First of all I want to thank everyone here for the valuable information shared on this website. I’m building my first board (5-7 epoxy minisimmons) and this site has been a wealth of knowledge. During the build I’ve made a LOT of mistakes, but I think I’ve finally made it to my last mistake. I’ve searched high and low in the archives and couldn’t find any information specifically addressing my issue. Here’s what went wrong:
When installing my fcs II plugs i set my router depth properly, test fit the plugs, and then brushed epoxy all over the bottom of the plugs and in the routed hole. I did NOT pour epoxy in the hole and allow for overflow. Due to this lack of resin, my plugs never raised the 1/16" to sit flush with the board. Compounding on this, I didn’t notice several large air bubbles between my cloth and the plugs during lamination.
Now I’ve reached my “sand the hotcoat stage” (after numerous other mess ups). Because my plugs are too shallow I ended up sanding to foam (!) in some small areas around the plug when trying to expose the flange. In addition, there were areas of unsaturated cloth (from the bubbles) which I cut away with a razor. I probably could’ve tried saturating with resin once exposed rather than cutting away but sometimes I just get caught up in what I’m doing. The way I see it I have three options (listed from best fix to worst):
- Route out the plugs, set new plugs to the proper height, lam on football patches + a deck patch, hotcoat, sand
- Lay fiberglass patches on either side of the plug and try to push them + resin down into the air bubble voids. Make these patches large enough to cover any exposed foam but try to avoid covering the fin plug openings as sanding those flush will be almost impossible without hitting foam again.
- pour resin into the voids and fiberglass over any exposed foam. Cross fingers and replace fin boxes propery if/when they pop out.
Anyone have any experience with this issue? Maybe there’s an easy fix I’m not thinking of? Like I said - this is my first board so I’m not to bummed about it - it’s been a learning experience. FYI - I’m only using FCS (original) fins in this board so I’m not too worried about getting the flange height perfect as the screws should properly secure the fins. Also - I managed to get all finbox stickers off - the pictures show two of the fin boxes with stickers on as I had spares and was about to start pouring resin before I decided to take a night to sleep on it. Much thanks to everyone!