Trick for glassing inside of fin plug holes

I went over the falls on one of my boards the other day and landed on one of the side fins, result - bottom of fin plug broke and damaged high density insert.

I routed out the plug and considered my options. The insert was cracked at the bottom, it just needed reinforcement rather than replacement. If I could glass the inside of the hole I figured I be good. But getting a tight lamination would be a problem.

Then I had an idea partly inspired by something Benny posted about making fin tabs. What I did was make a plug out of low density EPS that was slightly bigger than the hole. Then I wrapped a couple of strips of wet glass around the EPS plug, dropped a couple of round pieces of glass in the bottom, and carefully squeezed the EPS plug into the hole. The EPS pushed out against the walls of the hole, creating a tight bond between glass and insert material. When the glass was hard I scrapped out the EPS. Plug hole is rock solid and sealed.

My idea worked beautifully so I rewarded myself with an extra beer after dinner.

pinhead,

You say “My idea worked beautifully so I rewarded myself with an extra beer after dinner.”

Dude that is worth a six pack of Bud and send the account to whatever fin system you were using, they owe you!

Got any pics of that?

Rocky

yeah man great idea

Cool.

No didn’t think of it at the time. Maybe I should do a re-enactment

Pinhead,

Now you are talkin, U-Tube and all, can’t wait to see it!

Me and the family will be down there to witness the damage. My 27 kids just love that kind of entertainment, and the occasional bit o’ flesh!

Feed my family…Rocky