Trival question, I think...

[Rick Inman]

Just bought a pair of Atomic Splitfins, and the directions say to always store them with the plactic inserts in. Of course, I already tossed them (hour drive away) before I read the directions. So my question is, does ANYONE store their fins with those plastic inserts???

 

[Wendy]

But if you want some you can have mine, I'll mail them to you. I guess they are supposed to just keep the shape of your foot pocket. But I don't crush my fins under a bunch of other gear.

You know what's funny, is watching new divers put their fins on and not realize they still have those plastic things in the fins. lol

 

[hodgson]

I threw my inserts away too.... but I wear boots. So I figure shoving my foot into the fin with boots on will straighten them out... so what if they are a little scrunched before I slide my foot in. :wacko:

 

[paulwlee]

I've been storing my fins without the inserts for the past 3 years, and I haven't had a problem. I do store my fins upside down because of the slight downward angle makes that more natural.
The heaviest weight that my fins were subject to were two regulators and mask, knife, etc.

I did hear a story on SB recently where a foot pocket was deformed while on storage.

 

[Charlie99]

Wendy once bubbled...
You know what's funny, is watching new divers put their fins on and not realize they still have those plastic things in the fins. lol

Until you mentioned that, I'd conveniently forgotten about the dive where my fins felt kind of funny . My buddies thought I'd gone over the bend when I suddenly cracked up with laughter when we got back to shore and I found the inserts still in my fins.

It's nice to know that others have done it too =-)

I still bring the inserts along on trips, but rather than wear them on dives, I stick them into my floppy 3mm boots after each days dives, in an attempt to better dry the boots and delay the onset of the dreaded stinky boot.

 

[Bigbird]

I only use the inserts when my fins are going on a plane for an extended period of time. If I have control of my gear, I don't worry about it.

Personally I think swimming with your inserts in makes it more of a challenge. lol

 

[Clutchcargo]

I tossed the inserts for my old Mares Power Plana Fins and the foot pockets caved in after a couple of years. It made it a little more difficult to don the fins. I now use the inserts with my Atomic split fins for storage (basically Mon-Fri).