I have been glassing my first three boards the last week or so, with good results. But I think I might have screwed one teensy thing up… Maybe…
Two of my boards are 2+1 fin setups, with a 10.5 center. In those 10.5 boxes (which I have never even used before) there is a slot near the middle that allows you to drop the fin down into the channel. That slot has a diagonal component that makes it wider at the bottom than at the top. The slot is also nearer to one end of the box than the other.
Which end of the box, judged by looking at the slot, goes towards the front?
And if I have it wrong on one of my boards, which logic dictates I must since I didn’t fit them both with the same orientation, how bad will that screw up the function of the box? Don’t tell me I’ll have to put the fin in backwards on that board?
Actually you have to ride the entire board backwards… just kidding.
I’m no longboard expert, but it shouldn’t matter. There’s just a spot (when the pin is over the slot) where you cannot put the fin. It will be more forward on one and farther back on the other. I know many claim that 1/4" movement can have drastic effects, but I’m a bit of a sceptic on that. Just move the fin to one side or the other of that slot and you’ll be fine.
You did leave the little tab in when you glassed it, didn’t you?
From what I know you should not have an issue. The front of the fin (with the metal rod sticking out from both sides) should fit in the slot, and then you just push the front of the fin down to meet the horizontal slot below and slide it forwards in the box. Then screw the rear of the fin (both the metal plate and the screw should have come with the fin) into the small metal plate which you already had slid in through the center slot and down into the horizontal slot. As the rear of the fin is not wider than the slot in the top of the fin box, it simply gets pushed down to line up with the metal plate. So basically as long as you can get the front of the fin into the box you are golden.
