Hey all,
I got my spring straps (12") from the aforementioned online outfitters, and had them on fairly quickly. Spread the steel wire clips with a set of vise grips and then pinched them together again after I threaded them through the rubber, with my HUGE (even Texas Mike would think these are rather large) pair of channel locks. Took all of five, maybe ten minutes (no tool throwing allowed in my workshop) to complete the process.
The kicker (pun intended) was in the plastic harness that was pinned into the fin, which the straps click into. The bottom pivot had cracked all the way through, and the top had cracked half way. I was about to lose half of a $180 pair of fins, and I hadn't even realised it! This is the second time I have gone to do an "upgrade" to my equipment only to find that the old stuff (but still far less than a year old) was going south.
The second kicker is that these are sooooooooo much easier to put on. I have 4 degenerated discs in my spine, so I have very limited motility when I am trying to put on fins/booties etc. I always had to fight to keep the &*%%$*# straps out of the foot pocket. Not a problem with the springs. Very slick indeed. Thanks guys 'n gals for directing me to a GREAT solution for several fin related problems!!! I will get to test them in the wa-wa tomorrow morning as I will do a mile swim with them (after I do a mile barefooted).
I got my spring straps (12") from the aforementioned online outfitters, and had them on fairly quickly. Spread the steel wire clips with a set of vise grips and then pinched them together again after I threaded them through the rubber, with my HUGE (even Texas Mike would think these are rather large) pair of channel locks. Took all of five, maybe ten minutes (no tool throwing allowed in my workshop) to complete the process.
The kicker (pun intended) was in the plastic harness that was pinned into the fin, which the straps click into. The bottom pivot had cracked all the way through, and the top had cracked half way. I was about to lose half of a $180 pair of fins, and I hadn't even realised it! This is the second time I have gone to do an "upgrade" to my equipment only to find that the old stuff (but still far less than a year old) was going south.
The second kicker is that these are sooooooooo much easier to put on. I have 4 degenerated discs in my spine, so I have very limited motility when I am trying to put on fins/booties etc. I always had to fight to keep the &*%%$*# straps out of the foot pocket. Not a problem with the springs. Very slick indeed. Thanks guys 'n gals for directing me to a GREAT solution for several fin related problems!!! I will get to test them in the wa-wa tomorrow morning as I will do a mile swim with them (after I do a mile barefooted).
