I recently got this 6’2" from a friend. He said, if I fix it, it’s mine to ride. (That was probably the easiest decision I’ve ever had to make)
So here’s my problem: Someone glassed in wooden fins over the existing FCS plugs. I have no idea if they actually are inserted into the plugs as well, although it looks like they’re not. The fins are fairly thick for thruster side fins (in my very non-expert opinion), somewhat foiled on the inside face, and are completely de-lammed.
My Question is: Do I re-glass the fins or cut them off and re-expose the plugs? Which one do you think is easier?
Thanks for the help.
P.S. I’ve since stripped the old glass off the fins and sanded the remaining flush with the board.
If you can clean 'em up where they stay at the desired cant, it’s easier to glass 'em back on where they are. Just sand around the base really well, about 4" out from the base and all the way to the rail on the outside edge.
I'm wondering why someone would have glassed fins over the FCS fins in the first place. Could be that the FCS plugs are cracked or have other problems and it was easier to glass fins over them than to remove or replace them? You could be opening a whole new can of worms by exposing the plugs. I would leave it as is. It's not like you get to keep the board for all of your troubles...Just my humble opinion
If the side fins look like they’ll work in shape and placement, if they’re solidly attached, and you can clean up the crappy glass job/re-seal etc… It’d be much easier than doing a whole new fin thing. But if the board seems good, and the fins are way to “F’ed” up, then take the whole things off, (the old plugs are probably wasted) put new plugs in and go from there.
my guess is that someone who did that crappy of a job glassing the fins on probably didn’t foil them very well either - thus it probably makes sense to remove them completely, or else try to re-foil them before you re-glass them.
FCS plugs that have been glassed over? If you don’t want to try to fix up the glass-ons, just route the whole mess out and replace with ProBox.
Thanks for the help…
I forgot to mention that the foils aren’t exactly even between both fins either. They dont look so bad that they wont work, but if I run my fingers along the inside face of the fins, I can feel the difference.
The issue with potentially damaged plugs was part of the reason I was hesitating with pulling the fins off in the first place.
Is it a bad idea to try to fix the foils while the fins are still attached? I don’t know if I want to get started with pulling everything out and re-installing new plugs, although that might be best option performance-wise.
Thanks again…I love the wealth of ideas that Sway’s provides.
The plugs could be damaged, but plugs are cheap and easy to repair. I’d guess the wood fins were home made, chances are they were done that way coz the guy didn’t want to buy an expensive set of fins and was worried that the wooden tabs would snap off so desided to glass them on. I recon there’s a good chance the plugs were actially ok, the problem now would be that they will be filled with resin and wooden fins are properly stuck in so either way you’ll have to route the old plugs out anyway.
If your getting to keep the board and is in otherwise good nick then I would remove the fins and replace the plugs , but if your only being allowed to ride it then I would just reglass the existing fin.
