Fixing FCS Fin Boxes

General Discussion
1

Hey guys,

 

I have searched the forums for information on fixing FCS fins boxes but I cant seem to find what I am looking for. The board that I am repairing is a 5’10 chinese made fish and two of the three boxes on the right hand side have shaken loose. I did little to no research before getting started and have just taken a stanley knife to the glass around the fin boxes to break them loose, which wasn’t a problem. The problem that I do have is now the new fin boxes seem to be rather loose as the hole is slightly larger than 1 1/4 inch. I read on a different site that it might be worth filling the entire hole with q-cell and drilling an inch hole with a hole saw, which is what I should have used in the first place, though I am not sure if that is the best way of going about fixing the problem. I have cut a couple of circular fiberglass sheets, one ten ounce and one 4 oz, and even with both pieces of glass in the hole the new box seems to be rather loose. 

Has anybody on the forum experienced a similar problem? Am I better of filling the hole or just using the cloth and some q-cell to secure the box in place? Please help…

 

2

The regular FCS plugs are not all that great.  I would route them out, fill the bottom with foam or resin/filler and put in fusions, but if you don’t have a router or a dremel, then by all means do a filler with your epoxy or poly.  I got tired of my friends bringing me their broken fcs plugs and put fusions in them for them and told them not to buy the plugs anymore!

3

    Howzit seanhagg, Get a holesaw (  1 1/8" diameter) or just take the drill bit out of the one in your installation kit and drill the resin milled fiber around the plug ) mix out and wiggle with a big screw driver in the tab slot till it pops out. Ream out the hole till you hit the foam around the box hopefully you don't pull the foam round verticle tab that touchs the deck. After that just reinsall a new box like it was the first time. Aloha.Kokua