Lost a future rear fin yesterday after a pretty minor bump. And yes I'd checked the screws for tightness just before the session.
My question is this, does anyone do anything to the future fin-board connection to stiffen up the fit of the fins in the boxes and/or to reduce the likelihood of losing fins due to minor bumps?
I know there has to be a weakest/sacrificial link in the chain, but the tiny little tab of dubious quality fibreglass held by a tiny grub screw in a plastic thread seems so much weaker than any other link.
I rarely remove my fins so would be fine with a method that makes it less convenient to do so.
I've done all of the following;
a) jammed the fin in the box along with some plastic shopping bag to fill up the gap.
b) dipped the base of the fins in epoxy resin and then carefully sanded back to give a tight fit.
c) used resin and glass to extend the front tab and reduce the depth of the rear notch
d) poured epoxy resin into the box and fitted the fin for a permanent fit.
e) swore I'd never again buy a board with futures and gone back to fcs.
All of the above work with progressively greater success.
Solution 'e' works every time.
I use futures on my kite surfboard and have taken a full 1cm off one fin after hitting a rock. Fin did not pop out. You can tighten them pretty hard (too hard, in fact) by using a proper tool (not the little crappy keyring thing). I have found all my futures fins fit very snug.
I had a fin break on a paddle surfboard (while kiting) and was glad it was FCS as the box was only very slightly damaged.
I would rather be replacing fins then trying to reset a broken fin box so maybe you need to revisit the value of sacrificial part that it could have been worse.
Is it a genuine futures Box using a genuine futures fin?? I know a few brands of kiteboards and sups dont genuine boxes and genuine future fins don't fit real well in em..
Axis board and axis fins - fins definitely not made by future and boxes probably not but I'm not sure. Will see how next set of fins go and may modify to tighten the fit, both on the sides, and perhaps using Hunter S's point c) to build up the back of the fin enough that the front tab is as far forward as possible.
Of course there has to be a weakest point - and yes I'd rather lose fins than bust the board, just surprised in this case how light a bump it took.