I was wondering if anyone else had this type of problem. I went with red-x on a personal board and found that after the first surf, there were stress cracks at the top of the center box (showing on the bottom,). Was wondering if maybe I had the fin screwed in too tight or something. It’s a composite fin, so I don’t think it’s a stiffness problem(like carbon fins stressing boxes). Just looking for some feedback. I really like the system and the idea of it. Please don’t turn this into a this fin system is better than that one thread, I think we’ve had enough of that here… thanks – dave
Dave, Stress cracking in Polycarbonate (PC) Red X housing can be from only two things; * A Mechanical force greater than the strength of the PC/fiberglass composition of the housing. Perhaps you unknowingly have let the back fin hit a submerged object (like a sandbar from side on) * Chemical attack of PC is well documented. Certain oils/greases and chemicals like acetone will weaken the PC material and can cause cracking, when ordinarily this material would not show cracking as a form of failure (this of course depends on amount of milled fiberglass in the PC matrix).
Dave, Red X boxes are made from a glass filled urethane, not polycarbonate. It is highly unusual for a box to crack. The tensile strength of this material is 27,000 pound per square inch. But, nothing is impossible. There is a possibilty with any plastic part for a knit line to occur during the molding process. Knit lines are when the plastic flows into the mold and wraps around the core (if the temps are not right or the rate of injection is not right) the leading edges of the molten plastic starts to solidify and before they meet. So, when they do meet instead of forming one continuous part they plastic forms it’s own crack. I’ve never had one of these brought to my attention. But anything is possible. To demonstrate the strength of our boxes, I usually let people smack them with a sledge hammer. Try that with any other box out there and it will shatter in a bunch of pieces. With Red X you’ve got to really work at just forming a crack. But, if in deed we have provided a faulty box, there is a solution. You can dremil around the deck and bottom resin columns and drive the box out. I’ll send you a complete new set of fins, with boxes and a replacement box, if you just send me back the broken box for our inspection. If a defect is found I’ll send you a dozen replacement sets that have all been personally re-inspected. But, as I said from the beginning, we’ve never had a problem with boxes splitting and we definitely want to make certain that every customer gets what they paid for.
Now that is customer service! Glad to see some people still care about the quality of their products and the satisfaction of their customers.
Howzit Tom, Good for you, I feel all fin system companies should stand behind their product. In the past when ever there was a problem with FCS systems they’ve been very good about taking care of any problems. Acouple of years ago some of the plugs seemed tight when it came to putting the jigs in the plugs before installing. They replaced the plugs with no problem and didn’t even want me to return the bad plugs. Aloha, Kokua
That post by Tom renews my faith in businesses in general.I can remember emailing Tom with a somewhat off the wall idea I had about a fin box design and he politely told me where I was mistaken.I also approached a few other box builders and didn’t even get a reply.Kudos to Red X.
tom , i recently sent you an email about one of my european customers looking for replacment plugs for redex? i had no response privatly so hoping public i might?\ dave http://www.feraldave.com/DVStand.htm 
tom , i recently sent you an email about one of my european customers looking for replacment plugs for redex? i had no response privatly so hoping public i might?\ dave http://www.feraldave.com/DVStand.htm
Umm… Sorry for some confusion, I didn’t mean that the box itself cracked, just that there’s stress cracks on the bottom of the board, originating from where the top of the center box is. I was wondering if this was just some freak happening or what. I’m pretty sure there wasn’t any impact in the sand, (high tide surfing on a bigger day). I appreciate the replys though.
dpasun, It sounds like something was done too lightly in the installation. Either the glass got sanded too thin or you did not scribe around the hole or you used something other than milled fibers and laminating resin to mount the boxes. I would be happy to send you a copy of the installation instructions. If properly installed, that should not happen unless you hit something hard enough to really know it. And even then, most often Red X boxes will show no sign of fatigue when others would fail. Most all problems we have experienced have been due to improper installation. Dave, I’m sorry about not responding to your e-mail. My spam blocker must have filtered you out. Larry Block handles all of our distribution. He was working with a company in England for our European distribution. Now, I hear that he is working with an Italian company. E-mail me again and I will get more specific information on Monday. Thanks for your interest.