Vintage Surfboard Rehabilitation: A Documentary in Words and Images (Part III — Replace a W.A.V.E. Set Fin)
This part of the documentary is the one most likely to be helpful to someone working on a vintage surfboard.
In Part I, I explored the back story on my Weber Feather known as BLACK SHEEP. In Part II, I detailed the most challenging element of my rehabilitation adventure — t-band stringer replacement. Here I take up the challenge of replacing a W.A.V.E. Set fin.
W.A.V.E. Set
The late 1960s were an innovative period for surfboard design. Most people think of the shortboard revolution of 1967–68 as the most significant innovation since Tom Blake mounted a piece of aluminum boat keel to his surfboard and “invented” the surfboard fin. And those people are probably right.
Before shortboards emerged, however, there were a great number of other innovations, including experiments with interchangeable fin systems. Around 1965, Hobie Alter pioneered a short-lived, removable fin system that used a screw running through the deck to secure the fin. Dewey Weber, in 1966, innovated with the Wonderbolt system for the removable “Hatchet” fin developed for the Weber Performer. And then there was the Water Apparatus Vehicular Engineering (W.A.V.E.) Set fin system in 1967, which enabled surfers to choose from a number of designs.
My BLACK SHEEP Feather has the W.A.V.E. Set fin box. I was able to pick up the board because the original fin was broken roughly 4" up from the base. In fact, the seller was quite specific about an estimate he had on a fin box replacement that would make the board ridable once more — $175. Putting aside the rotten stringer in the tail section and the dozens of dings, and even the open holes, the fin was really the issue. I may have misjudged the extent of rot in the board, but my eyes were wide open about the need to address the fin system.
The Hunt for the Elusive W.A.V.E. Set Fin
Swaylocks is the known universe’s most comprehensive resource for board builders. It is not uncommon to find shapers who cut their teeth in the early 1960s active (and helpful!) on the forum, and just about every problem imaginable has been taken up at one time or another in Swaylocks. The forum’s search tool may not be so hot, but so many Google searches for solutions to a board problem point to the forums at Swaylocks. The W.A.V.E. Set fin box is no exception!
My first call went out to Juan Rodriguez at One World Surf Designs. Juan is probably the single highest quality source for a fiberglass replacement for the original plastic W.A.V.E. Set fin. If you want a fiberglass fin and want someone to do it for you, find Juan. Juan recommended I go with one of his reproductions of the Greenough (Stage 3, I believe) fins that was available for the W.A.V.E. Set box, though he also said he had the Feather’s original fin style in stock — if I wanted that fin. I filed this source away as a definite probability. The price, though steep at $150 plus shipping, was less than the fin box replacement estimate of $175, and the Feather would be unmolested.
I spent a little time on eBay to see if I might grab an original fin. There’s a seller in California (xhoserx) who makes a couple different W.A.V.E. Set fins from molds he cast from the originals. His plastic is apparently stiffer than the original, and the fins even have the W.A.V.E. Set logo molded into them. His fins come and go on eBay. Look him up if you want an O.E. grade reproduction. I filed this source away as another possibility that would look original.
With BLACK SHEEP still drying out and lots of dings to repair, I was in no real hurry to buy a single-purpose fin. After all, the fin is the last thing the board will need before heading out to the line up.
Alternatives to Purchased W.A.V.E. Set Reproductions
Back at Swaylocks, I kept reading old posts addressing the very problem I was having: What might one do with a W.A.V.E. Set box when one lacks the fin? The advice is all over the map:
- Swap it out for a modern box, as UNCLE!! in New Jersey had done, especially if its destiny is the surf and not some museum. (This was my initial choice, really. But Charlie at Maine Surfer’s Union turned my head around on that option because my fin box is solid.)
- Don’t swap it out because that will kill any collector value, and you never know what the future holds. (It’s not a collector board, but why fix what isn’t broken when there’s already enough broken on this board?)
- Use silicone to set a fin in the box. It should hold (apparently), and it can be scraped out if the board ends up becoming a collectible. (Smart thought. I spent a couple weeks pondering this suggestion, going so far as to do a little work to source modeling silicone because it’s supposed to be good for the application.)
- Get a sheet of polyethylene (cutting board material) and shape the fin and base from it. (Even smarter thought, so I looked to source a 12" x 12" x 1" sheet before I put the idea on the back burner.)
- Build a mold and make a fin to fit. (Now, why didn’t I think of that? I’ll roll my own.)
I surfed the Internet a bit to explore just how one makes a fin. Let me put this as simply as I can: Don’t try it at home! I have lost the site that tipped me AWAY from building my own glass fin, but it involves perhaps two dozen layers of cloth to get a modern fin base, careful foiling, and more. I’m one to roll up my sleeves and dig into a challenge —I love DIY — but this was not one I wanted to take on.
Then I ran into mattwho’s 2014 Swaylocks post about his efforts to make a reproduction W.A.V.E. Set fin. mattwho showed off his custom, glassed reproduction, asserting that one should not attempt to glass up a reproduction W.A.V.E. Set fin. But he also discussed his decision to glass a Yater fin into the base he had originally made for the W.A.V.E. Set box.
Rolling My Own
Building on mattwho’s post, I hatched an experiment that might both save me money and get me closer to my Weber Feather. I would get myself an inexpensive (probably used, possibly broken in the base, and maybe on eBay), modern fiberglass rake fin and use my resin blend based on Herb’s diaper mix (discussed in Part II) to pour a resin base and seat a modern fin. Brilliant!
Using a plastic shape I had laying around the shed, I poured an experimental mold roughly the size of a toilet bowl wax ring. This shape had roughly the width and depth of the base I’d need for the W.A.V.E. Set box, though I’d need a rectangle, not a donut. Once it had cured overnight, I put it on the edge of a curb and played mini seesaw on it with my full 190 pound frame. Then I drilled a hole in it to see how it would handle a fin screw. Herb was right. This stuff is tough!
After monitoring eBay for a few weeks, looking for a suitable used fin at a price point appropriate for a shoestring-budget experiment, I decided to take the plunge and buy one of March 21 Surfboards’ rake fins. I know their fins are the real deal because I own two of them: an 8" rake fin with a pattern inlay that my daughter uses, and a 10" pivot fin that goes on my Performer when the surf is miniscule.
The fin I bought was 9" long, with a relatively narrow base that seemed appropriate for a 9'6" pintail. As with all of their fins, this one came with the screw and a sleeve. I would have preferred something a bit longer (9.5") and with even less volume throughout, but this was really an experiment and the fin seemed roughly appropriate to the board.
I sketched a plan to roll my own reproduction W.A.V.E. Set fin. I took down some of the fin’s base to get an acceptable angle because, unlike the modern fin box, the W.A.V.E. Set box gets pretty shallow towards the back.
I lined the W.A.V.E. Set box with blue painter’s tape and waxed it up to aid in prying the cured base from the box. I poured in some of my blend, carefully seated the fin, and used my carpenter’s speed square and painter’s tape to get and hold the fin perpendicular to the board. I poured more resin blend into the box to fill it all up. Then I let things cure.
My Silmar resin has a UV cure additive, which is great because the outdoors becomes a relatively reliable way to control the kick — shade for a slower cure; fuller sun for a fast kick. I was stoked about my fin until a couple hours later, when I discovered that the resin wouldn’t cure under the fin because there was no light. As my daughter likes to say, “What a Noob!”
I quickly mixed some catalyst into my resin blend — not too much because I didn’t want to overheat the plastic fin box. I cleaned out the mess in the box, and worked the process again. A couple hours later, I returned to the board and gently pried the fin loose from the box.
After waiting a couple days, I drilled holes in the fin base for my W.A.V.E. Set screws, used the grinder to clean the work up a bit, and popped the fin into the Feather’s box. Beautiful!
The Verdict
This DIY project cost me the price of a fin, plus about .25¢ in resin and some of Herb’s diaper fill. Not counting the resin cure time or the background research, I spent about 45 minutes on the project. Short of buying someone else’s W.A.V.E. Set fin (original or reproduction), I don’t believe there’s an easier way to do this.
The obvious drawback to this approach is fin placement. Accustomed to the ease with which modern fins can be positioned for the desired mix of stability and looseness, the contemporary surfer may find this “locked in place” positioning unsatisfying. But this is true of any W.A.V.E. Set fin reproduction.
Given the backyard manufacturing costs involved, there’s no reason not to work up a few of these fins. Position one back about 1" and use it when conditions call for more hold in the wave face; build one with the fin up near the front of the box to loosen up turns. Or think of it a little differently: make a few of them with different fins and seat them in the center of the box, just like the originals.
It’s going to be a couple months before I finish rehabilitating the BLACK SHEEP Weber Feather and put it in the water. After I’ve surfed the board a bit, I’ll have a better feel for the kind of fin I want on it. If this 9" rake fin isn’t right for the board, I’ll buy one that I think is right and build a second W.A.V.E. Set reproduction fin for .25¢, plus the cost of the fin.
Read Part I — A Documentary in Words and Images
