I recently installed a 2+1 fin box on my “heh heh” third longboard…and the rookie mistake that has my O.C.D. kickin in stronger than an over-catalized small cup of (smoking) resin is…the center fin box (a 10 inch longboard fin box) is just a hare crooked lenghtwise…like if you are standing at the tail looking toward the nose, the front of the finbox Slot where the fin slides and sits inthe box (NOT THE WALLS or EDGES of the finbox) is 3/32 left of stringer and the back of the finbox slot is 1/8 inch off center to the right of the stringer. This ocurred due to lack of attention to detail when fitting the finbox into the board after routing. I had the resin soaked fiberglass patches sticking up all around the finbox (like out of control weeds around a sidewalk edge or fenceline) and the strip of tape covering the finbox slot (or gulley), so I took for granted the routing was on point. But nah, it most certainly was “off” point (…which is my point…of this discussion…lol!). In one corner, apparently my router bit must’ve made contact with the edge/corner of my finbox template during the initial plunging into the board creating just enough excess space to put the finbox in about 1% off centerline/stringer line)…whew…what a mouthful…(oh and because of another huge rook-mistake, the back of the fin box routed hole was thin enough to breach or skim the fiberglass (or deck of the board). I put several 10 oz volan strips, cabosil/resin mix, at that’s in conjunction to the patches or strips around the finbox during install…so…is that enough to not let the box rip out of this board and become a twin fin later down the road…ur, I mean, wave?? And to my other concern, is a slightly crooked or slanted/misaligned fin box (lengthwise) gonna be a noticeable performance issue???
I would ride it before making any rash decisions. There are probably lots of slightly off fin installs that go completely unnoticed.
That said, I recently converted a 9’ longboard to a quad setup, and I love it. But then I loved it as a single fin for 5 years before changing to quad.
I’d route it out and install anew insuring the box is perfect and can’t drift when being set. Make a fake ‘fin’ with flat sides and use straight edges if you have to when setting it.
I travelled with a guy who bought a board from a well known shaper, from the shaper himself, when at J- bay. It had one small foot dent in the deck. The practiaclly give away price and this one foot well, had me all suspicious that the shaper decided the board was a dog on ride number one.
When I was looking at it I was like: ‘Hey, the thruster fin with FCS1 plugs is all messed up’
Obviously off center and not parallel with stringer either. The guy who bought it kept getting stuck on the inside rail after a top turn. He refused to believe it was the rear fin pointing almost 1 inch off the side of the nose, but eventually the board snapped and his next board, that getting stuck on the inside rail on a frontside turn was gone. He still refused to believe it was that center fin misalignment, as that would have meant he made a bad purchase and got taken. But we were in the land of right point breaks and Almost each and every top turn, he was having issues releasing that inside rail and transitioning to the other, and that delay, and the likely loss of wave face, was painful to watch. With time, and when farther inside, if he was up, I knew the chances he’d get stuck meant I should be prepared to swing around and take the wave , as he never was able to counteract the board’s tendency to get stuck in a frontside top turn.
Years back I bought a 5 fin longboard from an old line board builder, the name of which you would all know and would gasp at how badly out of line the fins were. It surfed OK for this non pro. But I sold it because I knew how bad it was. I told the buyer too.
Mike, sometimes it’s the “singer not the song”. I had one of the best glass shops in the OC set my side fins behind my dot instead of in front. The result was a “cluster flock” of fins within just inches of the tailblock. I’m sure that had I brought it up, the defense would have been that “I” the shaper marked them wrong. That it was no fault of the installer, that he just followed instructions. Here’s the problem with that defense; A true professional would have questioned my marks if they were incorrect. And he would have either corrected them or gave me a call to be sure that is what I wanted. Instead he just plowed ahead with something that was obviously ridiculous. Lowel
