putting in a fin box on Bing repro.

General Discussion
1

Friends,

I’m thinking about digging out the big retro fin on my Bing roserider (It’s a nice matt calvani repro, I’d never mess with an original). In steep, fast east coast surf, a nuuhiwa or velzy pivot fin would be better, not this barn door. A fin box would allow more options.

Anyway, I have an excellent shaper lined up to do it (Shane Smith) who says it’s an easy job.

1: Should I do it or no

2: if I do, any caveats? tips? feedback?

All the best,

John

2

Do you have a router and rotary sander and know how to use them?

Have you catalyzed dozens of pots of polyester resin?

I’m guessing no or you wouldn’t be asking. Get the pro to do it. Without appropriate tools and know-how, you will not do a great job. OTOH, if you wanna educate yourself first, I say go for it.

3

Hey John,

Maybe a compromise: Have the more modern fin glassed on as opposed to a box being installed. If you changer your mind at a later date, you could carefully grind the newer fin off and the original glassed back again. Professionally done, it would be hard to see the swap(s).

Best,

HerbB

4

Hey, this is a repro, not an original, so that you won’t have the annoying non-surfing board collector whackos* circling around ya going ‘boo hoo hoo, you’ve desecrated a classic board, shame shame boo hooo hoo waaah whinge whine whimper’ - go for it.

Shane will do a nice job ( say hi for me, would ya? ) and it’ll add considerable versatility and likely improve the performance. A surfboard is something to use, ya know? Or else it’s no longer a surfboard.

Bing used fin boxes, indeed most of the old board makers jumped on whatever stuff like that was available as soon as it came out. I’ve done a few fin box transplants before, when the original system was extinct. I’d put the box mebbe a little further back than the original fin position and use a long box, so ya can play with it some to get it working right the way you want it to with a higher aspect fin.

hope that’s of use

doc…

*you ever notice … the most fanatic board collectors don’t surf, and never did?

5

Thanks for the feedback all. Like I said “I WOULD NEVER, EVER MESS WITH AN ORINIGNAL '66 BING”. Those are my true colors!

But since this is a nice Calvani repro, and HE SHAPES THEM TODAY with boxes, I dont see the harm.

I got a raft of caca from a collector who seems to have an issue with this. And yes, Spartan, even if I had a '64 series II e-type jag, I’d drive it to work.

Life is for living, not putting under glass & drooling over.

6

I think the Spartan said, If you owned a Model T Ford. Would you drive it to work?