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fin blade materials

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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noa

Well-Known Member
Oct 17, 2003
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There is something i don't understand. lots of people rave about the efficiency of fiberglass Waterway fins (they say fiberplastic wich i think is a fancy word for "old technology") , even over carbon fiber fins. to start somewhere else, i've windsurfed for a long time and back in the eighties masts for the sails where made from fiberglass. latter on technology progressed and they became carbon bringing a huge leap in performance. same goes with so many other domains, when it becomes hight tech it's made of carbon fiber. as far as i know carbon fiber is very light, stiff, and most important for us, when bent it returns to it's original position very fast. i've seen monofin blades in the following scenario; two blades of identical size, shape, stifness. one in fiberglass and the other in carbon fiber and the carbon always had faster recovery in all tests when bent to various degrees. this obviously means more populsion in the water due to a higher "whip" factor. so, in the end when it comes down to materials i think carbon fiber (of course when it is used corectly) would be the choice for best performance. thanks for your opinions and additional info...
delphicly, Noa
 
I agree Noah!

The problem is that there is few fins at all that in my opinion has the right stiffness. One can't compare two fins with different material if they havn't got the same stiffness.

Most important is stiffness; when this is right, further improvement can be made by material. Important factors is the amount of epoxy and how the laminates are layed.
 
I have finally got a fin (made of carbon) that have a very good stiffness and this has really given me a boost in my CW diving. The ascent speed is 1.3-1.35m/s compared to ~1.15m/s with my earlier fins.
My CW dives are all very similar (if I use the same fin) and thats why ascent speed is a good measurement.

With this fin all my dives have been very easy and even if I was really bloodshifted before the dive I got very little lactic acid in my legs. Normally my legs are full of lactic acid on a 50m+ dive.
 
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Well Peter i'm happy to see we agree. yes, the amount of resin and it's quality are super important in the manufacturing process, but all other things being equal, carbon fiber (again of the right quality and weight) is a superior material. delphicly, Noa
 
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