this is to be a wall hanger than do as the boyz have said.
But Polypropylene and resin will not bond at all, at all, at all.
I use sheets of the stuff in different radii to lay up helical rail fin panels with both epoxy and polyeurathane laminations because once the panel cures it pops right off the the sheet of polypropylene.
If you want to surf the board you want to put a glass on fin in it and resin it in cavity in the board. Using a fin that’s made of the same thing as the board shell is will make for a much more practical structure with far more integrity.
When this board was built knowledge of plastics compatablity was in its infancy.
No Worries, Rich
As I got into the fin I noticed that it has a single layer of 4oz covering both sides of the fin, white pigmented. Didn’t realize until I started angle grinding the back. As with fiberglass over plastic, I don’t see how it could’ve held up for so long. I can either:
a. sand off all the fiberglass and let be or
b. sand down fiberglass and re-glass or
c. leave as is and just sand/feather all
Hey Skip, what that was is a early Morey Skegworks with a Wonderbolt, there is little nubs slip in the back wedge in and then tightin the bolt till its snug, they never got that tight, but they did hold up ok, those old fins are pretty brittle by now. Everybodys right on how to fixum, just gotta pick, depending on the original fin. I have 2 or 3 but they all go with boards. Rennys held up best because of the 2 stringer support.
Oh yeah forgot , lots dont have the bolt just stuck in resin and glass on the older ones.
Quote:
you might just contact Tom morey
or just 'Y" and ask him as he was the fin source
when they ws makin them there fins and attachments
maybe they was called w.a.v.e.
or maybe they waass still called trask ?
TRAF was the name, which is “fart” spelled backwards. Morey dubbed them so because of the stench from the polypropelene. Yater was one of the first labels to use Morey’s polypro fins. Also, the popouts produced by Ventura International Plastics had Morey “TRAF” fins. Those labels included Shark, Tiki, Ten Toes, and Duke Kahanamoku. Morey got the idea of removable fins from George Downing and Ken Price. One thing about the early polypro fins is that they had a tendency to become very brittle in cold water. Many a New Englander had a fin break, just from doing a forceful turn during a Winter session.
Nice job! Tony thats it.W.a.v.e. started a few years later 67 or 68.
Quote:
Oh yeah forgot , lots dont have the bolt just stuck in resin and glass on the older ones.
Hey Thanks Kirk. I’m glad I waited to hear from you and talk to Yater himself. If I had rushed this one I would have really screwed up. Wonderbolt = no resin
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o156/easternpacific/IMG_0364.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o156/easternpacific/IMG_0365.jpg
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o156/easternpacific/IMG_0291.jpg
The guy in this picture bought this pristine spoon off of e-bay
==ep
Hey Skip, what did the guy pay? and where did that new fin come from?