First Monofin completed

[T.T.]

I guess this is kind of an introduction as well. I'm T.T. and I'm completely new to this. I have a good friend (KaileyAnne) who told me about mermaiding and that she wanted help building a monofin (I had no idea mermaiding was even a thing, but I'm always up for a fun project). Lucky for us, I happened to have a sheet of polycarbonate that's been laying around for the past 5 years waiting for a project, so we ended up using that. We kinda just guessed and eyeballed everything.

Here it is.


I think it turned out really well for our first fin. The stiffness was just about perfect, and it propelled us through the water at a very good pace. I nearly lost my glasses because of how fast I was moving one time.
The first time I used it I tried to break it and it held up just fine (I'm a fan of destructive testing for things that have to handle a lot of stress). Kailey was banging into all sorts of things with it, so it ended up being pretty strong.

Here's another picture with a sheet of US letter (8.5" x 11") for size reference.


and another showing the three layers of polycarbonate.


The piece that stiffens the leading edge of the fin is on the shoe side, and that small piece is on the side closest to the camera. It helps to strengthen the area where the shoes attach. (also, ignore that one missing bolt, nylon bolts are really easy to over tighten and break )

Also, in case you care, one good source that I've found for cheap/free sheets of polycarbonate is CRT rear projection TVs. The entire screen is polycarbonate, and often times people just give these away. That's where this sheet came from, and is also why it has a tint to it.

All in all, we're pretty happy with it, and I rather like this mermaid stuff
for our next one, we're planning on trying out fiberglass.

[Mermaid hannahML]

I don't see any bolts did you glue you nylon threads in to place and if so what kind, and how thick is you poly ?thanks in advance