South Florida Bluewater Build.

    Yeah Im getting excited. Even the bandholes and handle recess made me really start to feel like it was a gun. Cant wait to do the roundovers when I get home from work. Then I just need need to figure out ballasting. Coat it. Rig it. And shoot it.


    Anyone know if I should I rig and load the gun when I balance it to get proper front/back distribution of weight? Is it okay to ballast it before epoxy?

    I like Josh, but I would never make a vid showing the cocking of a gun out of water.

    I trim them without the bands, if I use metal wishbones I cable tie them on top of the barrel back where they live cocked.


    If your doing it from a dock, tie a string to the gun so you don't have to dive under the dock to the muck to find it. You can trim it with bare teak, just fresh water rinse it and wash down with acetone before you top coat it.


    You can mirco trim it later after the loaded bands and epoxy, when the bands are cocked the air hole inside the rubber necks down and any positive buoyancy is distributed evenly along the top of the barrel.


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

    Edited once, last by Don Paul: typo ().

    Thanks for the tips don. I guess for a bluewater gun I want it to slightly float shaft in.


    Did a round over and shaped the muzzle. Was planning a larger roundover for the top but I like the symmetry.


    It's incredible how much of a difference the round-over makes. I did mine after I applied the epoxy but the epoxy wont make much of a difference. It will add a little weight but wont affect the trim.


    Looks good. Now for the frustrating part lol.

    hey Reef , i just had a quick question . with your router table were you able to cut the band slot all the way through or did you have to flip the wood over and cut it from both sides? my bur was too short so i had to flip mine and ended up with a small step inside the band slot.:)

    Be safe ... Happy hunting .

    Quote from tufual

    hey Reef , i just had a quick question . with your router table were you able to cut the band slot all the way through or did you have to flip the wood over and cut it from both sides? my bur was too short so i had to flip mine and ended up with a small step inside the band slot.:)


    I actually used a 9/16 bit in the drill press and drilled from both sides. Then a file and chisel to clean it out. Too scared of tear out to go all the way through though. And rather not to a plunge that deep on the router.


    Thanks. I took a lot of ceramics classes in high school lol. Check out ray villafane I saw him do it a few years back and took a stab at it.

    Been a little busy so haven't been able to work on the gun for a few but got back to it yesterday. I figure the rubber is gonna make a big difference to ballasting so id better put the butt and bands on. I went to work crafting a butt on the bench grinder. It was pretty hard but I managed a pretty uniform square piece with a slight taper and and a nice bevel. I have more pieces so I may try again now that I have my technique down. Id like it to have a bit less of a taper. But it still looks good I think.


    you can use good ole duct tape to hold it on while you test ballast but it wont make a "huge" difference. Out of curiosity how were you planning on attaching it?

    Quote from Wishihadgills

    you can use good ole duct tape to hold it on while you test ballast but it wont make a "huge" difference. Out of curiosity how were you planning on attaching it?


    Yeah gonna duct tape everything on take it to ocean and tape on lead till it sinks.


    Thinking about two screws with countersinks and washers woodguy also mentions a good adhesive that sticks to the SBR. Epoxy Is apparently worthless on it.

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