Repairing my Fin

This was a repair I had NOT anticipated - end of 2012 season ...

I am getting more and more upset with this supposed high grade race fin from Select. First it was more money than I had hoped to pay AND it fit poorly into the Trimm box of my BIC Techno Formula. I used the fin a few times and was satisfied with the performance - once I had adjusted it's fit into the box $%^&*( I took it out in the cold one day {-1 Celsius} and water levels were slightly different. It sounded like the fin grazed over some rocks and was actually a bit loose when I got off.

When I checked the fin, there was more damage than I anticipated and I did NOT dare go out with this fin until repaired ...

As you can see here, the leading edge was slightly scraped, butt the bottom got chewed out.

So, I got out the MarineTex and splashed some on ...

 

Once sanded it was NOT looking so bad :-)

Sometimes I put on black Sharpie ink in order to make it look half decent.  

 

This repair did NOT take long and the fin is almost as good as new. I did NOT do as good a job as I usually do since I anticipated going out ONE MORE TIME this season. The hope was for today, butt temps are up and winds are not :-(

Guess it is time to start the jogging and prepare for the ice board sailing season, which is just around the corner ...

Okay, once it WAS time to ensure it was a good job .... beginning of 2013 season ...

I asked some fin suppliers and windsurf retailers about final finishing. All said NON to waxing and polishing. All said YES to wet-sanding. Most said that a grade 400 was more than enough and some suggested going as high as 600. I purchased 180 and 400 grit paper and re-sanded the same area without adding any more epoxy. It looked and felt really good. Here is a shot: