Getting The Mono To Dahab !

[yoda turtle]

Ok, so here's the thing. Do i take it hand luggage (Ha Ha!)
or do i put it in the hold . Its my pride and joy so It can,t get damage. How should I pack it up for safe transport. I would really appreciate some good advice on this guys.

[DivingDane]

Hi

met a guy the other day traveling from new zealand to Australia, he had a piece of cardboard covering the edge of the mono blade with 2 lengths of thin aliminium plate on either side to prevent excessive bending, then wrapped the mono in bubble wrap and then into his mono bag, he had travelled with it a fair bit and the fin was still immaculate (Leader Carbon) so if you have a fibreglass blade it will be even more robust, (could also maybe but the fin into a cardboard box after adding the metal strips and bubble wrap.

just my 2c worth. havent tried it yet, mono is still on the way, grrrr!

DD

[monkeyhatfork]

if you look in the monofin section there was a recent thread of mono bags, I put up some pics of a hard case I built for airline travel, check it out, cheap to make

[yoda turtle]

Thanks guys ,these were both really helpful replies.

[BennyB]

I remember landing at Nice once, looking out the airplane window waiting to disembark and seeing my monofin bag, with Fragile stickers over it, being frisbied into the suitcase trolley then having a suitcase thrown on top of it


It depends on your monofin bag. I have a bag that Howard Jones used to make years ago, tough silver material (same as the surfboard bags) - great for around London but you can't fit much padding in it. So I concentrate on covering the corners with lots of cardboard (if the bag bends it'll bend at the corners), then cram it into the mono bag, then stick in some 1-2 inch thick styrofoam along the bottom edge of the mono, both top and bottom sides, then stick in as much cardboard, bubble wrap and styrofoam as it'll fit in before zipping it shut. It's an incredibly tight fit and I always struggle to repack it when I have to leave but so far (touch wood) it's got me to plenty of places around the world.

The main thing to think of, is that they'll throw it around (so protect edges), they'll throw things on top of it (so pad out top and bottom) and they'll throw sharp edges on it, like wheels of other bags and handles etc (so pad it out enough so that there's no surface touching the bag itself.

The footpockets are usually ok to leave unwrapped as they're only rubber.

If you have a bigger bag such as a Waterways or Leaderfins bag then I used to put styrofoam all around the top and bottom of the blade, bubble wrap it all, place cardboard over the top and bottom of the blade then tape it all up very tight.

Make sure you take some packing tape with you on your holiday too, so you can do it all up again at the end!

The mono's can take a bit of bend at the end, but it's the edges you really need to protect and the chance of puncture from a wayward suitcase and/or baggage handler.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Ben

[yoda turtle]

Thanks for that Ben, I got a waterways bag so there is a bit of room. will follow your advice! got about three weeks to go so will do some packing experimentation Don't you just love luggage handlers .
cheers.

[ReefTroll]

The word fragile seems to say "See if you can break me" in baggage-handler dialect...

[immerlustig]

hi,

i always take my precious and often bulky stuff in handluggage. it sometimes requires and explanation but i always get on the plane no problem.

roland

[BennyB]

I've always wanted to do that but the monofin is too bulky with it's bag and protection to take onboard, the risk is if I take the padding out and at check-in they don't let me take it on as hand luggage then my mono is protection-less and getting put into hold luggage. All a bit too stressful really!

[yoda turtle]

Hey ben, Well I did a practise pack up of the mono and I think I have it sorted .... so going to send it bomb proof stylie in the hold...hahaha I know this is risky but I like to think I live life on the edge. I see sanso is Now installed in Dahab now. Me I am just counting the days till I can get into the blue.