I will be refurbishing a 60s Con Ugly. It is a very decent and early example of that model. Unfortunely the original glassed on fin had been removed. I did find and get a template of a later fin that appeared to be a type of plastic molded fin. That fin looks like the correct template but seems to be scaled down in size from the earlier Ugly models that had fiber glass fins that were glassed onto the boards. Thoughts anyone? So Im asking if anyone may have an older Ugly if I could possibly get a template of the fin from their board. Also, the board I have is definately an Ugly but only has the Con logo on the board. I dont know if the originals did not have the Ugly laminate on them or what year the Ugly laminates first appeared on those boards. Thoughts anyone? Thanks and any help or comments are greatly appreciated in advance.
Scott Anderson Surfboards in Hermosa Beach, CA is building the modern version of the Con Ugly. He may have original fin templates or the fin available.
Reply to #2. Thanks OCJohn. I know Scott, in fact not long ago he glassed a couple of boards that Bruce Grant had shaped that resemble the Con Ugly for me. They at one time were partners and owned the Con label. Just reaching out to see if anyone here has or knows anyone who has an old Con Ugly that I can get a template from. Larry Allison who owns a fin factory (another friend) said Bruce Grant had given him a larger template (probably original) than the one I had but has not located it as of yet. Thanks for the feed back.
I’ve never seen a glassed on fiberglass fin on a 60’s Ugly. I’ve owned a few Uglys pre script and even those had press boxes with polypropylene fins. If someone replaced the fin with a modern box they most likely replaced a press box.
Reply to #4. Gene, I commuicated with Bob Purvey via his web site. Bob says after he won Morey’s nose riding contest 11/12/66 the word got out about the Ugly. He said the first ad was shot around January 1967 and Con made a few boards without the Ugly logo. Bob says the fin length was about 10" and they were molded. Also Bob says some were glassed on as they were just getting into boxed fins. He has the template and sounds as though he is going to reproduce may’be an original style fin box. Again the board I have is pretty clean without repairs and if a molded fin was glassed on may’be it was easily removed.
So your board currently has the foam intact where the fin goes? No finbox routed? If there were a couple made with glass-ons this would be the only indicator that yours is one of those.
Gene this board had never been routed for a fin and the foam is intact. I have glassed quite a few boards in the past. What I could not wrap my mind around is glassing a molded fin onto a fibre glassed board. I have seen the molded fins the Ugly’s used and even took a template from one but I just do not understand how they would bond. Also the template I have seemed a little smaller than 10". I believe it was more in the 8" range (would have to measure it) and the base seemed a tad small.
Gene that appears to be the fin. That also looks like an original molded type fin. Curious what the measurement is. Base length (not box portion) and base to fin tip. Thanks for taking the time to search that out. I will try to take a few pictures of the board but may not get to it until the weekend. Is it possible to get a template from that ?
Here are a few pics. Picked up the board in this state. In decent condition. Pics are top, bottom, bottom tail, rail view, top close up.I can’t tell if someone did a good job replacing the high density foam in the 3rd picture or what.It does’nt appear to have any new glass in that area but does have new glass wrapped on the tail which you can see. Thoughts ?
Routing and molding the press box in place is super easy. They were originally fabricated in place with glass and resin when the board was laminated using simple jigs. Although it sounds like a prototype or two had glass ons this wasn’t one of those. It is possible I could get an original polypropylene fin. Where do you live? A phone call and I could fill you in if you want to explore that path.