Help repairing my fluke

[AniaR]

so today in the middle of a gig our mermaid creations tail fluke totally split open at the seam about 8 inches across in the centre. Thankfully it was at the end and we were able to get it through the dry part without anyone noticing. When I got it home I looked inside, and as I suspected from before, the monofin isn't glues inside the fluke at all. We always had issues with the fluke area filling with water and struggled to drain it through the waist without putting stress on the fluke. It's also totally filled with layers of mold. Before I fix it I've sprayed it and I'm going to use a toothbrush to clean the mold. But now I am stuck with how to fix it. This tail has perma wet ontop of the silicone. It never bonded properly because it's latex, and it peels and comes off in layers. It's one of the reasons why we couldn't repaint it. I bought special silicone caulking recommended by smoothon for fixing small issues on my merbellas tail, and it works fine. It will not bond to this tail- I've tried. The waist line is splitting so bad I actually sewed it with clear fishing line. This actually worked really well and kept the waist together and you can't even see the fishing line. I think I may have to sew the bottom of this fluke. But I'd really like to actually glue the damn thing down which last I checked with Jessie he hadn't figured out how to do for this line of tails. It has one of those really small yellow monofins in it I forget what you call them. Anyone have any idea what i can try on the inside of this? I am talking to people who have actually made tails or are experimenting with materials and know what I mean by glueing down a monofin. I appreciate people who dont do it may have ideas, but I am assuming this tail will really only let me have 1 or 2 shots at this before I make a mess of it all

I can't send it to Jesse. it costs an arm and a leg to mail it, and we literally cant afford to go without it. It needs to be back in commission by Saturday, I am trying to post photos I am just having issues with my SD card so I'll have some up soon.

[Mermaid Lorelei]

The only luck I've had with gluing monofins down is by first gluing lace to the monofin (leaving plenty of spaces that are slightly lifted from the fin) and then siliconing the lace to the fluke. It basically acts like re-bar inside of concrete. Hopefully you'll be able to get the silicone to adhere since it's on the inside of the fluke and thus not compromised by the permawet. I would also suggest cleaning the area with isopropyl alcohol.
Other than that, I don't have much help to offer.

[AniaR]

yup I cleaned the hell out of it with isopropyl alcohol it actually sizzled lol

[Mermaid Lorelei]

Wowza. Yeah, it probably needed that. XD

[Ayla of Duluth]

Thats what I was thinking too. Put fabric on the monofin, use that to anchor the silicone down so it'll bond better. plastic won't absorb liquid like fabric will, so lace should work really well to keep it down.

[NerineArcticMermaid]

try drilling systematic hole through the monofin so the silicone will go between the holes and act like a glue for to silicone the silicon