Atomic spring straps

[LI Diver]

Hello, I have had your smoke on the water fins for a few years now and I have an issue with the spring straps. When I take them off in the water either hanging on a line or standing in the water on a shore dive about 20% of the time the quick latch comes off of the fin post. It has something to do with the little levers brushing up against my bootie when I pivot the strap off the back of my foot. It has happened from day one and I brought them back to where I bought them and supposedly they sent them back to you guys for review and returned them saying I was crazy. (ok not in so many words) Now I may be crazy but not in this instance It can be reproduced out of the water but seems to happen more often in the water. Maybe the wet booty has more friction? Or just the angle of my leg when wearing full gear I dont know. I would be fine with the same Atomic spring straps I have on my non Atomic fins As I dont really see the need for these clips. I like to put my hands through the straps when climbing the boat ladder also when they disconnect I neary lost a fin on a couple occassions. What can I do I really like the boots but I have thought of changing to different ones or it maybe just the width of my feet and changing the boots wont matter. I do have wide feet possibly this causes the levers to brush the boot more readily. Help please.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Sounds like you can either change your boots, change your fins, change your spring straps, or modify the SOTWs' spring strap latching mechanisms. I own a pair of SOTWs and have a hard time getting my head around how much the boot must be squashing outwards to catch those clips.

 

[LI Diver]

Sounds like you can either change your boots, change your fins, change your spring straps, or modify the SOTWs' spring strap latching mechanisms. I own a pair of SOTWs and have a hard time getting my head around how much the boot must be squashing outwards to catch those clips.

Boots are not squashing outward, when you pull on the spring straps they naturally narrow as a matter of geometry then you rotate them back off your heel, of course unless you are double jointed you bend your knee and put one foot in front of the other therefore you are really pulling off center so one buckle or latch is being forced closer to the foot then the other. This may be where the contact comes into play. Actually now that I think about it it might be the next motion where I use the spring strap to pull the fin off my foot that does the "unlatching" . If I let go of the strap and grab the fin it may not happen but I am not flexible enough to do that and why let go of the strap if you already are holding it and holding boat ladder or rope with other hand. I have several other spring straps on my other fins and never had an issue except for these. The universal atomics for other mfr fins work great.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

I always grabbed the pull thingy at the back of the AA spring strap, pulled out a bit and down to clear the strap off the heel, and then let go of the pull thingy and grabbed the front of the fin to pull it off. Though I haven't used the SOTWs in a year or two, and my current spring straps (halcyon for jets) are bolted onto the fin so this isn't really an issue.

 

[LI Diver]

I may try that A: I just dont want to lose a fin by not having a grip on it and B: I dont know if I can reach that far due to my body geometry. I have xs scuba spring straps that I may try on them but I believe the atomic fin post might be too small for them. It's just that I payed a lot of money for these fins and I shouldn't have any issues.

 

[buddhasummer]

I may try that A: I just dont want to lose a fin by not having a grip on it and B: I dont know if I can reach that far due to my body geometry. I have xs scuba spring straps that I may try on them but I believe the atomic fin post might be too small for them. It's just that I payed a lot of money for these fins and I shouldn't have any issues.

My XS string straps came with old school attachments and both large and small post attachments.