"Atleast with glass ons if you happen to knock off a fin the damage is ususally easily repaired. With the FCS system if the fins don’t happen to break like they are designed to, and the plugs get blown out it’s not usually repairable. Once the FCS plugs are damaged your board will need constant repair, bandage repair after bandage repair. " I find the exact opposite - FCS is so easy to repair. Just take out the cracked plug and stick a new one in there. Glass on fins are the biggest royal pain to fix - delamed glass, ripped up foam, etc. If a glass on is damaged, the only way to truly fix it is same as FCS - take it off, clean it up and put it back on. Bandaid fixes dont work for either one. Both have their place as different surfers prefer different systems for the reasons posted.I have been frustrated with FCS also, swearing i would never use them again only to have trouble with glassons on my next board. No system is perfect yet, but at least we have a growing range to pick from for our different needs and preferences…
oh yea - about the FCS surfing badly… maybe true for the plastic fins (although some people actually prefer the plastic ones) not so for the carbon ones. I have switched from a board with glassons to FCS carbons out in the water and felt no difference in drive. I made some fiberglass fins with the TC redline template and one broke out and I lost it. I put FCS plugs there instead and put the TC redline in and couldnt tell a major difference; if there was a subtle difference, it seemed that there was less drag (a positive difference). Both are good for their own reasons. I think there are better systems out there but there is not one system that will always be better for everyone in every board.
one more thing - i am not awesome, but i think i can turn well enough (sometimes) to validate my assumptions on fins. Different fin templates make WAY more of a difference then how they are attached. pic from the follysurfcam.com in SC a couple weeks ago in typical windchop 
a lot want to know how a board posted on this forum works - that orange 5’10 i posted a while back hoping it would go fast, turn hard, and boost high in less than desirable conditions…it does (even with crappy FCS) heres another one-
STL is correct the concavity on the inside of injection molded fins is sink. All injection molded fins have this to some extent. The primary cause of sink is that as plastics cool they also shrink. Different plastic materials have different shrink rates. Different formulations of the same materials have different shrink rates. Higher percentages of filler material also help reduce shrink. You will find more shrink in thicker wall sections. So, the apex of the foil will most often be the opposite side of the deepest sink. How you inject the material into the mold and how the air is evacuated from the mold also have alot to do with stress in the part. Our goal has always been to optimize each of these parameters to minimize sink on our fins. Usually, that means slightly more expensive materials and longer cycle times. But, we are all surfer here. And, we care about the product we put out.
Hey, Richard Prause, are you from the Folly Beach area? If so do you know Anthony Osment? We just made him a couple of boards to try out this fall, he usually rides Todd’s Quest label. He’s a pretty cool kid, and he seems to be ripping. Funny thing, Anthony as well as some other sponsred amateurs this year all want glass-on aero-cor fins. Aero-cor glassy’s definately have a following in the world of competitive surfers.By the way, nice pics. Last time I was in Folly was regionals a few years back. The washout was pretty cool.
Howzit Richard, I can’t figure out how some people think a broken glass on is easier to fix than FCS. I find when a glass on breaks there’s usually damage(cracked foam) which some guys don’t notice. I just did a double (2 fins on 1 board) and under the glass I had to fix the cracks first. If this damage isn’t fixed first it’s like building a house on an earth quake fault. Maybe a lot of guys doing a FCS repair don’t have the FCS installation kit which has the jig for taking out the old plug. If a person buys a new board with a fin system (any kind) the seller (shop)should give a limited guarantee that if the system fails for reasons due to poor install they should fix it for free, I do. If that was the case installers would make sure they did it right the first time. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again " there’s no bad fin systems, only bad installations". Aloha, Kokua
Howzit Richard, Just wanted to add that most tow in boards done here on Kauai have FCS systems and we aren’t having any problems.Aloha, Kokua
Maybe you should place that in one of your adds so that when someone see’s this fault they know what it is. KR http://groups.msn.com/MyKRSurf/krcomweb.msnw
wow FCS in tow-in boards…surprising, but i guess that validates your adage kokua. By the way, thank you for all of your tips and insight on this forum. of course i know tony. i have seen your boards Roscoe and they look sick. Anthony was giving you props saying that the different boards he got from you were 100% handshaped but with shaping-machine-like consistency. Some of my friends just got boards from me and they all wanted the aerocore glass on fins. Future seems like the coolest system to me right now but I haven’t tried them yet, I am very eager. I have tried Red-X, FCS, and glass ons and I like different things about each one.
Thanks for the response Richard. Back to the fin systems; I honestly can’t tell much difference between any of them as far as performance goes, my opinions are usually installation and repairability of the systems, as well as cosmetic appeal.My new shortboard has futures, they seem to ride ok.Been riding red-x for a few years now.We’re putting in quite a few Speed Fins lately,especially on some of the Hic’s we do. Havn’t ridden them yet, but installation is growing on me.It’s getting hard keeping all these fins cataloged at the shop…
ive busted out fcs fins several times. each time one tab has broken and one fin plug has ripped out leaving me with a damaged board and alost fin.
The worst of both worlds.