Force Fin Designs

[coldwaterlloyd]

Hey Bob , your photos take me back to the day when the Coz Waters were crystal clear with visual reversal ( 200 plus vis ) were common . Going back to the 80's and early 90's

Not long after Cruise ships invaded we watchd the vis drop every few years

Now there is so much particle in the water 100 foot vis is as good as it gets

Thanks again for posting , Lloyd

 

[Bob Evans]

Could go down a rabbit hole with posts on Sea Park concepts..just two drawings of what we can do, (1982 Bob Evans Designs Inc.) and soon will post The Spider Man Fins..

 

[Bob Evans]

Kicking back to the Ankel fin. Found better images on foot placement. The next fin model grew till using velcro around my ankel and under the foot. This was over 30 some years ago..then a few years ago I saw this swim fin for the Spider Man Movie...I pulled this model out of my collection to compaire..now we can kick into the next model of the Force Fin Design process.

 

[Bob Evans]

Well, took a break at Henrys Beach, Arroyo Burro State Beach, California and took a quick dip and found more on this ankel fin. Jimmy Gray, must have been on the week end.. We used art clay for the flange area. This flage area allowed us to clamp the mold halfs together with many screw inserts. I am happy to have the time to look over these times of history..wash you hands...Fiberglassing was glove time I must have used thousands of gloves over 30 + years..and mask up ..

 

[coldwaterlloyd]

Enjoying the history lesson , thanks man

 

[Bob Evans]

People walking around with masks, makes me feel at home...I wore a 3-m with filters NIOSH OV/CL/HC/SD/CD/P100. Every day glove up and mask up for at least 6-8 hours per day for over 27 years...I was so into this fin and every hour I could spend in the workshop. Back to the foot pocket and the next Force Fin. We operated in a clean room when it came to the tooling. Here you can see the open toe pocket and clay inside ready for the first layer of Black Gel coat. Several views of Force Fin in process..

 

[Bob Evans]

Working inside 28 Anacapa Street work shop was great, after working outside the building..but the dust from using a Dremel tool for hand shaping...all over the place. So with some Duck tape we connected a vacuum cleaner to the closest spot to collect some of the bondo dust. Once the master looked right we would Gel coat spray. Here Jimmy Gray had the honor.

 

[Bob Evans]

After spraying up the master it hung like a bat for a day. Then the hand sanding started, then layers and layers of wax/on ..wax-off. Then we had the fiberglass mold process, which was my part....

 

[Bob Evans]

Hanging today, looking over my portfolio of photographs, but a hanging Force fin and then me making the next mold..big things happened with this model..will share later today..hang in folks. Good thing so many of us are solo divers...or with a dive partner like Susanne.

 

[Bob Evans]

I forgot to tell how the Force Fin name happen. My friend at the time, Sydney DeFay listen to how the fin I was testing was Forceing it's self onto my foot, making the Velcro heel strap slip down. The harder I kicked the bigger the Force. So Sydney said you should call your fin " FORCE FIN " Thank you DeFay, you broke my heart ran off with a HollyWood Producer and had many kids...but in a calm Santa Cruz Island cove, she is jumping in with my Jet Fins aboard the Diving Vessel " Haik ". Wearing my Wetsuit design, white backside, black on front side..You can see in the right corner a red Ankel model to be tested...or I was about to learn a real lesson. The Foot Tells All – Force Fin