Monofinless tail?

[The Water Phoenix]

Hey merfolk, I've had the idea of making a monofinless silicone tail for a while now and I've drawn up quite a few concepts of how I may go about doing it or what the design will be like. I got the idea from Mertailor's monofinless tails and I thought making my own would be a fun challenge, but I honestly have no idea about how I'm gonna achieve this. I'm not sure whether I should use silicone or urethane for the fluke as I want it to be stiff for ocean swimming, but I have no idea what stiffness to use.

Any tips, tricks or pointers in general would be greatly appreciated!

[Galaxia]

That sounds fintastic! If you crack the case, I can't wait to see what you come up with. Cheers

[Merman Storm]

I assume you mean The Mertailor Spellbound? I have one, the one in my avatar photo. In a way it does have a monofin, its just molded in and made from silicone. Shore 30A silicone ( I have a durometer). The 30A part is the foot pockets and a small area behind the feet. It then transitions to the normal Shore 10A silicone of the rest of the tail, but with a fairly large thickness to get the needed stiffness. Still, its quite floppy, but has excellent propulsion.
Beware of Urethane as it inhibits curing of silicone.

[AniaR]

Mertailor's silicone tails aren't a traditional monofin, it's not encased or anything it's part of the tail. Same with Mike Van Dahl! I personally find less stress on my ankles in these types of tails, but you tend to compromise the push you can get with something like a competitor.

[Merman Storm]

I measured the stiff part of the Spellbound. It extends 12 inches rearward from the heel straps and at its widest, 12 inches wide. The widest part is about 2 inches short of the rear end. The area of the fin that is stiff is the part covered with scales.
The floppy part of the tail is about an inch think where is connects to the stiff part, and gets thinner as you move to the trailing edge.