Hey guys , wanted some input on the best way to reinforce the plug area when laminating. Also, Kokua, Could you be a little more specific with your “basting” technique. Find your posts to be very innovative and helpful. Spent some time in Hanalei back in the late ‘70s. Surfed “the channel” both sides on two different swells. One low tide fin dragger and another double overhead. Never got big enough to connect all the way. Saw some 9’ guns laying around by everyone’s houses so I know it gets huge and long there in the winter. Saw mantas and moreys when snorkling but no sharks! Good thing. thanks for all the posts. Texas gulf coaster…Krokus
…Don’t mind me cutting in but a good way to reinforce the hole and a kind of brainless no way to not f**k it up method,is to scribe the top of the hole,in the foam,just under the glass or you can scribe multi-layers as well.Herb
Yea find someway to reiforce it them things pop out all the time. ugh . good for ding repair guys bad for guys with fcs.
Howzit John, The problem is the guy doing the installation. I was talking with Clyde Rodgers ( Edge fins) the other day. He does repairs on the side and he said he had 3 boards with bad FCS plugs, They were all done by a guy who works for a factory in Lihue. I asked him if he had ever had to repair any that I had installed and he said no. He also told me that I was the one person other than him on Kauai who Did excellant installations when it comes to the Edge Fin system. He’s never had to repair one that I installed,and Edge systems are a little trickier than FCS. It may be the big guts are in a hurry or don’t spend enough time training their installers. As I’ve said before there’s no bad systems just bad installations. One extra step I do is after I wipe the pugs with acetone, I run the bottom of the plugs over some 50 grit sand paper to rough them up for better adhesion,plus don’t ever use S.A. in the mixture.Aloha, Kokua
Undercutting the glass a little should help, I was thinking more along the lines of putting an extra layer or two of 4 oz UNDER the main lam at each fin location. Like 3 - 6" ovals. Will that help at all? The fin angle and concave angle make it tricky to sand. Thanks again! …Krokus
Krokus - FCS recommends two patches of extra of glass on the bottom. Easiest way - put a patch of glass under the bottom lam at the fin locations then when glassing the deck, cut the lap wider at the side fin locations to create a third layer. The center plugs are not as critical as they are helped strenghtwise by the stringer (two layers usually sufficient). FCS also recommends two layers of glass over the fin locations on the deck though I think it’s rarely done. From the failures I’ve seen, most seem caused by glassers not putting at least three layers on the bottom - especially on shorter boards with thinner tails. Done correctly along with scoring the foam as Herb says will reduce the odds of failure IMHO - Pete
Thanks Pete! Krokus
Can someone elaborate on the scribing? …what’s that for?
Rook, As I understand Herb, He is describing…Ha! Once the holes for the plugs are bored , to take a tool ie: scribe, and remove some of the foam underneath the glass around the hole top. This will allow extra bonding material to form a reinforcement ring ,under the glass around the top of the plug. Kokua reminds us to wipe the plugs with acetone and rough up with 50 grit before installation. That is how I understood it…Herb? How about the sanding of the plug top to match the concave angle?? Have to be careful not to get the plug too hot or no bueno!..Krokus
… if it has gnarly concave…all I have to say is good luck! …all box systems are tricky to add to a board with max concave,some worse than others.Herb
Howzit Herb, I’ve done some installs on boards with radical concave and a 9 degree angle. The problem with those boards was when they were done the gap between the screw and the plug slot was only about 1/16 of an inch or less. Aloha, Kokua
you can get around some of the deep concave problems and channel bottoms! by using rail plugs on the centre in channels and middle plugs on the side for deep concaves. you then have a little more plug left to keep the screw in place http://www.feraldave.com
I usually use some thickend resin (1-2 days in an open container) along with some cabosil, milled fibers, and white pigment - the resulting mixture is rather thick. Do you ever have any problems with air bubbles in the scribing slot? …I’m just curious: When designing boards with a lot of concave or vee, do you still set the fins at 4-5 degrees off the vertical, or do you increase/decrease a little because of the decreased/increased ‘effective angle’
for FCS route the holes out in a cone shape. makes sense huh?