I recently installed carbon blades in Beuchat Mundial foot pockets, price: $55 from FreediveStore.com https://spearfishing.store/foo…mundial-foot-pockets.html. I had my doubts on whether this could be done because of previous information. It turns out that the Beuchat foot pockets do have T slots inside the tendons to accept the blade rails. But the T slot is so shallow that it will not accommodate conventional footpocket rails. The Beuchat foot pockets are the first ones that I see with this problem, and initially I thought that blades will have to be glued in. The other problem is that the material of the Beuchat footpockets tendons is plastic like and will not hold glue. This left modifying the rails as the only option.
I did this in two parts. First reducing the height of the rais T arms by cutting with a sharp blade, using a thin piece of metal as a guide. The thickness of this piece of metal will be the height of the T arms as the blade runs along it's surface. After doing both arms I reduced the width of of the rail by running it against a belt sander. Working on the first rail I reduced it in stages until it fit well into the tendon. The resulting rail was very small, but the foot pocket tendons hold on to it well.
The Beuchat fin assembly kit gives the installation the final security. Normally I don't like drilling into carbon blades for obvious reasons. But the screws of the Beuchat assembly kit have a very small diameter. The holding power comes from the evenly distributed pressure of the bottom mounting plate. The screw heads don't even come in contact with the blade. This mounting plate is even angled, which is great because the screw holes are very close to the blade toe angle, and the angled plate matches this angle and distributes the pressure of the plate very evenly. I tried to show this in one of the pics.
Overall I think this installation is clean and secure, but requires quite a bit more work. Going forward I would have to charge an installation fee.
The Beuchat foot pockets are indeed suitable for a narrow foot only. These pockets were a size larger than the ones I take, my toes were quite a bit back from the toe opening, and already I could feel pressure from the sides of the pocket. If the pocket were to be my size (by length) it would for sure be too narrow for comfort.
The Beuchat foot pockets are well made. There are two different stiffness materials used in the construction. A harder plastic like material for the bottom and tendons, and a soft comfortable rubber for the pocket. Too bad these foot pockets are not sized for the average foot and don't have deeper T slots.
1. Overall construction - Good.
2. Fit - For narrow feet only.
3. Pocket Softness - Good.
4. Tendon accepts blades - Not good, rubber blade rails must be modified. Tendon plastic like material will not glue.
5. Tendon stiffness - Good, moderate stiffness, offering good support for the carbon blade without negatively affecting its flex pattern.
6. Bottom stiffness - Good, harder plastic like bottom provided good power transfer from leg to blade, and prevents the back edge of the blade from poking through the sole.
7. Overall stiffness - Good, bumps up the stiffness of the blade a little but I consider the resulting combination with a medium blade to still be a medium fin.
8. Weight - Good, average weight. Size 45-46 (actual size length 12 width 10) 684g (1lb 8oz)
