Repair busted Futures fin box using pour foam

Finbox was completely tore out of blank with BIG chunks of the foam removed to get rid of all of the bad glass and foam chunks. I would normally just use resin and q-cell for this type of repair, but decided instead of adding all that extra resin, it made more sense to replace a bunch of missing foam with foam.

Fin removed and hole in board prepared for replacement:


Hole filled with 3 lb. density pourfoam. This stuff expands a LOT!


....and sands down flush easily.


sanded pour foam painted to match the board...or so i thought:


Futures fin slot routed in the foam. I spent a LOT of time measuring the location from the other front fin. BIG ISSUE...i knew it was coming but it was worse than i thought...the router jig is really made to sit on a foam blank and stay in place Sitting on a finished surfboard it just wants to slide around when the router starts vibrating. If the jig moves even a little while your cutting the slot, the repair just went off the rails. I ended up clamping the jig to the board with big wood working clamps. I was very glad when this step was done.


new fin box ready to set in with resin and a bit of milled fibers to thicken/strengthen:


New finbox set in with the resin/fibers:


fin slot taped off and area masked off and glass patch (2 x 4 oz.) set up:


By this time its obvious the paint (which matched initially) is darker with the resin over top. I guess i knew colors darken when glassed, but oh well.

Few steps compressed here, but the lamination was feathered, then hotcoated, then sanded out and feathered to the surrounding board. The more sanding out, the more obvious it is that the paint was too dark.

 

thanks! I just hope it holds up. The board belongs to a guy who is tough on his equipment. I think I've repaired snapped noses on at least three of his boards.

 

I doubt Barry will see it that way...there seem to be very few things that don't trigger thoughts of gayness.

 

haha didnt see that coming

 

yeah on that i got really lucky. About 15 few years ago i ordered a new longboard from a local established shaper. He knew i was getting into making making a few boards for myself and gave me his old metal jig for a big plunge router, and the two Futures router bits (for the 1/2" and 3/4" rear and front fin boxes). He had upgraded to the way better futures install kit that just uses a small trim router and much more user friendy jig.

15 years later his gift is still giving, and i'm still buying boards from Jon Ashton.

 

Basically, yes. I've replaced futures fin box blow outs where i just stuck the same fin box back in the hole with resin and maybe some chopped strands to kind of toughen it up. Fill it up with resin to flush with bottom surface. you really should glass a couple of cloth "football" patches over finbox though. That way would take a fraction of the time of this repair, and if it were one of my boards, especially one that was already well used, and one that was plain white so no paint or resin colors to fool with, its pretty much how i would do it.

 

Thanks...it was a board i shaped for a friend.