I know that this is a basic question, but it is my first install and I want to do it right. I have read the archives and found the manual for installing the boxes at the FoamEZ site. Still I am a little fuzzy on the exact procedure in installing the future fin boxes. 1. Router the slots in the blank 2. Install the boxes prior to laminating.
Ok, Here are the questions:
Do I insert the boxes right before glassing, or do I install them, wait, and then laminate
When I glass over the boxes, will any part of the box stickk obove the surface of the foam?
When do I reopen the slots in the fin box? Do I do it right after the resin kicks in Lam coat, after the lam coat is hard, or do I continue through to the hot coat and grind them down?
Sorry for the simple question. I just can’t seem to uncover these answers in a timely fashion with everything that is in the archives.
Howzit ANye, First rout the holes next prep the boxes by wiping with acetone,now tape off around the holes to prevent a resin mess. Insert the fins into the fin slots so you can set the angle properly, Have your catalyzed resin ready and brush it on the the boxes except for the top and brush the holes with resin also. Insert the boxes and set the angle and tape the fins to hold the angle. Let the resin set up real good before pulling the fins out of the slots then tape off the slots and the screw hole. Now laminate the bottom and after you got it done but the resin hasn’t kicked I slice the ends and 1 side of the glass around the tab so you can use your fingers as a squeegee to get the glass down to avoid any air bubbles. That’s it til you sand the board which should open the slots when you sand the bottom. That’s pretty much how it’s done, good luck.Aloha,Kokua
I router the slots after laminating. I put tape over the fin slots on each box. I pour some catalyzed lam resin into the slots (thickened with some short glass strands cut from scrap). I jam the box in. I wet out two layers of glass over each box. When I sand the hotcoat I re-open the slots, have to re-tape them for the finish coat.
The two layers is b/c the first time I did Futures, the girlie customer later ran over someone and tore the entire box and fin right damn out of the board. Cleanly, but she hadn’t the consideration or presence of mind to retrieve the box and fin. By this time the wifely unit was having a conniption fit over my supposed relationship with the girlie (there was none really) and I had to send her away to find someone else to patch/reinstall. Oh the little vagaries and indignities of life. Interesting times.
“… the wifely unit was having a conniption fit over my supposed relationship with the girlie (there was none really) and I had to send her away to find someone else to patch/reinstall. … Interesting times.”
hi Honolulu …
isn’t THIS a photo of the girl involved … now , WHY would any ‘wifely unit’ have a problem with THAT , I wonder ?? …
Excuse ne ma’am but there is a slight glare on your top making it difficult to read…could you please hand it over to me so that I may have a better look…er at the top I mean…er…um!
whats this bit about cleaning the boxes in acetone? hey, that wasn’t in the directions! do you do this to better the bond with the box and the resin? i sometimes give a light sand to the boxes to rough up the surface. think thats adequate?
The boxes could have mould release on them so that’s why you dip them in clean acetone. Sanding is fine too as far as I’m aware. Make sure the flange part of the box is a hair below the foam. The raised lip should stick above the foam. The raised lip gets sanded into when everything else is done which is how you get the masking tape out. When you tape the box opening, do not tape down the ramp that leads into the flange. You’ll just make the masking tape much harder to get out if you do. Check out bammbamm808’s vid as well as he shows a video of himself glassing over Futures and working out any air bubbles.
