Spring straps, how tight?

[JohnB47]

I added OMS spring straps to a pair of ISI F1 fins. They are much tighter than the way I wear rubber straps. They are not uncomfortable with my 7mm boots, but they are much harder to put on and take off. I had asked the dealer (don't remember which online dealer I bought them from) what size to get, but I think I may have gotten a size too small.

 

[redacted]

I set up my straps to be just tight enough to not fall off of any of my booties. As long as the strap stays on the bootie, there should be no problem.

Some booties now have a lip on the heel to hold the spring (newer Henderson's). As long as you can get the spring in the groove and it stays there, it works great.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

I added OMS spring straps to a pair of ISI F1 fins. They are much tighter than the way I wear rubber straps. They are not uncomfortable with my 7mm boots, but they are much harder to put on and take off. I had asked the dealer (don't remember which online dealer I bought them from) what size to get, but I think I may have gotten a size too small.

It sounds like you got one size too small, but if you can live with them (not too tight once they are on) it probably is not worth the expense to change; or you could try selling them here, or on ebay....

In general, the strap just needs to be just tight enough so that it does not slip off the back of your bootie. Think very comfortably snug, not at all "tight". Sort of like your favorite old pair of shoes.

Best wishes.

 

[redacted]

If the springs are too short, they can be adjusted but there is no going back. Take a short section of the spring and stretch it out beyond its recovery capability and the spring will be a bit longer but should still work fine. If you can can disassemble and reattach the end connector, you can also shorten a spring. One nice thing about homemade spring straps is neither adjustment is a problem.

 

[scubafanatic]

Does this apply to Atomic's Splitfin Spring Straps as well? They don't seem to sell different sizes for those straps, so how would that work?

I was considering picking up a pair of them for my splitfins, but I didn't realize they would be looser than rubber straps...

While I switched over to the SS spring straps so long ago I scarcely even remember how tight the rubber straps felt back-in-the-day, I will say my Apollo Bio fin ones are definitely NOT loose, they are plenty tight and have never felt 'loose' such that I was ever remotely concerned there was slack in the system that would cause me to question their 'security'. I'm very anal about my gear 'perfection' so if there's anyone out there that would spot/jump on a product's design flaws/weaknesses it would definitely be me, and I vote 100 % for the Apollos, without hesitation!