Silicone Tail Drain Holes

[MerMatt]

Hey Everyone,

I know some tail makers put drain holes in their tails to lessen the drag etc. I was wondering if silicone tails need drain holes as well. I am curious because I know Jesse doesnt put them in and I would like to know if it would be advisable to add some to my tail. Also if there are drain holes in a silicone tail does it help it to stick/suction to the body because water can drain instead of creating drag.

Thanks

[deepblue]

It does help to have the holes. If you do a search on 'drainage' of course so many results come up, it might be hard to narrow down. But it might be worth it to you to search 'drainage' and then search the threads that come up covering silicone tails for those posts. You will see some pretty good images of people using straws (which don't stay in) and a few other items to create the drainage holes in silicone flukes.

[MerMatt]

So after taking your advise I looked at a few threads and most of them say that drainage holes are at the end of the fluke. My next question is since my fluke is solid where would I place drainage holes in a mermaid creations tail without causing long term damage from creating a weak point where there is a slit.

[AniaR]

We had trouble with our Jesse tail because the fluke would fill up. But I caution you with drain holes with his only because small holes on ours (from the monofin poking through) became much bigger holes very quickly, whereas my merbellas tail has holes that have not gotten any bigger after 3 years. Be careful where you place them. We ended up just always having a merwrangler help the mermaid lift the fluke so we could drain the water through the waist. The constant stress of having the monofin not glued down plus the entire fluke filling up, actually made the seams on the fluke totally open one day and all the water gush out and we had to reglue it down :(

[MerMatt]

Raina, were those slits in your Jesse tail or pinholes. In your opinion would pinholes work as drain holes or are they too small or get bigger over time? I apologize for asking so many questions.

[AniaR]

They were more like slits from the fin poking through

[MerMatt]

Would you have any photos of this for me to see. That way I can see where on my tail this potentially will/can happen.

[AniaR]

I've got the tail away in storage right now but literally at the ends of the monofin where they line up with the silicone, poked through.

[MerMatt]

Thanks for your help Raina.