Monofintastrophy - Stress Crack or Shipping Damage?

[Seatan]

Not sure if this belongs here or in freediving, but the monofin IS for my tail and so I'm sticking it here.

I just got a FINIS Rapid in the mail on Friday. Today I took it into the pool for the first time. Hardly swam in it at all and it slipped off my feet (though I wear a 9.5 in women's shoes, I wonder if it was too big because my feet are VERY narrow). So I put on a pair of water shoes and strapped my feet in... This was when I noticed the cracks. It is cracked uniformly on two sides of the foot pockets and on the UNDERSIDE of the foot pockets. I GUESS this could be a stress fracture, but is that a common place for them in these fins? I asked a divemaster at my scuba shop what he thought (he does not use monofins) and he thought it looked more like something HEAVY had been dropped on it... Except it came in a HUGE box, so I wouldn't think it could have happened in shipping. Though the box WAS beat to hell (the tape was hardly holding it closed!). Anyhoo, here are the pictures. Do you think it was the swimming that did it, or something else? I'm thinking I should send it back and get a replacement or refund. Also, if my narrow feet slipped really easily out of the rapid, should I try a water sock or shoe or should I get the Wave instead?

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[Spindrift]

Where did you buy it from? If it's directly from FINIS they will probably replace it if you contact them. Maybe even otherwise, since it is definitely one of their products.

[AniaR]

they will replace it :)

[AniaR]

also there are black inserts in the pockets of that model that dont serve any purpose but to help keep the pocket shape. They aren't glued in, you can pull them out and have more space for your feet (for when you get your next one)

[Mermaid Tula]

I've been noticing this a lot with Finis Monofins lately. I wonder if they got a bad batch of materials or something.

[Anahita]

Oh man, I think Julz had this problem too with her monofin... Same model as yours, same break, same amount of swimming before it happened. She contacted Finis directly and I guess they said they'd send her a new one. But maybe ask her about it, maybe she can help by telling you what she did to get them to replace it.

Here's her post on it happening though if you were curious: damaged monofin (http://mernetwork.com/index/showthread.php?5855-Julz-s-First-Latex-Tail-attempt&p=88640&viewfull=1#post88640)

[Theobromine]

Yeah, definitely get it replaced. That shouldn't happen. I've had my Rapid for like three years and the blade has held up fine the whole time, through lots of use and abuse and transporting it internationally. The only thing that happened was thee heel strap finally snapped a couple months ago, but it was easily replaced (when I looked closely at the broken strap, I could see a lot of fine stress cracks, but the strap is made of rubber, not plastic like the fin blade).

[Seatan]

Thanks guys. I'm definitely going to contact them and see if I can get another one. Maybe they did have a bad batch. :( Yikes, I hope my next one holds up!

**Edit: Called Finis and they said they just got a shipment in that they will send me a replacement from, so hopefully if there was something wrong with that batch, it won't be in this batch!**

[AniaR]

Ive only seen this one and the other one (that was used?) break so Im not sure it's a bad batch or anything.

[Capt Nemo]

Looks like a material flaw. Sometimes during the injection molding process you will get lines in the material where the material flows together and excess mold release prevents the two sides from bonding. These areas act like a crack which will run when stressed.

In monofins, that area sees a lot of stress and that's why any flaws there crack. Some freedivers have suffered broken feet in exactly the same area of the fin, so yes, there is a lot of stress there!

[Echidna]

Some freedivers have suffered broken feet in exactly the same area of the fin, so yes, there is a lot of stress there!
How did that happen? :eek:
Strong currents, or?

[Mermaid Julz]

this is the EXACT same thing that happened to me... in the EXACT same place... our breaks are almost identical! Finis is replacing mine. it should be here Saturday!