Just received my brand new 2012 North LTD race board and was stoked to get it on the water that i didn't notice the crooked fin box until after noticing that my port side down wind runs were nearly impossible to stay on the board.. After closer examination i took the board to my local shaper friend who measured from center line of board to fin boxes and one box is more than 2mm out from the front to back of the box!! After marking up the board with precise measurement the shaper also noticed that the nose of the board was not symmetrical and one rail was sanded much sharper than the other. All being said i took some pictures and sent them to the USA distributor, who forwarded them on to North, and to my surprise they said that this was within tolerance for these board!! They forwarded me the email from Dirk Hanel who told them to deny the warranty claim as 2mm was within tolerance!! thats amazing! especially since the board is very difficult to ride on one side! Considering the price of these boards, that is unacceptable to me, i don't understand how they can make these boards in China, and then not stand behind basic Q/C defects...
I should have know better as i was told of some issues with prototype boards having bad fins boxes last summer in Hood River, but i never imagined this would happen. Several racers in my area have had issues with RRD race boards and RRD has very quickly replaced these boards... that are made in the same factory in China..
So i guess i have to hack into this board a rebuild the fin box so my $$ are not completely wasted!!