How to mount and dismount your FCS-type surf fins on your surfboard

In this article we will show you how to mount and dismount your FCS-type surf fins with all types of details; it’s somewhat easy to do, but you must keep some things in mind so as not to make a mistake or damage your surfboard. That is why it is important that you follow this advice.

FCS-type keels have two tabs, and these tabs are what we have to insert into fins plug located on the surfboard. The fins remain in place thanks to two screws that are on the fins plug and to the two small holes found on the fins tabs. The first thing you need to note is that the three keels are different, you must have two of the keels with one side flat and the other curved, and one symmetrical keel, with both sides curved.

The two keels with one of the flat sides are the lateral keels and we will place them in the stoppers located on the sides of the board, with the flat side facing inward on the board.The symmetrical keel, which we will call the central keel, we will place on the stoppers located on the center of the board.

Once we have placed the keels on their corresponding plugs, we will use an surfboard Allen key to tighten the screws of the plug and thereby secure them in place.The screws need to be tightened enough so that the keels are well secured but not so much as to damage them. The screw fits into a slot located on the fin tab, so that the keel cannot come off easily.

This would be all that you have to keep in mind when inserting your keels.

Now we are going to remove the keels located on the surfboard. The first step would be to unscrew the screws of the plug located on the board using the Allen key. Once these are loose we must pull on the keels carefully, always upward so as not to damage the board. It is very important that you pull upward, without levering between the rear part of the keel and the board, which would damage the board.

It is a very common mistake, be careful with that. If you are going to mount your surfboard with four fins (quad fins), the procedure is the same, but instead of having two front keels and one central keel, the quad surf fins are located two in front and two in the rear. The rear fins are smaller. That is, you have to place the two larger fins in front and the two smaller fins in the back.

But a good video is worth more than a thousand words, and we have prepared a video to show this to you: