My $5 Thrift Store Monofin
Hello friends! Here's a tutorial for you all! Seeing as I am a brand new Merm, I didn't want to spend a ton of money on all the gear to start mermaiding and then decide that it's not for me (as I've heard happens more often than one would think). As an intro to mermaiding, I made my own monofin with a pair of regular swim fins that I got at my favorite thrift store for $5! The brand was "US Divers", and unfortunately for me, the sizing is different for each fin! I didn't realize they were different sizes because they were taped together with the soles facing eachother! Who sells fins that are two different sizes?? Oh well, I'll work around it with neoprene and foam inserts. Anyways, I'm sure the reason why you're here is to see the actual process, so here it is!
I began by trimming away one of the sides of the fin so that the inner side that would be combined was the raised edge on the fin using a regular exacto knife. The exacto worked for these, but if you find that the fins you are working with are not soft enough or too thick for an exacto knife, I recommend using a dremmel tool or other hand-held cutting tool.
And when you cut it, it looks like this! (Can you tell which is the bigger one?)
I then marked out the location on the raised edge that was wide enough, and drilled a hole in it using a regular power drill.
I then combined the two fins by using a screw and two nuts at the hole I drilled.
You can probably see it better here.
I also trimmed the bottom inner ends to give it a more natural fin shape
Finally I used "Locite" brand 2-part epoxy resin to glue the two sides together. One tip that I found helpful was to sand down the parts you want to glue to add tooth to the material, making the bond stronger. I used a dremel tool because it was fast and convenient, but I'm sure you can do this by hand as well.
(P.S. Excuse my feet lol)
And that's it!
Since I already had the tools, the epoxy, and the hardware, the only money I spent on it was the fins themselves! Yay! :D I have yet to try these out in the water, but I'm looking forward to it! (Right now the pool is swarmed with people due to spring break) If you try to make your own fin too, good luck to you! <3
