Take your surfing to the next level with the GEARBOX Fin System!

For the dam, the existing lip below the top edge was extended up to the top, allowing us to add a larger radius to the dam's edge. This makes a big difference when laying the fiberglass over the dam as it minimizes the air that wants to get trapped at the transition from the cover to the dam. Plus, it helps the cloth drape over the dam.

This change also enables the foam covers to work as they are slightly thicker than the plastic cover, so the gap between the dam's edge and the cover is minimized.

For the bottom, the rendering shows the extra material added around the dam's perimeter. Also, four posts have been added to the bottom sides to strengthen it. The primary reason for thickening the bottom was because, in the case of an 8º box, the inside bottom edge of the slot ended up very close to the outer surface of the bottom wall. This made it much thinner there and created the potential for failure along this thin edge. We have not had failures here but wanted to make things more robust by eliminating this thinness. The addition of the posts also helps in this regard.

The HD foam blocks have also had to have their inside cavity enlarged to accommodate the increased size of the bottom of the box. In addition, the area around the posts has been tightened to reduce the amount of resin accumulating there. They will continue to work with the existing boxes.

The foam block has also been changed to a PET material made from recycled plastic water bottles! Allowing us also to reduce the price. This material is hard and porous to achieve an excellent bond.

A new item added to the system is a depth gauge used to set the router bit depth. The gauge has two different depths on it, STANDARD (circular notch) for most normal installs and CONCAVE (triangular notch) for installs in deep double concaves (or where extra strength is desired).

See the updated install guides for more details on how to use the gauge or the INSTALL Extras, where there are detailed instructions.

The HEX KEY has also undergone a slight modification to remove the embedded gear. This change made the key more universal for use with our HANALEI FINS.

The final change coming to the system is a change in the color of the boxes from the GREY we have been using since day one to WHITE.

The reasons for the change are twofold. Firstly, to better distinguish the GB23 boxes from the older versions. Secondly, to match up better with the WHITE plastic and future FOAM covers. We also feel the WHITE will allow the box to blend better on a board.

With the move to the WHITE color, we are also increasing the amount of fiberglass in the material to improve its strength.