How to detach a fin when epoxy leaked into finplug cavity?

General Discussion
1

Ok, I messed up big time. Epoxy leaked into the fin cavities as I was intalling FCS fin plugs (the round ones). I was actually ok before I went to bed but when I woke up in the morning, one of the cavities is totally filled with epoxy and the other one is about 80% filled in too. To complicate things further, I used a fin for the installation instead of a dummy since I don’t have one. Now the fin looks like it’s not going anywhere. Is there a way to remove the fin without damaging both the fin and the plug? 

Appreciate any advice from the forum members.

2

remove the grub screws.wiggle the fins back and forth. tap the fins with a hammer. tap the base…tap,tap,tap…wiggle some more, tap some more with the hammer…Do not slam the fin with the hammer…plastic fins don’t stick to epoxy very well…tap some more…hopefully you can crack out the epoxy…if not…cut off fins and router out plugs. It’s not the end of the world.

3

THanks Stingray, but the fins I used were carbon :frowning: I’ll try the tap, tap, wiggle wiggle method. Hope I don’t ruin the board further. 

4

I tried hammering the fin but it won’t budge. Any other options?

5

IMHO, you’re screwed. Your fin tabs are definately lost.

The best option I can think of is:

  1. Remove the fin+plugs from the board
  2. Break the fin tabs to remove the plugs
  3. Reuse the fin as a glass-on on another project

 

I hope that someone else knows a better solution.

 

Pouring resin around the FCS plugs should be done very carefully. I use empty soda bottles with a straw to pour my resin.

6

Hi TW, sorry to hear about your troubles. My overfills usually come out with the ‘tap tap’ method. Since you are going FCS, would it make sense to use a Dremel-style tool to rout out around the plastic plugs, pull them out of the board with the nice fins, and remark/rereout board to use the Fusion plugs (the ones with the foam already around them)? If the stuck plugs were out of the board, you could take more aggresive measures to liberate the carbon fins by sanding/cutting away the plastic plugs. So basically the same idea as Hans but trying to save the fin tabs as well.

-J

7

Cutting away the plastic definately is a better solution than the solution that I proposed.

8

To save the tabs once the fins and plugs are out of the board, heat them up (boiling/hot water works)  to soften the epoxy enough to tap them off.

You may be able to heat them in the board and try the tap tap method. be careful and good luck

 

9

I used a syringe to make sure that the epoxy wont spill into the plugs. There was no spill when I left it after more than an hour, then I went to bed. When i woke up the following morning, the epoxy seemed to have expanded – I don’t exactly know why – and spilled over the mini dam that I made.

10

Thanks Hans, jrandy and offshore.

I will try a combination of your advices and hopefully at least save the fin. Plan B is just leave the fin there and surf the hell out of it. One Thing that bother’s me though is after sanding the excess epoxy on the plugs, there is about 2-3 mm gap between the fin base and the bottom of the board. How do you guys think it will affect the ride?  

11

It will create turbulence at the fin base, it will increase the drag on that fin.

But it’s hard to say what the exact effect is on the surfing performance.

To know the effect, you should try it.

12

Yeah, I reckon if they don’t come out after careful wiggling, heating up etc then you’ll need to break the tabs off.

I have been able to avoid this problem by applying a small amount of hot glue gun glue where the jig (or actual fin in your case) meets the plug. Basically I seal it up along with the top of the grub screw. This way I can pour resin in with out too much care. Once the resin has set I pull the jig out. The hot glue is pretty weak and comes away pretty easily. I suppose you could use the hot glue for the dam method also.

I even use hot glue to set the fin jigs. This way there is no need for messing around with taping the fins/jigs in place. Hot glue is very useful stuff!

13

About the epoxy expansion. The is probably caused by the exothermic reaction of curing epoxy. When installing classic FCS plugs, you should make sure to use a low-exotherm epoxy, these are sometimes called casting epoxies.

I never found one with a shaper supplier, but you can probably find one in your local “polyester shop”.

14

Master Murphy

the king of happenstance

has blessed you with the 

never fail fin system,congradulations.

may the adaptation to the fin circumstance

be your becoming the best board and surfer

combination to grace the material world

since phil edwards and Baby.

…ambrose…

is the board light blue?

go man the next wave is for you.

15

gold!

16

That sounds like a great idea. will definitely try it on my next glass job. THanks!

17

 

I’ll keep this in mind. thanks

18

Haha THat’s one way of looking at it. You have an exceptional way with words. Thanks, it made my rather bothersome situation seem a blessing :slight_smile:

19

I finally removed the fin! All it took is a rubber mallet and a bit of frustration to get the right amount of force to dislogdge the stuck fin. :slight_smile: Both the plug and fin didn’t get damaged in the process woohoo! Thanks for all the advice

20

dodged a bullet!