Fin retrofit

So recently i cut off my glassed on fins and installed fin boxes to be able to switch out different fins and hopefully learn a bit and experience more with my fish. i'd been thinking about doing this since soon after i finished my fish, but didn't' want to ruin it or anything, but figured, what the hell, why not?!

Here's the set up prior to starting... looks pretty nice

bam! gone! fin scars

sanded down the scars, then set up where the fin boxes would go. set them up with the same toe in as before i cut them off. i'm using lokbox fin boxes, and they sell a router and router templates for 150 bucks, but if you have a dremel and a steady hand (and you're not selling the product and thus having to make it absolutely perfect), you can go ahead and go this route, and keep your 150 bucks. and yes, mine was not perfect, but, i didn't' mess up big or anything either

overhead shot

this is with the fin boxes glassed in - did two layers of 6 oz cloth over them, extending about an inch and a half out from the edge of the box. one thing i realized as i was about to put them in is that the fin cant (angle) i think is supposed to be set up when you install the fin box, i.e. the fin box should be installed at the appropriate cant. mine is 5 degrees, but when i held it at 5 degrees, the top of the fin box is obviously not flush with the board, and it seemed really angled, as if even if i altered the routered out hole, that it would still look weird and angled. So i glassed them in so that the fins would be perpendicular, and thus the top of the box is flush with the flat surface of the board. I'm going to be making the fins, so i can give them the appropriate fin cant when i mold the base of them. ya, not ideal, but i'm learning, adn this is an easy thing to keep in mind when making the fins bases. i also wrote the dimensions and dated the board because i'd been wanting to do this since i finished it.

The photo above this one is when the board is laying down. when the resin was pretty dry around the fin boxes, i set the board standing up against a wall to get it out of the way of things. When i wrote the dimensions and date, i did so with a sharpee i had, instead of my paint marker, because i couldnt' find it. well, the sharpee didn't hold as well, and the writing began floating up into the resin and dripping down once the board was standing up. the resin would not dry here, as something in the sharpee was limiting the reaction of the resin adn catalyst. so yea, wiped this away, sanded it back down, and redid it. not a big deal, but something else learned

all finished!


overhead view of it all done. you can still slightly see where the fins used to be, but that will be covered up when fins are in place on this guy. Still working on some sets of fins, but i should have some done soon. working on 5 sets right now! psyched!