Installing wakesurf fins

So this post will hopefully show you a few things, one is how to install an FCS fin plug in a sort of after-market modification so that you can use wakesurf fins. If you have an old say Liquid Force something-or-other and want to swap out the wakeboard fins, you’ll have an idea how after reading this post and following along. We will be installing a single FCS plug in a finished wakesurf board, per each wakesurf fins, so the process you’d follow is the same, but possibly for two or more plugs. The other thing is we want to try some experiments with some trailer wakesurf fins to see how they impact the ride quality. We mostly HATE quads, but wonder if it’s the fin placement and depth, as oppossed to the concept. So when we saw the Slater nubsters from FCS, we got the bright idea of maybe trying a different sort of quad set up. The fins are not traditional quad trailers, obviously the shape and depth are very different, but also they are double foiled and vertical.

Conceptually what we want to try is adding a tad more hold, without scarificing the directional changes that come with the twinzers. We’re not sure these are the best fins for that test, but they were ready made, so no grinding involved.

Here is a picture of what we are thinking, rail fins as they are and then two trailer wakesurf fins close to the rail fins, but of course trailing.

It’s a little tough to see in this picture. This wakesurf board is an older Gen 2 Flyboy, with Balsa bottom and Balsa and Basswood rails. We left that concept and moved to the carbon and bamboo veneer of the Panda Tech! If you look under the two wakesurf fins you’ll see two black lines that we use to mark the center of the FCS fin plug back away from the trailing edge of the rail fins. Basically this is the spacing from the main rail fins BACK. We do that by measuring the pre-determined distance from the back of the fins on each rail fin and then marking a horizontal line across the wakesurf board.

Now here is the meat of this whole project, the two FCS fin plugs and also the Hole Saw that will be used to drill the hole for the plugs. The hole saw is just like any other hole saw, with the exception of the collar that meters the depth of the plunge. The fin plugs have a few things we’ll talk about. One is a collar that prevents resin overflow from getting inside the fin tab slot and set screw, plus small locating arms that help align the plug straight and mark the depth.

There it is! Huge gaping hole The Gen 2 Flyboy’s still used a composite sandwich, with low density EPS core. That is a little tough to separate with the use of a hole saw, so we did have to use some needle nose pliars and a nail head to scoop out the remains! Now we aren’t expecting much force on these fins, but normally these plugs are installed so that the epoxy and filler mixture connect to the deck surface. So once this hole is drilled, there is some additional drilling or digging to get to the deck.

We test fit the plug to make sure it fits and our alignment is good.

Next we insert the fins into the boxes and tighten the set screw so that we have a solid fit and then place the boxes into the holes to test for alignment and fit. This picture gives you an idea of what the final install will look like. Now don’t forget that the gap between the bottom of the red trailer wakesurf fins and then wakesurf board is due to the lip on the plugs that will be ground off after the epoxy used to cement the plugs into the wakesurf board, has cured.

So that’s everything involved in preparing the fin plugs for installation. The next step is actually gluing them in.  See you could totally do that on your old tired wakesurf board to try out different fin positions or to try out new fins altogether.

Thanks so much for following along and we hope to see you back soon!

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