I bought a Finfolk Mythic (“Midnight Magic”) from a girl a few months back. It glittered at me and my magpie soul was instantly in love. Luckily she was close enough that I could visit and try it on before committing, which was good—this poor baby has been through two other owners that found it was too small before it passed to me, and I am physically incapable of zipping myself into it. Minimum I need one other person to zip me in, two is best so one person can hold it shut. If I gain like 3 pounds I’ll be unable to get it closed over my butt. Super tight!! I’m not too fussed about this because it’s definitely not a tail that would be safe to swim in without a buddy anyway, between the hook & eye closure, zipper, and Finis Foil heel straps.
I would show pictures but there’s no album option on my user control panel for some reason and also the permissions as I make this post say I am not allowed to add attachments?? Sadness
So my main issues here are (of course) scales falling off, and also drying. To a certain extent, also maintenance.
Today I swam in my mythic for the second time for about an hour, and three scales fell off. This may be partially my own fault since I’d noticed a loose thread and didn’t insist on immediately doing anything about it. I had laboriously tied off a different loose thread between my two swims but apparently not well enough. My mythic is gen two so theoretically the scales are falling off less, but it’s quickly becoming apparent how easily they do fall off. (Gen one must have been a nightmare!!)
I’ve been doing some thorough browsing of the forums and found a piece on the accessories forum that mentioned that fishing line could be tightened with pliers, so that might be a good idea. There was also the idea that the knot could be further secured with super glue. However that’s pretty brittle and I don’t know if that would hold up.
Today though one of my pod members said, “why don’t you put a dab of sil-poxy underneath the scales? Semi-glue them to the neoprene, and if the knots come undone the scales won’t immediately start falling off with the line having to slide out through the glue.”
That to me sounds like an excellent idea—can anyone think of possible concerns if I were to literally glue each and every scale down as well as dabbing some on the knots? It seems to us so far that the fishing line isn’t snapping so much as the knots are all just coming undone, and we feel like gluing the scales down would cause less rubbing and tension on the line.
I‘ve seen lots of people reviewing the mythic and saying that it wasn’t worth it, save up for a full silicone... but my good friend and podmate Mermaid Paige has a full silicone, and after some good use silicone tails also need regular maintenance and patch-ups. For how absolutely beautiful and unique the mythic is, I’m willing to put in the effort. But I want to work smarter, not harder.
My other issue is drying. Being a neoprene tail with a silicone fluke, it needs to be very thoroughly dried, but I’m unsure of the best way to do it. I was looking into the type of stand that comes out of a wooden base, has a pipe go up, and then fork out to fit into the foot pockets. But when I went to measure the tail, I reached my hand in and realized that, of course, the Finis Foil inside doesn’t have totally enclosed pockets, and the toes are entirely open. A forked stand like I was thinking of would have the weight of the tail resting on the inner pocket of silicone in the fluke (seems like a really bad idea) or on the separator of the foot pockets in the monofin. It can’t just be a thin square-type top like the PVC tube stand linked to by the care thread on this forum—the silicone fluke is extremely heavy compared to the neoprene body.
So then I was thinking the J hooks, drilling them into the wall, but I’m kinda worried about how the neoprene is attached to the silicone. Will the weight of the body cause it to pull away from the silicone fluke??
And to top it all off, it has hip fins. They’re gorgeous and I’m in love but the very first time I went swimming with it, I tried to carry it over my shoulder in that classic Finfolk pose, and Mermaid Paige was quick to point out to me the stress that was putting on the hip fins. If I go the J hook route she suggested a towel bar to lay the hip fins over. But they can’t be allowed to hang loose upside down.
Finally, care. I thoroughly read the care and maintenance thread, but to my distress a lot of the products listed were for silicone tails or neoprene tails, and mine is both.
“Never use a silicone based lubricant on a silicone tail. Just the same, never use a petroleum based lubricant on latex or neoprene!”
Water based lube is an okay solution for that, but
“Tails made from lycra, neoprene, tin cure latex, and slip casting latex will degrade over time. Another thing you can do to help slow that process is to use a spray protectant. It will need to be reapplied every so often to maintain protection. We recommend McNett Silicone Spray Lubricant Protectant”
Ahhhh but I can’t use silicone spray on silicone!!
The tail is currently in the bathtub soaking in water and baking soda, (though I’m a little confused about if the soaking is necessary... isn’t an acid-base reaction pretty instant?) I’m hoping it can continue to soak overnight without damage so I can run out and get J hooks in the morning.
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