I hit a turtle during last Saturday's session at Cox Bank and shaved the lady 50mm of the bottom of my Lockwood CSL2 34 fin. Can the fin be successfully repaired and how?

To make the same length, you would need to
build up carbon, by layers. Something in the center , like a batten piece , drilled then inserted into the good end , the lay up.

could do a mold of the broken bit then attach, batten again , and layup over to blend in.

i would probably reshape at the broken length, and call it a day.

personally it looks like a bad layup , I would try for warranty

That fin looks way too old to be under warranty. If it were me, I'd sand, and reshape the tip of the fin. It would be a slightly smaller fin but will still work for you. Nice thing about that is you will have a smaller fin when over powered, and if you wanted, you could by a bigger fin and have more fins to use now.

If you were on starboard tack you can get it refunded by the turtle

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keef said..
personally it looks like a bad layup , I would try for warranty

I don't believe there was a problem with the layup. I hit the shell of the turtle at about 25 kts. The fin has basically sheared off where it hit the shell. I'm glad that my fin broke instead of my fin box or board.

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keef said..
personally it looks like a bad layup , I would try for warranty

Keef,
You are sounding like an American, in Aus, smashing gear is not covered under warranty

So your fins can handle a turtle hit?
You would give warranty?

maybe you just forgot this ()

I'll give you 10$ for it I've always wanted a 30 lockwood !

Reshape the fin and finish tip with wet rub sandpaper. Buy a new 340 fin.

Reshaping to shorten it requires taking a lot of thickness out also, so I reckon it would be a total waste of that awesome fin.

I'd run with forceten's suggestion, as long as the new tip has something to key into it will work. If you glue that broken bit back on exactly, of drill down and insert some rods in the centre, then build up with heaps layers of carbon and reshape you could achieve something that is only a bee's dick off the original shape.

I have no better suggestion other than to reshape it as best as you could and use it as a spare or on water where there are lots of turtles By the way, I am impressed by the fact that you are able to locate the broken bit. Perhaps it wasn't completely broken off ?

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Jupiter said..
I have no better suggestion other than to reshape it as best as you could and use it as a spare or on water where there are lots of turtles By the way, I am impressed by the fact that you are able to locate the broken bit. Perhaps it wasn't completely broken off ?

The broken piece remained attached but at right angles to the fin. It only completely separated once I'd removed the fin when de-rigging. What amazed me, was that I was able to plane back to the beach - which involved a 4km downhill run with 5 gybes, with no real apparent reduction in fin performance.

It's bin time for that fin.

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John340 said..

Jupiter said..
I have no better suggestion other than to reshape it as best as you could and use it as a spare or on water where there are lots of turtles By the way, I am impressed by the fact that you are able to locate the broken bit. Perhaps it wasn't completely broken off ?

The broken piece remained attached but at right angles to the fin. It only completely separated once I'd removed the fin when de-rigging. What amazed me, was that I was able to plane back to the beach - which involved a 4km downhill run with 5 gybes, with no real apparent reduction in fin performance.

Try same thing powered and trying to get upwind a bit hahaha

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John340 said..
The broken piece remained attached but at right angles to the fin. It only completely separated once I'd removed the fin when de-rigging. What amazed me, was that I was able to plane back to the beach - which involved a 4km downhill run with 5 gybes, with no real apparent reduction in fin performance.

By any chance did you notice the board actually worked better with the broken fin May be the bent bit worked like those tiny "winglets" on jet planes, to minimise turbulence Have you thought of patent the idea yet ?

You could just try cleaning up the end and using aa is. I did the same thing to a 36 Venom, just cleaned it up and it actually worked quite well. Albeit a little less lift then the original fin. Still very quick and no spin out.

Smooth the end off and keep riding. Maybe a little epoxy and paint to smooth things out. Don't spend much money. It would be a waste. You've already worked out that the difference in performance is small.

If you really care about performance, shop around for a new fin. Damaging gear is always a great excuse to buy new stuff. Tell your missus it's a safety issue and she'll make you buy one.

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Gorgo said..
Tell your missus it's a safety issue and she'll make you buy one.

Can't be that certain...She may have bought a life insurance for him for a cool @2 millions already

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AUS 808 said..

keef said..
personally it looks like a bad layup , I would try for warranty

Keef,
You are sounding like an American, in Aus, smashing gear is not covered under warranty

So your fins can handle a turtle hit?
You would give warranty?

maybe you just forgot this ( )

the fin has snapped in 1/2 and also split , you can also see trapped air in the laminate i'm assuming where the fin was joined
for the price you pay for those fins if there was a layup fault it should be replaced because of faulty production

Polish it with some Turtle Wax or shell out out some dollars for a new one

There is nothing wrong with that layup from the photo. No warranty issues there. I would cut it off at the broken bit and use it as a smaller fin.

If it was mine, and I needed ashorter fin, I'd just clean it up as is, but if I already had a smaller fin and still needed a 34 I'd fix it.
Both options are valid, fixing it is a bit more work.
Personally I don't like the idea of drilling and inserting rods.

If it's possible to tack the broken bit back on in it;s correct position, then that's the way to go. Then sand it back on one side about half way through, tapering out to fin tip and around 50mm into the main fin.
Lay that up with graduated widths and lengths of carbon, biggest at the bottom.
(if you measure the thickness of your carbon with a vernier gauge, you can work out how many layers you need to rebuild to desired thickness)

I'd cover this with plastic spread evenly to get rid of creases, then a layer of thickish foam and the several Kg of weights. Make sure the fin is well supported otherwise this procedure will bend the tip at the joint.
When this is set, flip over and repeat performance on the other side.
Bog and reshape.
The only fly in the ointment could be if Slowy has done something tricky with tip flex, using fiber alignments. It's unlikely that you can recreate this, without knowing his tricks.

Bugger John that would have hurt .
I think all you can do is chop it and round off the edge.

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keef said..

AUS 808 said..

keef said..
personally it looks like a bad layup , I would try for warranty

Keef,
You are sounding like an American, in Aus, smashing gear is not covered under warranty

So your fins can handle a turtle hit?
You would give warranty?

maybe you just forgot this ( )

the fin has snapped in 1/2 and also split , you can also see trapped air in the laminate i'm assuming where the fin was joined
for the price you pay for those fins if there was a layup fault it should be replaced because of faulty production

Carbon fins are delicate when it comes to hitting solid objects, I wouldn't even think about warranty.

So if it was a fin that you made you would warranty a turtle hit?

Yes or No and don't say one of your fins wouldn't snap

If blunt fins that are 5mm thick at the end are so acceptable to all, why do manufacturers bother with a draft that tapers to the tip?

I am bemused that on forums the speed heads will go on an on about a Lockwood vs a Vector vs a Deboichet, with a p00fteenth of difference..... then advocate just rounding off the tip of a snapped fin!!!!

Roughly reshaped fins with a fat tips are a dime a dozen at WS shops for a reason.
I have a quad set I filled and sanded to get the ground-off ends nice again, there is maybe 2mm filler at the tip. After hitting bottom the other day a chunk about 2mm x 1mm came off. I could feel it when sailing.

Don't see the logic here, if a seriously high quality fin is broken and you are poor, fix it properly.
If you have money, chuck it and buy another.

If you really want a fin that may work a bit, go reshape.

No one seems too bothered about the poor turtle!
The fin is fingered, cut it off and turn it into a freestyle fin

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hoop said..
No one seems too bothered about the poor turtle!
The fin is fingered, cut it off and turn it into a freestyle fin

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<div class="forumPostText">If you were on starboard tack you can get it refunded by the turtle

If the AAP, catches wind of this( BTW, does the fin smell of turtle or fish ?)

And the turtle can prove right way a Yank attorney would likely pursue under international maritime laws a wrongful shell piercing lawsuit.

add that by fixing the fin would add weight , and you could modify it to slice through anything.

Thanks for your suggestions. For the record the turtle swam away, I only hit the shell. As I said previously, there is no warrenty claim. I hit the turtle. As to a repair, I've sent the photo to a couple of experts in Bris and they say I'm better of buying a new one. I've PMed Slowy for the price and availability of a new one. I've also asked Slowy for his advice on reshaping the fin.

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AUS 808 said..


Carbon fins are delicate when it comes to hitting solid objects, I wouldn't even think about warranty.

So if it was a fin that you made you would warranty a turtle hit?

Yes or No and don't say one of your fins wouldn't snap

my fins aren't any different to any other fins and they will break if you hit solid objects , but to split open like an envelope I dough it

^^^ I reckon every fin I have seen snapped has some degree of separation like that

Congratulations, John340. you now have a "Turtle" fin.