Force Fin Designs

[Bob Evans]

Kind of hard to wrap myself around Force Fins after Sunday night. Santa Barbara city is becoming like Seattle. But Mark Moore was a fun person to work with. Around 1989, Huntington Beach, California . Spent alot of money with him..and he spent alot of money building a machine to pour our Force Fins. A big heat treating oven for after casting 16 hours heat treatment at 240. Mold clamping system and staff at his machine pouring liquid gold into my mold. In the end Mark and I decided it was not going to work out. Our Force Fin production cost him to much and could do less with other products and make more money. We are very luckly to have our plant in Pennsylvania, but pay a very high price to keep Force Fins rolling out the door. Why Force Fins Are Made In U.S.A. – Force Fin

 

[Bob Evans]

Finding so many interesting drawings made. This one was for the OPS.

 

[Bob Evans]

Susanne and traveled back to Gastonia, North Carolina to visit Uniroyal Chemical. We were using over 100,000 pounds of their PolyUrethane. In fact their Chemist Dr. Sone made our special formulation RB-895 I knew to make the best fins you need the best materials. Dick Amderson told me in 1973 to try Urethane from Hastings Plastic in Santa Monica.Why Force Fins Are Made In U.S.A. – Force Fin

 

[Bob Evans]

We had a problem when we entered the Market. So many major obstacles like sales reps telling Dive Shop not to carry Force Fins. Scuba diving certification agencies telling students some one drown in our fins,,and more and more FAKE stuff. When Sharper Image did over $900,000 in Force Fin sales, I knew my product was a winner. Sharper Image catalog was one of the first to offer a money back Guarantee. We had less than 1 percent return rate. Mostly sizing issues. So when Performance Diver mail order wanted to sell Force Fin Products we said, yes. Money back if not happy, few returns.. Did that make many people mad. We jumped over the wall to Freedom and sales. Our relationship was special even to the point of traveling back to their headquarters. Mike Curry gave us the tour and still friends today.

 

[Bob Evans]

When we received the DEMA award on the First Split fin ( I coined the name) it sent waves rolling. When I quickly left our booth for the restroom. people saw a Engineer from a Japan company quickly came over and took a measurement on the Force Fin Split...Then one year later they come out with their Split fin and guess what? The measurement was the same as ours. I thought this was funny, like I knew what I was doing.? At the same time the Zeagle rep group handled Force Fin sales for many years. A great group till things went soft with sales and then I understood why months later. They had also been sold a bill of goods..but that's another story to tell down the stream Body Language tells all..shocked!!!!

 

[Bob Evans]

1998 Max checking in Whiskers. Seems like so long ago, but the Extra Force Fin is a real beauty. EXTRA FORCE FIN – Force Fin

 

[Bob Evans]

Hanging out in our kitchen window pouring Paster of Paris into fabric rods. Working out the shape to area sewn. We were able to come to the right distances. So tonight w hang out with the Fab Force Development.

 

[Bob Evans]

Once we had the right shape for the ROD, we went to our local production guy, Bill .Santa Barbara. Far right is Robert Flores my personial assistant. Robert is another great story. I love this Kid, now helping me for over 34 years now. Jose in the middle was a artist and filled up our ROD( colors, black,blue,red,blue) with cast polyurethane. The bold to fabric was the key to a new patent, and that's another story. But for now.

 

[Bob Evans]

The cast Rods came home. Then Susanne went to sew the rods to the foot pocket and blades. Here you see a very young Adrian Martinez. Adrian has made our Force Fin straps for over 20years now, Ventura California

 

[JMBL]

Scuba diving certification agencies telling students some one drown in our fins,,and more and more FAKE stuff.

What ???!!! Seems incredible. Disparaging, talking trash and telling b....... is just usual, but telling you'll drown ??? How can an instructor relay such cr.. !!!

Since I've been diving my Force Fin Pros, I've heard many questions, many false statements from people without experience but knowing everything better than anybody else, but nothing as bad as that.

As far as I context is concerned, here in France, Force Fins are more than unusual, more unheard of, alas. I fear we're shy about new diving stuff (mixed gas, rebreathers, wings...) . Only met British and German divers using Force Fins. Know only one other frenchy to use them besides me.