whats the difference of a leash cup and leash loop? people seem to make abig deal about it. what are the pros and cons of both? and finally, how do you make a leash loop and find a good location on your board to put it?
i have used fin rope in the past to make a leash loop. just tie up like 8 or 10 strands maybe more and glass it on after the lam.
i dont really have a preference on either but many people will tell you that it doesnt feel so great when you step or stub your toe on a leash loop. there probably not as strong either. with a cup its in the board and i think that makes it stronger.
leash loops are stronger
no drilling in the board for a leash loop
…and leash loops look a lot kewler
Something I picked up last night.
“Seems such a shame to put a hole in the deck of a perfectly good surfboard that I just spent hours and hours laboring over to make it as perfect as possible.”
O-Fishl leash plugs are like loops you stick on the deck, minimal labor, no hole in deck.
ofishl.com/accessoriesorder.htm
I like glass leash loops myself, but the ofishl cup seems like minimal labor, good hold, and no hole in deck. Just doesn’t have that classic leash loop feel.
But if that’s what you want, search the archives, there are several posts on how to make the effectively.
i have heard that the o’fishl stick on leash plug doesnt work very well.
…it doesn’t…i’ve heard reports of them coming off. however, SurfCo Hawaii makes a stick-on leash plug that is great. i’ve used it on two of my boards, and there’s no way these things are ever coming off (short of scraping it off with a razor blade). i hate leash cups because they ruin the look of a nice clean deck. if i’ve got a board with a fin box, i usually just drill it…but if it’s a glass on fin, i’ll either do a loop or a stick-on. can’t go wrong with the stick-on plugs from SurfCo Hawaii.
The stick ons do come off. I use the ones from surfco for the super thin tail boards.
The one I had ripped off was on a tow board size 6’8" in high surf. I am not sure that a fiberglass leash loop is stronger that a cup. I have also seen leash loops come undone.
Have you ever used a BP plug? They are stronger than the leash and leash string so there is still no such thing as not to loose your board. They are very clean looking and prevent “tombstoning” of your board after a wipeout.
I will try to attach a picture of one. This one is totally hidden under the wood and fiberglass lam. On a foam baord you would see the appprox 3/4" x 2" plug device through the cloth. I have never put one in a board with a tail block though.
nice pic,that thing is pretty cool.how do you put one of those in and how hard to do it
I agree, the BP’s are cool. How can you not like a “Butt-Plug” from a company called “ASS” (Advanced Sports Systems)?
Actually there is one more method to consider. The last board I had glassed they did a 1/2 inch through hole from the top of the deck into the top rear of the fin box (thats if you have a center fin box). The hole was filled with solid epoxy and a 1/4 inch through hole was centered all the way through the fin box. This gave a very clean and small area on the deck but its super strong with the knot interal into the fin box.
I can take pic’s if needed
JohnF
It is a nice way to go. Many of the wood laminated surftechs have that for the leash rope system.
For heavy logs, cups won’t hold. Neither will loops unless they’re pretty hefty. On heavy boards I either use a resin plug into the fin box or glass slug drilled like the pic.
Leash loop looks retro, and, done correctly will hold just about anything.
Leash cup, on a longboard, looks terrible. Every bit as strong though.
Hole through center finbox is the cleanest. As strong any other method. This is the ideal solution if you have a center fin box. If not, go with a loop. Lots of info in archives. Very simple actually.
For shortboards, most use a leash cup. Who cares if they look shitty. It’s a shortboard. Though I must admit a loop on a shortboard actually looks kinda cool, though they do get in the way of the back foot.
The “butt plug” looks neat, but I would be conccerened about leash drag. The leash is in direct contact with the tail’s planing surface and that is bad, very bad.
Drew
Loops suck. I never met a loop I couldn’t bash my knee on, or the arch of my foot.
Butt plugs are simple, easy to install, strong, and have a clean look. The drag problem can be partially aleviated by removing the rail saver from your leash, although the leash does still sit lower than from a cup. Some stark raving genius has probably solved this one…maybe a semi-solid connection from the BP to the leash such that the leash leaves the board at a slight upward angle.
Or, just surf with out a leash.
The bp plugs are on the bottom. Left side is for preglassed install and right side is after glass install. I have a jig but I no longer use it. I simply trace around the plug onto the foam with a pencil and free hand rout to the accoriding depth. Since I laminated wood over the plug, the install jig is not useful for me.
The top portion of the photo has two views of the same leash adapter which attaches to the plug string. Quality leashes have double swivels and the swivel that holds the rail saver is removed by taking out the small hex screw with an allen head wrench. The adapter is set in the swivel and the screw is reinserted. This will eliminate leash drag which in my opinion is not noticible even with the rail saver attached. Me and 2 other friends tested these for one winter a couple years back before I offered them to customers. They never failed even in big surf. I had one leash break at the ankle attachment. The tombstoning is reduced bigtime with wipeouts. I learned to hang out underwater a few extra seconds after my 8’ gun stretched my leash to the max and recoiled back out of the water like a bullet, just missing the side of my head. I do not work for the manufacturer of this product. I just offer it as an option to non tailblocked boards. Most customers ask for regular plugs.
cmp or anyone,
Question on installing BP’s: I had a problem with mine over the weekend. My leash string tore through the plug deck. Meaning that; the plug stayed installed in the board, but my leash string ripped through the deck of the plug.
I use the after lam models and I’m sure it happened because I either; sanded too much off the deck of the plug, and/or sanded too fast and too high of a grit creating heat. Either of which would have weakened the deck of the plug. Do you have any pics of an installed plug? The tail of this particular board tapers off pretty well, which also elongated (tear drop shaped) the leash string’s exit holes. Do boards need to have a more squared off (blunt) tail to accept the BP plugs or am I installing 'em wrong?
Thanks,
Herb
Herb,
I have never heard of that happening. The after glassing installation method I also place a fiberglass patch over the top. The string outlet is long enough to shape into most any tail shape. I rarely ever make a plain foam board so all of mine are installed prior to vacuum bagging stuff on top of them and then glassing over that.
If you replace it, router a few mm’s deeper and then get a good 8-10 oz patch on top. If your tail is too thin you might just want to put a stick on ez plug.
I think the trick is to get it deep enough, use patches and the sander touching the top part should not occur then.
cp