I am about toinstall futures fins on a surfboard that I am doing a tinted resin glass job on. It looks like typically when you install futures fin boxes you place a small oval of fiberglass over each box prior to laminating the bottom of the board. if I do this on a resin tint, the ovals will be darker because they pick up more resin. Are these ovals necessary? Or can I place the fiberglass ovals on the board with clear resin and let it cure. Then go over the top with my tinted resin and bottom layer of cloth? will I have lamination issues between the ovals and bottom layer of glass?
If the board were mine, i would put them in after you lam the board. I think futures under a tinted lam look beyond ugly.
Lam the board and then route the holes for the boxes. - your boxes will look definded and clean. Not like your trying to hide something.
If you wanna do it your way- patches over the boxes is not an absolute but i dont skip them.
You can lam them with clear amd have no bonding issues, you will however have color issues.
If you have already sunk your boxes, think about coloring the foam and not the lam.
Just my take on it…
You can put the plugs in after you glass the board and do your resin tint. Just add a single “butterfly” patch that covers all the plugs and use clear resin. That will give you a nice clean look.
good luck.
g
thanks guys. So if I install boxes after laminating, I only place 1 piece of fiberglass “butterfly” shape over each fin box? that seems less durable than putting them under the lamination. is there no issue there? If Igo this route then, I would do my laminating coat, cut the boxes in and cover with the fiberglass patches and clear resin, then hotcoat the whole board? Similar in a way to lam logo?
lam the board - then route your holes - set your boxes - then cover with two football patches - one slightly larger than the other to make for easy feathering.
Also - if you make a 1 inch slit in the glass where it rests on the upper ridge of the box (this will get sanded off anyways) - it will make it nice and ease to press out all your air bubbles.
If you are doing color they do not look at all bad under the color. Definitely DO NOT lay over the patches with the colored resin as you will definitely see a darker diference.
The Future boxes come in about 6 new colors so you can get ones that are close to your final color lam. Really all depends on the transparance of the colorred resin. If you are doing an opaque tint, then if you lam prior to glassing they will disapear if the tint is completely opaque. If it is transparent, then the boxes will show through to some degree…all esthetic preference. Once you glass over you can lay a patch over them, but I’ve skipped this step and never had a problem with strength.
Another option is to lay over a full tail patch after the lam. You can make this as opaque as you want. or go clear. Again, all eshtetic preference