Have you ever wanted to stiffen your fins? Well, the Wonderstik R/D department has come up with a way to do just that! Keep in mind that for fins (as well as any other piece of equipment used for underwater hockey), there should not be anything rigid, metallic or sharp that could injure a fellow player.
The R/D team started experimenting by first cutting out very thin, foot shaped sheets of aluminum, fiberglass and stainless steel. Then, these footprints were "bonded" to the underside of a set of fins using a special adhesive and then coated completely with a soft rubberized compound. In the water, the boost in swimming speed and power was significant. However, this option was deemed unsuitable, should the adhesive separate or the coating compound wear away, thus exposing the plate within, which could injure someone. In addition, there was the added difficulty of implementing this modification to the user's fins. They would have to either come to San Diego or ship their fins here to get the modification accomplished. It was just not economically or marketably feasible.
Once the plates were removed, the underside of the fins were smoothed over with more of the soft rubberized compound. Laterm when these fins were tested in the water, they were found to be remarkably stiffer than the original fins, with comparable results to the bonded plate versions. It was apparent that this technique provides sufficient stiffness without any sharp metallic items. Furthermore, the soft rubberized compound could be shipped and the user can apply the compound themselves, without having to come to San Diego or ship their fins here.
A side benefit of this compound is that it can be used to repair tears in fins and thereby extend the life of your favorite fins. By embedding fiberglass cloth in with the compound, it can be applied to provide an extremely strong repair in areas such as the toe or heel parts of the fin.
Therefore, the Wstik R/D team is offering for sale, this soft rubberized coating, which goes by the name of Eclectic, E6000. This product is commonly known as Shoe-goo or Goop, but E6000 is the higher quality, industrial version. Click on the Wonderordering page at the left, to get pricing and shipping information.
Finally, if you don't want to go through the hassle of bonding onto the underside of your fins and you have sufficient room inside the foot pocket, you may want to purchase finserts instead. Click on the Finserts link to the left of this text.
