When I was repairing, the box style Furures and the others of a similar style were always an absolute sh*tfight. FCS had many and varied problems, but were somewhat easier and less destructive to the board as a whole.Nick Carroll wrote: I dunno if you can fault fcs on fin quality, they do a good job, but like a lot of surfers I have had issues with the plug lay-ins at different times and definitely prefer the Surfinz box style set up for fcs tab fins. Vaguely surprised that fcs hasn't adopted a similar box style thing themselves.
FCS tabs, especially glass fins, are unlikely to snap before the plug(s) go. In most cases, even in the composite (cheaper) variety it is the rear tab that breaks away only. Only reason is because it is thinner.
I still have a fundamental problem with box style installations. That being a box, no matter how solid it is and I have seen Futures snapped and split, is simply sitting in invariably soft, compressible foam. No strength in resin per se so you have a bit of glass over the top trying to stick to something that it really doesn't want to. Why do I say this, because if you take one out invariably most of the resin does NOT come away with it and it doesn’t matter how much they score or groove them prior. The bond is purely mechanical and it can fail.
I have seen way too many cracks running along the sides, total roll overs that sheer the foam and everything in between. Absolute mess most of them.
It ain’t the boxes kids, it’s the installation systems/expectations and ALL the systems are basically flawed. There are solutions out there and one is very simple for FCS, but they won’t be pursued by most.
I haven’t come across ANYONE yet who installs FCS by the book.