Messed up tail and poorly installed/loose finbox on old longboard - how would you guys fix this?

So I was looking for a really thick and wide longboard to use on real small days (most days are really small, I surf the great lakes)… just something to catch a ton of waves on. I ended up picking up an old banged up Hobie peter pan slug.The board is 9’5 x 18 3/4 x 23 7/8 x 15 x 3 1/4 - Exactly what I was looking for, but it needs some repairs. I’ll have no prob with the dings and cleaning up old repairs, but the fin box and tail is messed up.

The tail/fin had pretty much been destroyed and the guy I bought it from put in a new finbox and re-built the tail but didn’t finish it. The tail has a ton of sanding resin poured on it that i’ll need to sand down, re-build the rails, and then put some fiberglass over it. Is it safe to put glass over sanding resin? Also, the finbox is loose and was installed crooked and there’s some foam missing around the sides of it that was replaced w/ balsa. I’m thinking the best idea to fix the fin box would be to remove it, route out a bigger square of foam, and glue in a fresh piece of polyurethane foam, then put in the finbox as if you were doing it for the first time. Or my other option is to remove the fin box, fill in the hole w/ a piece of foam, and then glass on a fin. What do you guys think would be better in the long run and easiest to do for a total novice? How would you fix this?

Howzit PTH, If you are going to the trouble of routing out the old box (preferred) then consider instead of putting a foam duthchman in and use a larger solid block of balsa. You can pick up pieces at a hobby shop or hardware store. Twice as wide at least and six inches longer than the new box. Much more stable and you install as you would in foam. If you are concerned with asthetics then go with the foam but the balsa block will be much stronger. Just a thought.

ps. If you have to you can laminate smaller pieces of balsa to get the size you need. Also, you can make it even longer and have room for a leash plug if there isn't one already.

It’s good tblank, it’s good. I like the idea of using balsa instead of foam. It’s probably easier for me to pick up and I made the decision when I bought the board that asthetics really don’t matter. I’m a little nervous about cutting the stringer  if I’m going 6 inches longer than the new box, but I would probably have to do that if I was using foam anyway.