Surfing Waves

Hi all,
I broke the fin off my surfboard whilst surfing in Wales about a month ago... Unfortunately the fin box has also been damaged and is slightly out of place, with one plug remaining in place with some of the fin left inside.
I have only started recently getting into surfing, and I'd like to attempt to fix this at home, however I do know that going to a repairs shop would be the safest bet. How should I go around fixing this? Will I need 3 new fins, a new fin box or what?
They are M-3 FCS fins and I will need the board fixed within two weeks
The board is a 7'6 minimal bilbo torpedo
I would appreciate any help immensely! And apologies for my lack of knowledge

Tommo791 wrote:Hi all,
I broke the fin off my surfboard whilst surfing in Wales about a month ago... Unfortunately the fin box has also been damaged and is slightly out of place, with one plug remaining in place with some of the fin left inside.
I have only started recently getting into surfing, and I'd like to attempt to fix this at home, however I do know that going to a repairs shop would be the safest bet. How should I go around fixing this? Will I need 3 new fins, a new fin box or what?
They are M-3 FCS fins and I will need the board fixed within two weeks
The board is a 7'6 minimal bilbo torpedo
I would appreciate any help immensely! And apologies for my lack of knowledge

15781022_1389872604364415_7958794890723771115_n.jpg

16121829_1282668515125650_2079274784_o.jpg

16388719_1345370778853485_396863357_o.jpg

16128211_1282668521792316_253363782_n.jpg

Tommo, this is an easy repair. There is almost no damage to the board. Shop charges will be pretty low, if you go that route. Two ways to do it yourself.

1. Carefully remove the plug that is tilted. I'd use pliers and large screw driver. The British say, "prise." Try not to tear the board's fiberglass when doing this, but no big deal if you get tiny tears. Fill the void in the foam when the plug compressed it when the forward fin box plug moved. The appropriate filler is Q-cell or similar. Moments after placing filler, apply resin to fin box plug hole bottom and sides. Then push plug in. Let it cure. Then you can go surfing. IF some resin extrudes when you push the plug in, then wipe away with cloth with acetone on it.

2. Same as above, except skip the Q-cell filler step. Simply put lots of resin in the void. Then push plug in.

Now, about fins. Even if you have all the fin pieces, You will need to buy a fin pack. The exception is if you find the one or two fin(s) that match the remaining fin(s) at a swap meet.

IF you want to use this board in 2 weeks and:

1) do the repairs yourself, you have lots of time, assuming you have or quickly obtain resin and fins
2) bring it to a shop post-haste (A shop should be able to make this repair within a week, unless they are crazy busy)

Potential option: if you live in a surfing town, then look on Craigslist and other websites for repairs made by individuals and quasi-shops.

Keep the stoke. You have a very minor problem.

What Billie said, and use one of the other fins as a jig to keep the tabs in-line by putting the tab in the in-damage plug. Lucky only one plug is off. When you go to the local surf shop to buy a single FCS plug, ask if they have a misc. box of used fins. You can use M-3 or the more common M-5 ( if they have the Black colored G-3 or G-5, that'll work too ).
Question :
1) do you have the proper sanding tools ?
2) have you even mixed resin and catalyst before ?

In Australia at least you can buy single basic (white) m-size fins at most surf shops. The fancy coloured or branded fins are harder to find as singles except by luck in the misc box, as wkk suggested, but the basic comes in singles

waikikikichan wrote:What Billie said, and use one of the other fins as a jig to keep the tabs in-line by putting the tab in the in-damage plug. Lucky only one plug is off. When you go to the local surf shop to buy a single FCS plug, ask if they have a misc. box of used fins. You can use M-3 or the more common M-5 ( if they have the Black colored G-3 or G-5, that'll work too ).
Question :
1) do you have the proper sanding tools ?
2) have you even mixed resin and catalyst before ?

Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately I live a good 2 hours away from any surfing shops or places which would help.
I am not too sure about fins however, what is the difference between m-5, m-3, g-3, g-5 and would any others fit the plugs?
What sort of sanding tools would you be talking about, and I have never mixed resin and catalyst :/ Also the fibreglass is slightly cracked around the rim of the hole as you can see in the picture, would this need repairing somehow?

billie_morini wrote:

Tommo791 wrote:Hi all,
I broke the fin off my surfboard whilst surfing in Wales about a month ago... Unfortunately the fin box has also been damaged and is slightly out of place, with one plug remaining in place with some of the fin left inside.
I have only started recently getting into surfing, and I'd like to attempt to fix this at home, however I do know that going to a repairs shop would be the safest bet. How should I go around fixing this? Will I need 3 new fins, a new fin box or what?
They are M-3 FCS fins and I will need the board fixed within two weeks
The board is a 7'6 minimal bilbo torpedo
I would appreciate any help immensely! And apologies for my lack of knowledge

15781022_1389872604364415_7958794890723771115_n.jpg

16121829_1282668515125650_2079274784_o.jpg

16388719_1345370778853485_396863357_o.jpg

16128211_1282668521792316_253363782_n.jpg

Tommo, this is an easy repair. There is almost no damage to the board. Shop charges will be pretty low, if you go that route. Two ways to do it yourself.

1. Carefully remove the plug that is tilted. I'd use pliers and large screw driver. The British say, "prise." Try not to tear the board's fiberglass when doing this, but no big deal if you get tiny tears. Fill the void in the foam when the plug compressed it when the forward fin box plug moved. The appropriate filler is Q-cell or similar. Moments after placing filler, apply resin to fin box plug hole bottom and sides. Then push plug in. Let it cure. Then you can go surfing. IF some resin extrudes when you push the plug in, then wipe away with cloth with acetone on it.

2. Same as above, except skip the Q-cell filler step. Simply put lots of resin in the void. Then push plug in.

Now, about fins. Even if you have all the fin pieces, You will need to buy a fin pack. The exception is if you find the one or two fin(s) that match the remaining fin(s) at a swap meet.

IF you want to use this board in 2 weeks and:

1) do the repairs yourself, you have lots of time, assuming you have or quickly obtain resin and fins
2) bring it to a shop post-haste (A shop should be able to make this repair within a week, unless they are crazy busy)

Potential option: if you live in a surfing town, then look on Craigslist and other websites for repairs made by individuals and quasi-shops.

Keep the stoke. You have a very minor problem.

Thank you so much for this it honestly helps so much! Unfortunately I live 2 hours + away from any surfing shops but think that I'll do this myself. Would any fcs fin be the right size despite it not being an m-3?, as some packs are much cheaper than the m-3 ones. Also I have a feeling that the plug is slightly broken inside, am I okay to just buy a new plug? Also the fibreglass around the rim of the hole is slightly broken, would this be an issue and can I fix it somehow? Sorry for all the questions
Thank you once again

Tommo791 wrote:Unfortunately I live a good 2 hours away from any surfing shops or places which would help.
I am not too sure about fins however, what is the difference between m-5, m-3, g-3, g-5 and would any others fit the plugs?
What sort of sanding tools would you be talking about, and I have never mixed resin and catalyst :/ Also the fibreglass is slightly cracked around the rim of the hole as you can see in the picture, would this need repairing somehow?

1) If the surf shop is far away, then how will you be getting the needed plug and single side fin ? ( and resin/catalyst ? )
2) Just look for those fins mentioned. They are the most common. "Any" FCS original twin-tab fin will fit ( not the newer FCSII types ), but they might be way bigger, or made of different materials like fiberglass. M-3, M-5, G-3, G-5 will be fine. If you find a fin and not sure, ask us first before you buy it.
3) Since you've never done a resin job before, I WOULD NOT do a plug repair as my first time. Bring it to a shop to get repaired.
4) Solarez / Suncure types of products can do those surface repairs, liked the cracked fiberglass around the rim. But you are going to need resin/catalyst/q-cell to get way down in the hole. ( **warning** if you do not know how to mix resin, the repair might never get hard or take a really long time OR it going to be a bomb and melt through the board )
5) If you do not know how to take the broken tab part out of the plug...... do not try to do the plug repair by yourself, take it to the surfshop.
6) "DESIGNED in Newquay" usually means "Made in CHINA".

waikikikichan wrote:

Tommo791 wrote:Unfortunately I live a good 2 hours away from any surfing shops or places which would help.
I am not too sure about fins however, what is the difference between m-5, m-3, g-3, g-5 and would any others fit the plugs?
What sort of sanding tools would you be talking about, and I have never mixed resin and catalyst :/ Also the fibreglass is slightly cracked around the rim of the hole as you can see in the picture, would this need repairing somehow?

1) If the surf shop is far away, then how will you be getting the needed plug and single side fin ? ( and resin/catalyst ? )
2) Just look for those fins mentioned. They are the most common. "Any" FCS original twin-tab fin will fit ( not the newer FCSII types ), but they might be way bigger, or made of different materials like fiberglass. M-3, M-5, G-3, G-5 will be fine. If you find a fin and not sure, ask us first before you buy it.
3) Since you've never done a resin job before, I WOULD NOT do a plug repair as my first time. Bring it to a shop to get repaired.
4) Solarez / Suncure types of products can do those surface repairs, liked the cracked fiberglass around the rim. But you are going to need resin/catalyst/q-cell to get way down in the hole. ( **warning** if you do not know how to mix resin, the repair might never get hard or take a really long time OR it going to be a bomb and melt through the board )
5) If you do not know how to take the broken tab part out of the plug...... do not try to do the plug repair by yourself, take it to the surfshop.
6) "DESIGNED in Newquay" usually means "Made in CHINA".

bilbo-surfboards-bilbo-torpedo-cosmos-surfboard-7ft-4-6.jpg

Thanks for the reply! I think that I will order the fins, plug and resin/catalyst online, I know that this is risky but my dad is very good with these sorts of things and although he's never fixed a surfboard, there's a first time for everything What would you recommend to help fix this, are there any kits online that would do the job?