Fins Smell Terrible! Help!

[renecastro11]

Hey guys so I recently purchased some Oceanic Vortex V-12 split fins online. Got them at a great price and loved them my first day taking them out. It was my first time wearing split fins and I absolutely love them. Haven't tried any others but for the more than half of the price of the ScubaPro Twin Jets, I'm very happy with my V-12's. My only problem is that they smell awful! I'm currently a college student so I don't have a whole lot of storage space. I initially put them in my closet and a few hours later, my whole room smelled. I even put them in my trunk and somehow the smell creeps its way into the car. Will they slowly fade over time? Should I just leave them in the tub with water for a few days? I was wondering if any of you guys have had similar experiences and if there was anything you did to make the smell go away. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Are these brand new or used? What is the smell like? Was something spilled on them? Any type of rubber will smell when it's new. Throw em in the tub or shower with some nice smelling shampoo or better yet dishwashing liquid(lemon smell would likely be best) in the water and let em soak.

 

[renecastro11]

Yeah they were brand new. I dont think anything was spilled on them, they just smell like a type of rubber. I did notice when I got them there seemed to be a few smudges of what looked like petroleoum jelly although it came off after my first dive. Thats a good idea though, I'm gonna put them in some hot water with some lemon detergent and give them a good scrub and see if that does the trick. Thanks for the reply!

 

[bergersau]

Repeated soaking in salt water is the best solution...

 

[sphyrnidus]

That's because they are split fins. That is not allowed by the Scuba Police. So this is your punishment...

 

[renecastro11]

Just updating in case someone else runs into this same problem. I ended up soaking the fins in my bathtub for a couple hours with hot water and a multi-purpose cleaner (lemon scent), after which I gave them a good scrub. After I dried them off the smell had decreased although the fins still smelled a bit. I noticed that they still had a petroleum jelly type layer on them that wouldn't come off with the multi-purpose cleaner. Well if theres one thing I learned about all the upper division Chemistry courses I took in college is that "like-dissolves-like" so I grabbed an old rag and I began to rub liquid coconut oil on them. Not only did this make them look glossy and new without making them feel oily or greasy, but it completely got rid of the smell! Now they don't smell at all and if I smell them they have a light hint of coconut. Hopefully if someone runs into this problem it will work for them, I know it worked for me! Thanks for all the advice guys.