2 Attachment(s)
HOW I MADE A RUBBER MONOFIN at home :)
Well, i thought i would post how i made my monofin! Its been through some trial and error, but its pretty good :)
So, i had some rubber in a sheet, about 5 mm thick, that was for outdoors. It had been sitting out there for who knows how many years, but it wasnt brittle in the least so i knew it would be good!!!
Youll need:
A sheet of rubber
A jigsaw to cut it
Water shoes
Hemp cord (or another really really strong thread)
A drill and drill bit
Thats it!!!
1: I cut out the shape i wanted for my fluke onto paper (making sure there was enough room for my feet!), then traced the shaped onto the rubber.
2: I cut it out with a jigsaw. Make sure to round the corners at the heels as much as possible, and as close the the edge of where your heels will be as you can!!
3: Mark out about 15 holes going around the edges of the water shoes. Drill them with a drill bit slightly thicker than your hemp cord.
4: Copy those holes exactly onto the cut out rubber and drill them too.
5: Take your hemp cord and weave it through, like your sewing the shoes to the rubber. I used a big needle, which is best, but you could even use a bobbypin if you had to!
6: Tie it off REALLY REALLY well. You could put a dab of strong glue on the knot to be sure.
7: At this point, i added bathroom silicone between the shoes and the rubber. NOT WORTH IT!! the silicone didnt stick to the shoes, it just came off!!
8: Try it out! At first the monofin was too big, and was more of a deadweight that i had to pull around than something that would actually propel me :/ But then, with the jigsaw, i cut it down to 2/3 of the size and its PERFECT!!! Because its so flexible, it makes a gorgeous *flip* motion in the water
http://mernetwork.com/index/album.ph...achmentid=6906 this is a picture of how it looked at first (its a bit smaller now)
this is the finished fin!!!
Attachment 7017
you can see the thickness of the rubber
Attachment 7018
and how it looks NOW:
http://mernetwork.com/index/album.php?albumid=424
Troubleshooting tips: I will add some more photos later, but i really have wanted to post this for a while!!!! Me and Charlotte tried this with a bath mat and some plastic shoes that were like ballet flats, but she found that her feet slipped out of them straight away, and i think that the bath mat was a bit TOO flexible....
Weaving the hemp is a PAIN!!! it takes perseverance!
Watershoes are good because (my ones at least) had a stretchy neoprene type of fabric covering the top so its easy to get on but will stay in place.
DO NOT MAKE IT TOO BIG!!!!!!!!
Dont make it too small either. At least if its big you can cut it down, but you can make a small one bigger!!
Get watershoes in a size smaller than yours- they need to be TIGHT because they will loosen in the water from moving your ankles around!!
Have fun! im 15 and i could make it, so ANYONE can!!!!!
Goodluck!!! <3
