Installing blades in footpockets

    When installing carbon or fiberglass blades in footpockets, it's important that the blades go as deep as possible into the slot. If the blade doesn't go all the way in, there will be less support from the footpocket, and the blade angle may not line up with the footpocket angle. For this reason I take one of each footpocket, cut out the bottom exposing the slot, and make a template. I use these templates to reshape the back edge of Speardiver carbon blades if necessary, for optimal fit inside the footpockets. It's not difficult to reduce carbon and fiberglass with a belt sander, or a Dremel for finer details, once you have a feel for the material and the tools. I'm sure you'd be amazed if you could see inside footpockets, at how poorly blades from some manufacturers fit.



    When the slot shape is something ridiculous like the Salvimar footpockets, I don't use them.



    Here's a template with a carbon blade reshaped to match.



    This is a Speardiver C90 blade ready to install in an omer Millenium footpocket.



    These omer Millenium footpockets were brought to me with a broken Ice blade. I was going to keep the plastic blade to use instead of a paper template until I checked the fit. I was surprised to see that the original omer blade wasn't made to fit all the way back inside the footpocket. 0.5" probably doesn't make a discernable difference, but I can't help noticing these details.


    I love the cut away view.


    You are right, I am shocked. The lack of concern about maximizing the available force transfer areas is ridiculous. It is also amazing that no one has added a stiffer material to that area under the foot. Some thing that would really tighten the hold on the end.

    i like to spear fish

    You would be surprised the level of error in some of the omer fins and possibly other manufacturers. This past summer I was changing blades on a set of fins and when I was trying to put the blade in, no matter what I did, I could not get the stud to line up with the hole. I was so confused until I held the blade up to another one for comparison. I noticed the stud wasnt centered like it was supposed to be. I then went back to check the footpocket and the hole had been cut to fit the blade. Because of how far off the stud was it would not fit any other footpocket.


    It is pretty cool to see the cutaway of the different pockets.

    Hi Dan, very interesting post. Great cut away view.


    I am looking forward to change some glued footpockets from a carbon fins blades. Do you have any info or recommendations on how to remove them? I have a Moana blades glued to a Pathos footpockets that I am going to replace for new ones.


    Also have some questions after viewing this Tryons tutorial video:


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yA6Z--YGdg


    Great tutorial, just catch my attention two things that are different from other tutorials
    3:29 Transition reinforcements.
    3:45 Gluing the on the top in front of the toes area and also at the bottom where the heel is. It says it interferes bending curve and will cause damage.


    Could you help me out? Would like to know your opinion or comments. Thanks in advance.


    Carlos

    Hi Carlos,


    Successfully removing glued blades from Pathos foot pockets depends entirely on how they were installed. It doesn't take much glue to hold them in, so I apply glue as a line of dots instead of a solid bead. This allows me to later use a chisel to pry the foot pocket tendons from the blade. This way I'm able to salvage the blade and %90 of the time the foot pockets without damaging the tendons. If a lot of glue was applied, you will damage the tendons, chunks will tear out and remain bonded to the blade, making the foot pockets unusable.


    If you started to do this and tore the tendons, you may as well cut off the foot pocket with a box cutter. Then use the box cutter to cut and scrape the rubber/glue residue as close to the blade as possible, finishing with sanding and cleaning with acetone to prepare the blade for the next installation. You should always be able to salvage the blades.


    I don't believe than nonsense about not gluing the toe plate. And BTW Pathos foot pockets suck.

    Dan , its nice to see someone actually spend time and money on an aspect of their product that most may never see or think about. Props for going the extra mile bro. :thumbsup2:

    Be safe ... Happy hunting .

    Alright Dan, thanks for your help. I like the line of dots idea. Do you do the same in the toe - heel plate? how far away do you put the glue dots? Do you have any experience on moanas fitting into pathos? I was thinking to cut away the old pathos to check if it fits correctly on the back part of the footpocket.


    About Pathos, I read your post on Pathos footpockets and I was thinking on switching to Mares footpockets but Pathos customer service was truly out standing and they replace the older ones even when I wasnt the initial buyer (eventought I bought them basically new). Anyway, I believe in second chances, so I will give it a try.


    I know is a mix of personal opinion - preferences, type of blade - footpocket combination, and quality of the products, but in your opinion what are the best footpockets for a medium carbon blade?

    Dots are spaced about 0.5cm apart. Toe plate and heel the same way.


    I don't recommend Mares Razor foot pockets, the tendons are too soft and don't give a carbon blade enough support.


    All the foot pockets available from FreediveStore.com Foot Pockets for spearfishing & freediving fins have the right characteristics. The rest depends on how the foot pockets fit your foot shape/size. There's no way to know this until you try them on.

    Thanks Dan! I am all set to do the job.


    About the footpockets, I also have a couple of Omer Milleniums, do you think they fit the Moanas? Seems like they have a different angle.


    About fitting, I got a wide feet and the Omer Milleniums is the best footpocket fit I have found so far (beauchats, c4, mares, cressi, pathos). Pathos are fine for me too, just once they are heat molded.

    Quote from protenek

    About fitting, I got a wide feet and the Omer Milleniums is the best footpocket fit I have found so far (beauchats, c4, mares, cressi, pathos). Pathos are fine for me too, just once they are heat molded.


    Pathos are a bit "flat" for my foot and pinch the first knuckle on my 2nd and 3rd toes, especially on my right foot. I've heat moulded mine also but learned to keep the fins in the shade out on the boat. If you leave them in the sun, they will revert back to the original shape……as Dan warned me they would about a year ago.

    Just an update, this might help somebody in the future with the same situation. I just removed Moana M stiffness blades from previous Pathos Fireblade footpockets. At the begining I used a cutter to take most of the rubber and to break away the blade from the footpocket. I even make the cut away view in the heel to see if the blade goes all the way in. To finish the blades, I tried to use a dremel for sanding thinner layers of rubber and glue, but was kind of difficult for me to sand off just that and feel uncomfortable going all the way into carbon fiber. I end up going back to the cutter and doing it really carefully with head wearing magnifying glasses. I took me like two hours but got real satisfied with the results. Used some acetone to clean at the end.


    This is some feedback from what I have found so far:
    1. Taking apart glued footpockets and carbon blades are not for everyone. I tought the rubber would feel more elastic to cutting, but it was more like a extra hard rubber eraser. Needs some skills and time. If not that handy or dont have time, find somebody to do this job for you.
    2. The rubber was really really glued to the blade so I am sure that with a line of continous dots of glue is more than enough to keep the tendon in place like Dan stated. Not sure wich way to go, but if I am planning to reuse or change the footpockets soon, I would go for line of dots. Since not, I might go to continous line of glue for easyness.
    3. Moana blades were slightly different at the end part that seats on the back of the footpocket. One blade was 3 mm wider, not allowing to fit all the way to the end. The other one was perfectly matching the back of the footpocket. I would not notice or check out that part if it wasnt for this thread. I will sand off the blade to get it fit correctly.
    4. Blade was like 2 mm narrow each side compare to footpocket at the tendons beginning area. Not much I can do about that since I can not make the blade wider. I think is not ideal, but my impression is that is not a problem at all.
    5. Seems to me that blades and footpockets angles might not be alligned exactly. I will double check this when my new footpockets arrived all the way where I live. My guess is that both blades might need a couple of mm to sand of at the back to align correctly the blade and footpocket angles.
    6. Nail acetone does not remove thin rubber neither glue as I expected. Since surely clear off hand grease and dust, I guess is just to prepare surface to received new glue.
    I will try to post some pictures later on.
    Carlos

    What foot pockets are you going to put back? The Pathos or Omers? I'd be curious to see how the Omers work. They are comfortable to wear. But they do have a very thick tendon compared to the Pathos. Not sure how that will affect the Moana blade performance.

    3. Moana blades were slightly different at the end part that seats on the back of the footpocket. One blade was 3 mm wider, not allowing to fit all the way to the end. The other one was perfectly matching the back of the footpocket. I would not notice or check out that part if it wasnt for this thread. I will sand off the blade to get it fit correctly.

    Hi Dan, do you think Omer Milleniums are a good choice for the Moana blades?


    Quote from protenek

    I know is a mix of personal opinion - preferences, type of blade - footpocket combination, and quality of the products, but in your opinion what are the best footpockets for a medium carbon blade?

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member to leave a comment.

Register a new account
Sign in now