One of the joys of living right next to the sea on a large sheltered Moalboal bay in Cebu are the great weather and easy access for water sports, kayaking, diving, sailing, and paddle boarding right out of the gate.
To get the most out of living here, a couple of years ago, while on weekend break to Bangkok, as a birthday present to me I purchased an NSP 11'6" Allrounder inflatable paddle board and it really has been a lot of fun paddle boarding up and down the coast.
Anyhow, shortly before lockdown in March while washing down the board I noticed that I had an issue with the fin box, cracks at both ends had appeared, probably caused by the board flexing.
Bit of a close up of the problem.
My worry was that the cracks will allow the fin box to flex and that I would lose the fin if I caught it while out boarding so something did need to be done. For now my boarding days were over. Lockdown was looming so no big rush anyway.
There were a couple of options, ok 3 that I could think of.
1, PRO fix. Send or take the board back to Bangkok and get NSP to do the repair, Probably the best option but sending the board back was going to be problem with the current Covid travel restrictions.
2, DIY fix. cut out the fin box and re glue a new one in, but I'm not convinced my PVC gluing skills are up to it.
3, Finally bodge it. Look for a way to reinforce the cracked ends. This was was the one I went for in the end.
One of the joys of having a 3D printer handy is you can make all sorts of handy things.
In this case, I set about designing some reinforcing blocks for the end of the fin box, It did take a few goes as the tolerances and shape turned out to be quite complicated but I got there in the end.
Along with a couple of wedges to ensure the bolt was straight and I was good to go.
A splodge of epoxy glue, a bit of righty tighty on the nuts with stud through the centre and we're done.
The cracks have pulled up the fin fits a treat, it's all looking great.
I really can't wait to get back out on the water with 
End of todays bit of Hiveory, must be time for a beer.
