Loose Tracking Fin

[Hinkel]

I was changing the oil yesterday and noticed my lead tracking fin was busted. One of the two screws are still connected though. How do I access the area above the fin to tighten up the screws? I assume they are through bolted. Is there anything to worry about here? Any help or tips are appreciated.

Thanks!

[rinconking]

they dont come bolted from the factory. they are just threaded into the hull with some epoxy for strength.

if you wanted to see them from the inside of the boat, you have to remove the fuel tank and the center floor panel

[fijidaniel]

Thats interesting, because my dealer told me on my 2000 VLX that to replace one, they would hae to remove the fuel tank to access the top part of it. Thereby, costing me a fortune in labor. Do you think that they made a change between 2000 and 2003?

[georgia_dawgs08]

they dont come bolted from the factory. they are just threaded into the hull with some epoxy for strength.

if you wanted to see them from the inside of the boat, you have to remove the fuel tank and the center floor panel

They are actually bolted, the bolt just has a tapered head that is counter sunk to make it easier to break free if you hit something hard enough. I just got done resucuring both of my fins about two weeks ago. I had actually knocked the front one of completely. I bought my boat used and the fins had been broken off before and not fixed properly. I talked to Atlanta Inboard and this is what they told me to do, not a very difficult job, it took me about three hours over about three days.

First, pull the gas tank out and you will see the four bolt heads. If they have pulled partially through the hole or all the way through then you will need to take them all out. When fiberglass breaks it shatter around the break causing it to weaken further. You can lay a base on the inside of the hole about 4" wide and 12" long, it doesn't have to be very thick, I added about an 1/8 of an inch because mine had shattered pretty bad. When the fiberglass had set, i cleaned off the bottom and put a two part epoxy in the holes and smoothed the bottom with the epoxy. The epoxy needs to be a type that you can sand and drill. Once ur epoxy is set you are ready to redrill your holes and tap them. Takes some marine adhesive, I chose some 3m 4200 as it does not make a permanent bond because you want them to break away if you hit something hard enough, and put it in the holes and on the base of the fin. Bolt them up and put everything back together and you are good to go. Good Luck

[georgia_dawgs08]

Thats interesting, because my dealer told me on my 2000 VLX that to replace one, they would hae to remove the fuel tank to access the top part of it. Thereby, costing me a fortune in labor. Do you think that they made a change between 2000 and 2003?

The dealer didn't do the repair on mine, I did it myself, its not very difficult to pull the gas tank out. In fact, the worst part of it was pumping the gas out of it because I had just filled it up. I have no idea what the dealer would charge to do it.

[rinconking]

they dont come bolted from the factory. they are just threaded into the hull with some epoxy for strength.

if you wanted to see them from the inside of the boat, you have to remove the fuel tank and the center floor panel

They are actually bolted, the bolt just has a tapered head that is counter sunk to make it easier to break free if you hit something hard enough. I just got done resucuring both of my fins about two weeks ago. I had actually knocked the front one of completely. I bought my boat used and the fins had been broken off before and not fixed properly. I talked to Atlanta Inboard and this is what they told me to do, not a very difficult job, it took me about three hours over about three days.

First, pull the gas tank out and you will see the four bolt heads. If they have pulled partially through the hole or all the way through then you will need to take them all out. When fiberglass breaks it shatter around the break causing it to weaken further. You can lay a base on the inside of the hole about 4" wide and 12" long, it doesn't have to be very thick, I added about an 1/8 of an inch because mine had shattered pretty bad. When the fiberglass had set, i cleaned off the bottom and put a two part epoxy in the holes and smoothed the bottom with the epoxy. The epoxy needs to be a type that you can sand and drill. Once ur epoxy is set you are ready to redrill your holes and tap them. Takes some marine adhesive, I chose some 3m 4200 as it does not make a permanent bond because you want them to break away if you hit something hard enough, and put it in the holes and on the base of the fin. Bolt them up and put everything back together and you are good to go. Good Luck

I was saying they aren't through bolted (meaning a nut on the other side like the question asked) i replaced mine with the gorillia fins. well worth the extra $$

[ITLLFLI]

I was saying they aren't through bolted (meaning a nut on the other side like the question asked) i replaced mine with the gorillia fins. well worth the extra $$

So they ARE or ARE NOT thru bolted? (They have to be thru bolted...I would think)

NO WAY they are just lagged into hull?

I suppose there is a 3rd option. There could be a backing plate on the inside of the hull that the screws thread into....which would be thru bolted... but not with nuts on the inside...

Anyone have pics?

Edited April 27, 2009 by ITLLFLI

[georgia_dawgs08]

I was saying they aren't through bolted (meaning a nut on the other side like the question asked) i replaced mine with the gorillia fins. well worth the extra $$

So they ARE or ARE NOT thru bolted? (They have to be thru bolted...I would think)

NO WAY they are just lagged into hull?

I suppose there is a 3rd option. There could be a backing plate on the inside of the hull that the screws thread into....which would be thru bolted... but not with nuts on the inside...

Anyone have pics?

They are through bolted but not necessarly the way you are thinking, the fin itself has a threaded hole that the bolt threads into from the inside of the hull. The fin itself is the plate, basically what you were thinking of except in reverse

[rinconking]

at some point they must have changed. mine thread from the bottom of the boat up into the hull. the fiberglass is threaded and coated with epoxy. then they just screw up into the bottom.. sounds like a weak design, but they hold up fine. there is no backing plate or nuts. i think the idea is that if you hit something you get 4 little holes instead of 1 huge one

[ITLLFLI]

They are through bolted but not necessarly the way you are thinking, the fin itself has a threaded hole that the bolt threads into from the inside of the hull. The fin itself is the plate, basically what you were thinking of except in reverse

Yep...I just looked at the fins on my 04 VLX. No holes or bolts/screws showing. It must be thru bolted from the inside and threaded into the fin.

Thanks..

[georgia_dawgs08]

at some point they must have changed. mine thread from the bottom of the boat up into the hull. the fiberglass is threaded and coated with epoxy. then they just screw up into the bottom.. sounds like a weak design, but they hold up fine. there is no backing plate or nuts. i think the idea is that if you hit something you get 4 little holes instead of 1 huge one

Thats right, my old sporster was done the same way with four screws on each fin and never had a problem with it. When my front fin came off of my 02 vlx, i had two holes about the size of a quarter. It will make you wish you had another bilge pump on the boat anyway.

[georgia_dawgs08]

They are through bolted but not necessarly the way you are thinking, the fin itself has a threaded hole that the bolt threads into from the inside of the hull. The fin itself is the plate, basically what you were thinking of except in reverse

Yep...I just looked at the fins on my 04 VLX. No holes or bolts/screws showing. It must be thru bolted from the inside and threaded into the fin.

Thanks..

I don't know why they did it that way, I can tell you from experience it is a real pain in the neck to fix, not really difficult, just a pain.

[Hinkel]

First, thanks for all of the advice.

Ittlfli and I finished the destruction phase last night. We had to take the back seat off to get the cooler out in order to get full access to the gas tank. We drained the tank and after struggling for awhile, got the gas tank up. I'm going to buy the sealant tonight and we'll finish the job up on Wednesday.

Does anyone know what this would cost to have the maintenance shop perform?

[the_dude]

My dealer quoted me around $150 -$200 to do this a few months back (location in SoCal)