Let's try again.. Tail take two.

[Grey Gambit]

Partly after starting on the other idea I had for a tail I decided it would be much better to do a basic tail (I did kind of feel like I was jumping ahead of myself with the other idea..), so somewhere down the road when I can make the coelacanth tail I'll be able to tell how it differs in swimming compared to another fluke design. Unfortunately, the size of lexan I got (which would have been the proper size for the other tail) makes for a pretty short fin as far as designs go.

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(another idea I had (https://33.media.tumblr.com/a3574917c7747988e3d48a2b42d300d6/tumblr_n9l9onT5xM1sikde3o3_500.jpg), using vinal to extend the tail look, with alternate pattern.. Not entirely sure which pattern I like better)

Here's the fluke shape patterns I've made up, along with me in my new zoomers. Both were drawn up before the zoomers arrived, and I'm still not entirely sure on placement. The first has a wider base and the zoomers are situated around an inch off the lexan sheet. The second has the base more flush with the edge of the zoomers and the zoomers are also fully on the lexan, but flush with the edge (and sides of the heels). The lexan sheet is .093 in/2.3 mm thick.

One thing I'm curious about is if I can use the two bottom pieces that will be cut off of the sheet, is if I can flip them so the flat edges are together and use them to reinforce the foot area or not. Or if them being two pieces instead of one will just cause problems down the road.

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I'll be experimenting with the zoomers this week or next to see how they work in the water by themselves (I'm not entirely sure I got the right size, when I take them off after a few minutes I have red marks on the top of my foot and the back of the heels, and I can't tell if the tingling is from how I'm sitting or from the zoomers coming off), and start looking around and see if I can't find some bolts and washers or the polyzap glue, and a bit for the jigsaw that'll cut the lexan.

[NerineArcticMermaid]

That will be one fast fluke

[Kishiko]

You can make your fin longer and bigger by starting the lexan about halfway down the zoomers. You don't have to have the entire foot on the sheet. Also (correct me if I'm wrong everyone) but I think other mers have found that one single sheet makes a better fin. When some tried to reinforce areas, it created stress points. Hope this helps!

from a proud lexan fin owner (:

[Grey Gambit]

You can make your fin longer and bigger by starting the lexan about halfway down the zoomers. You don't have to have the entire foot on the sheet. Also (correct me if I'm wrong everyone) but I think other mers have found that one single sheet makes a better fin. When some tried to reinforce areas, it created stress points. Hope this helps!

I don't think I can make it any wider, there's just not enough lexan for that. xD;
I've seen others have their feet further off, but I don't want to go any farther having my feet off than maybe the heel. That's about as far as other monofin designs seem to go.

I may just try to get another sheet and cut out a duplicate to attach to the bottom if I do reinforce the whole thing. The fact I'd have to use the two pieces really bugs me because I don't know how well they'd react with each other and the main fin shape.

[Lostariel Telrunya]

A short fin doesn't have to be bad. It always reminds of me dolphins :). Sorry that your other tail didn't work out.

[Grey Gambit]

I don't mind a short tail all that much, really. It makes me think of dolphins as well. Although considering I usually have dinosaurs and such on the brain, I keep thinking of the marine reptiles called ichthyosaurs.

[PearlieMae]

I prefer to have as much foot on the fin as possible, but I didn't use zoomers or footpockets and my bare foot was on the edge of the lexan...it hurt and felt like I didn't have as much control over the fin.

I used my extra cutoffs as reinforcements with the straight edge of the two piece butted up against each other. They worked fine as reinforcement, that is, until I snapped the lexan because I was arrogant and thought extending the fin was a great idea...NOTE: It did NOT break where I had it reinforced. I say go for it!

Also, your silicone fluke can be longer than your Lexan monofin...it'll be very fluid in the water and the drag coefficient might be greater, but it will look great! Where do you plan on doing most of your swimming? Pools and lakes are definitely easier than rivers/streams or ocean, and I'm reducing my fin size for pool use. I might swim a bit slower, but the maneuverability will be greater, and less likely to hurt anyone should I bump them with it.

[Grey Gambit]

I prefer to have as much foot on the fin as possible, but I didn't use zoomers or footpockets and my bare foot was on the edge of the lexan...it hurt and felt like I didn't have as much control over the fin.

I used my extra cutoffs as reinforcements with the straight edge of the two piece butted up against each other. They worked fine as reinforcement, that is, until I snapped the lexan because I was arrogant and thought extending the fin was a great idea...NOTE: It did NOT break where I had it reinforced. I say go for it!

Also, your silicone fluke can be longer than your Lexan monofin...it'll be very fluid in the water and the drag coefficient might be greater, but it will look great! Where do you plan on doing most of your swimming? Pools and lakes are definitely easier than rivers/streams or ocean, and I'm reducing my fin size for pool use. I might swim a bit slower, but the maneuverability will be greater, and less likely to hurt anyone should I bump them with it.

Where did yours end up breaking, Pearlie?

And mine won't be for silicone, at least not yet. For now it's just going to sit inside a fabric tail. I figure I can lengthen it a bit if I want, but might not just to keep things simple. I'll probably be swimming in pools and lakes most often. But some of the lakes I like swimming in have a slight current, so I've always stayed near the edges. As for the pool... We've got a regular pool inside and a wave pool outside. It seems the outside pool is the one the local mermaid does parties in. But she enters/leaves when the waves are on in the deep end and I'm not at her skill level right now. The only reason she can do that is because she has special permission from the pool owners. So I probably won't be using it in the wave pool that much. Kids swarm like none other out there and I wouldn't know what to say just yet. xD;

[Kishiko]

I prefer to have as much foot on the fin as possible, but I didn't use zoomers or footpockets and my bare foot was on the edge of the lexan...it hurt and felt like I didn't have as much control over the fin.

I used my extra cutoffs as reinforcements with the straight edge of the two piece butted up against each other. They worked fine as reinforcement, that is, until I snapped the lexan because I was arrogant and thought extending the fin was a great idea...NOTE: It did NOT break where I had it reinforced. I say go for it!

Also, your silicone fluke can be longer than your Lexan monofin...it'll be very fluid in the water and the drag coefficient might be greater, but it will look great! Where do you plan on doing most of your swimming? Pools and lakes are definitely easier than rivers/streams or ocean, and I'm reducing my fin size for pool use. I might swim a bit slower, but the maneuverability will be greater, and less likely to hurt anyone should I bump them with it.

YOU DIDNT HAVE FOOT POCKETS?!?!?! How were you swimming?!?!

[Grey Gambit]

I forgot to ask, but Kishiko, what method are your foot pockets attached to the lexan with? Bolts and washers, or is it the PolyZap glue, or something else?

[Mermaid Enora]

I have a lexan monofin also. I used stainless steel bolts, washers, and loctite nuts (I think thats what they're called) to hold them in place. The nuts have a thick nylon lining inside them and once they are put on with vice grips they don't let go.

[Kishiko]

I used polyzap on mine. I've never had a problem with my fins breaking away and I swim hard with that thing

[Grey Gambit]

I have a lexan monofin also. I used stainless steel bolts, washers, and loctite nuts (I think thats what they're called) to hold them in place. The nuts have a thick nylon lining inside them and once they are put on with vice grips they don't let go.

How many did you end up using? How does it feel on your feet? How well has it held up?
My skin is kind of sensitive, so I don't know how well I could deal with them under my feet.


I used polyzap on mine. I've never had a problem with my fins breaking away and I swim hard with that thing

How much glue did you need to use to keep them on? Have you ever had to reapply it?

[Mermaid Wesley]

According to a friend of mine, Polyzap is a superglue and eventually it WILL come apart. because of this im planning on keeping the glued parts of my tail accessable through the inside to account for glue failure.

[PearlieMae]

I used PolyZap on my polycarbonate fins and even the one I broke into pieces (on purpose), the glued parts have not come apart...yet. I am looking into solvent adhesive that will chemically weld the pieces together. I will have to test them for flexibility, though.

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[Grey Gambit]

I'm honestly still trying to decide if I want to use the nuts/bolts/washers or the polyzap glue.
..But the glue is really looking appealing so I can avoid feeling the bolts on my feet.

[Mermaid Enora]

I used 4 bolts on each flipper and tyre burner short fins.
Each fin had 2 bolts on the part below my foot, one bolt under my arch, and one bolt to the outer side of my heel.
The only bolt I can kinda feel is the bolt on the outer side of the heel, but I really can't feel it enough to be uncomfortable.
My fin has held up well I've had it since January and have done some fast swimming and lots of treading water. It has enough push to shove me out of the water up to my waist and it hasn't broken yet.
Hope this helps!

[Grey Gambit]

Thanks you guys! I may end up going with the PolyZap, the only reason I'm not fond of the bolts is because of feeling them near my heel. I want to try and make this fin as comfortable on my feet as I can, if I can.

I'm going to be looking around town for the jigsaw bit this week and hopefully getting some cutting done. Did you guys cut out the fin shape before or after taking off the protective sheeting on the lexan?

[Mermaid Enora]

I took the protective cover off after cutting the shape.

[Grey Gambit]

Woo, been a while since I've been able to work on things... Unfortunately not much has been done because of lack of money. >.>;
I've been trying to distract myself looking at neat fabric and am really, really tempted to use this one. So bright and awesome.
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This is the glue (http://www.amazon.com/Pacer-01-PT22-Poly-Zap/dp/B0006O8EJO) to use, yeah? But maybe not quite so small a size?

[PearlieMae]

I use less than that bottle, and I am generous with gluing, but I'd get two just in case. Also, using small bottles of glue lessens the waste if you have leftovers...I find that once opened, CA glues quickly deteriorate. 1 drop per square inch is recommended. Glue it in a well ventilated space because those fumes are STRONG.

I cut mine without the protective covering because it just gums up the works when you're trying to cut it. You don't need to worry about scratches because the Lexan is going to be covered anyway. I swam in the prototype for six months and it was beat to hell before I put it in a fluke. No one's ever going to see it.

That's some wild fabric! Love it! Is it a four-way stretch? Two-way can be problematic.

[Grey Gambit]

Good to know! I was thinking about getting two just in case, makes me really glad they've got the free shipping going on. I might not be able to glue unless I go outside and the weather is getting pretty cold for that. The apartment I'm in doesn't seem to ventilate very well.

Mine might be seen a little more than yours, Pearlie. :P But I don't mind if it's a little scratched up, unless that's going to snag the fabric tail piece. I was thinking of making a fluke booty to help cover it up when the tail is on just in case, ventilated so as to not cause more drag. But I thought that might help making putting snaps on it to hide the monofin a bit easier, too.

It doesn't say if it's 4-way stretch or not, just that it's swim fabric of medium weight, 82% nylon and 18% lycra, and a stretch of 75%. It's a little pricy as far as I'm concerned (for now) but it's just so awesome and I love chevrons in patterns so I'm keeping my eye on it.

[Grey Gambit]

Hello again! It's been slow going on my tail project - mostly because I've been studying math to prep for going back to college in the fall.

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Anyway, I've been playing with some colors and patterns since I haven't really found a patterned lycra fabric I really, really like and this is the result.
I didn't think I'd really like rusty reds mixed with greens and oranges, but I do. :P
Although I'm not sure how well I'd do painting fabric.. That may turn out to be an adventure all by itself.

[Rett]

Looks good! If I were you I'd just order that cool fabric anyway to have an extra skin for security measures in case something happens to your other one. Also, since your lexan sheet is so small I might worry about the propulsion you'll get from it. It should be fine in a pool, but I might begin to worry about the wave pool and maybe the lake. I like your last design too (as practice for painting you could buy the other fabric and paint just the fluke so it'd look more like a tail so that way you'd get some experience before going all out on one like the second design ;) )

[ShyMer]

I love those colors! I particularly like that you used a more saturated orange to go with the browner oranges.
I think it's a pretty nicely developed tail. Good luck with painting it!

[Grey Gambit]

The local mermaid has a monofin about the same size as mine and it works out fine in the wave pool. But like I said, I'm not quite at her swim level yet, so I'm sticking to the normal pool for now and maybe a lake if I can find one close by that I like and seems safe for swimming in. If not, it's just the pool for me for now.

I've been thinking about extending the fluke slightly with something (probably that thin wall pvc plastic?) to help it look a little longer and have a bit more flow to it. I kind of wish I'd been able to get a bigger piece of lexan, but I couldn't afford it at the moment and it would seem a waste to not use the piece I have and get a bigger one. :/ Idk.

You're totally right though; I'll be getting a fabric tail for painting practice first, and to make sure I've got the pattern right, before going all out with painting the full design. :)

Thank you both!

[Grey Gambit]

Been in a bit of a productive slump lately because university has been keeping me very busy, but I was able to order fabric today! :dance: I didn't end up getting the cool chevron print because I can't find it (I could have sworn I had it bookmarked before...), but I did find some really nice rust (http://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/10923) and dark green (https://spandexworld.com/c3/catalog/product/7601) colored fabric to use. It's going to look a lot like a pumpkin until I get details painted on, haha. If I can, I plan on grabbing a cheaper 4-way stretch fabric to test out some ideas before cutting into the final fabric. Probably should have bought those fabric choices backwards...... >.>;; Oh well. I'll at least have fabric to add to the hoard?
I'm hoping I'll be able to make more progress over winter break and actually have something to swim in next year.

[Grey Gambit]

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IT ARRIVED. There was a slight moment of concern because the tracking page said it arrived earlier than it did. It actually arrived five minutes after I called fedex to see if something might have gone wrong. So I started laughing because without the painting I plan on doing I'm gonna look like a pumpkin in the sun. XD

I've got an idea I want to test out with an appliqué type transition between the two fabrics to help the paint job blend in better, but I'll be testing stuff out with some swatches first. I want to see if I can't mimic scale shapes around the ankles, we'll see if that'll work out or not.

Now to just find a different glue for the monofin and I can really get cracking! :D