Footpocket weight and sizing

    Quote from Dan

    Could you explain this please? What kind of blades won't fit?


    Hard to explain without pictures, but I'll try.


    The tendons of the Beuchats have the standard "T" groove; however, the groove is much narrower. Tried to fit C4 Falcon, Mat Mas fiberglass, & Waterway blades in there with limited success. Even with the normal process of bending the tendon backwards to seat the blade mini-rails, the process is difficult at best.


    The blades themselves are slightly different as well, with the tongue (portion past bend that goes into pocket) being longer than standard. This is good as it provides more rigidity and power transfer. It's bad, since aftermarket blades can't seat all the way in, or the blade's bend will not coincide with the pocket's bend.


    Last thing - since the tendons are more flexible, they don't create a perceived bend like Omer/Sporasub pockets. As you know, when you put a straight blade like Waterway in those, the hard rails give an angle between footpocket and angle. When you put a straight blade in the beuchat pockets, they stay relatively straight inline.



    I like the Beuchats, but with rising prices and a new US distributor adding an extra layer of cost... looks like I might have to find an alternative. :angry5:

    So which blades do fit in Beuchat pockets? I suppose the obvious answer is Beuchat blades but I've never seen those. What's different about their rails? We're in the process of having rails manufactured. I've seen the rail solutions out there and I don't like most of them. The best rails I've found are actually the waterway and those are the ones we're modeling them after. If the waterway rails don't fit in the Beuchat tendons I don't know what will. The rails on the DiveR are OK too but they don't have water channeling rails.

    Quote from Dan

    So which blades do fit in Beuchat pockets? I suppose the obvious answer is Beuchat blades but I've never seen those. What's different about their rails? We're in the process of having rails manufactured. I've seen the rail solutions out there and I don't like most of them. The best rails I've found are actually the waterway and those are the ones we're modeling them after. If the waterway rails don't fit in the Beuchat tendons I don't know what will. The rails on the DiveR are OK too but they don't have water channeling rails.



    I'm assuming you're talking about the small rails for the footpockets, not the tip rails. Correct me if I'm wrong.




    Nothing fits well. Some fit okay with a lot of coersion.


    There are no add-on rails on the carbon blades. It's more of a long raised bead of expoxy on each side of blade. This takes the place of the normal tabbed protrusions on t-shaped rails.


    It'll be easier to explain with pictures - sometime this week, I'll take the fins back out and snap some images.




    As for tip rails - carbons have flat (non water-channeling) rails. The surface of the blade has mini channels like omer milleniums for water channeling. The fibres have the same design, but also have water-chanelling rails. Have access to a ton of good rail material, so I'm debatint whether to add some on to the carbons. My only concern is the trade-off betwen dampening the responsiveness of the CF and water flow spilling over the sides.


    Carbone
    http://www.beuchat.fr/catalogue/index.cfm?action=voir_produit&scat=27&idp=155&a=2


    Fibra
    http://www.beuchat.fr/catalogue/index.cfm?action=voir_produit&scat=27&idp=480&a=2

    Edited 2 times, last by fuzz ().

    Any information on Imersion footpockets? I wish someone had a pair of these to explain the difference between the imersion vs any other footpocket on the market right now. I couldn't find a lot of information on them on the internet as far as weight goes. Just curious that's all.

    The Imersion's are very soft and comfortable and the blades must be glued to secure them, I have used them with a set of Dive R's and they were very comfortable but a little soft in my opinion I think the Mares are better or the new Omer's if your feet are not wide.

    Quote from Dan

    Water channeling begins at the footpocket with conventional footpockets, so the effect is increased. Water channeling is important for stabilizing the fin.


    Considering the speed (or lack of) that we humans swim, I imagine the difference in water channeling effect between these two designs is negligible. (does that sound engineer-ish?)

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