Posts by Dan

  • Fort Lauderdale beach dive May 13, 2021

    Had a late start so only spent 3 hours in the water. Conditions were ideal. The mutton is 20", saw another bigger one right at the end of the dive but missed with a hail mary shot , he moved off as soon as I dove ughh. This week is going to be rough so I'll just live with that memory for a while :)




  • Titanium knife for spearfishing is it a good choice?

    Is a Titanium knife better than a stainless steel knife for spearfishing and diving?


    Titanium knife pros: The biggest pro for titanium knives is that they are more corrosion resistant than steel, but not so much than good stainless steel. This is useful for divers, who will carry the knife of long periods of time in highly corrosive ocean water. Another pro is that titanium is lighter than steel. Reducing weight can help reduce strain during knife use. It is also good for applications where every ounce is important such as backpacking. Titanium is also harder. This makes it less likely to ding and dent during use or storage.


    Titanium knife cons: Titanium is significantly more expensive than stainless steel. It is a rarer metal, and the price shows it. For those concerned about price or value, this might be a deal breaker. While harder, titanium is more brittle than steel. This means it is more likely to break. A titanium knife will not be good for prying or anything that will put sheer force on the blade. It also does not keep an edge as well as steel and will need to be sharpened more often.


    One of the main uses I put the spearfishing knife to is free a shaft that get stuck in the reef. I use the knife to jab and chip the hard coral rock around the tip of the shaft to make more space for the flopper to be extracted. The knife blade cannot be brittle for this task. For this reason alone I would not choose a Titanium knife for my kit. A good spearfishing knife is the Speardiver Skene Spearfishing Knife, it's low profile, single piece stainless steel that's very hard, durable and maintains an edge.

  • Salvimar shafts

    The old Salvimar shafts were no good because the wire tabs would not hold the wishbones, the bands would slip off the rounded wire tabs.


    Old Salvimar shaft with poorly designed wire tabs


    In contrast the new (2020) Salvimar Pacific shafts, available from www.Spearfishing.store, are very nice. The sharkfin tabs are strong, hold the wishbone well, have a spacious hole in each tab including the rest tab, and are aesthetically pleasing. They are hard (17-4PH stainless steel) and bend resistant. The flopper is heavy duty 3" long, positioned on the bottom of the shaft. I prefer the flopper on the bottom, if on the top it pops up when aiming the speargun at a downward angle blocking the fish/target from view.




  • Speardiver vs. Mako wetsuit

    Welcome to the forum Ben.


    The ankle, wrist, and face seal you mentioned, I'm assuming you got this idea from "the best/the worst " marketing image from the Mako link you posted. That shit made me laugh. Anyone who uses open cell suits can tell you the sealing effect comes from the interior open cell neoprene that's properly fitted. And the "seal" happens throughout the wetsuit not just at the openings.

    Further, If the exterior black parts of the mako suit in those high contact areas is smooth skin, then that's bad because smooth skin is very sensitive to tears. It's a must to have durable Lycra material on the exterior protecting those areas. If the black exterior parts are Lycra lined neoprene (which I doubt, mako probably uses cheaper less stretchy nylon) then it's marketing ploy, implying it's proof of a better seal. I don't like those mind games (typical mako/Dano), and I don't like the aesthetic of black termination on the sleeves, ankles and hood. A camo suit is a camo suit.


    To me personally the knife pocket on the mako suit is a bad feature. First it assumes placement for the knife on the thigh. Most divers put the knife on the belt or calf (always inner calf to prevent entanglement). Second, there's no way it will correctly accommodate the variety of knives/sizes divers are using, and the different ways the knives are secured in the sheath (think accessibility in moments of emergency) . Third, taking out and replacing the knife puts repetitive stress on the stitching of the knife pocket and the open cell neoprene in that area, it will cause it to fail prematurely. Fourth, I'm pretty sure you'll poke the suit at some point replacing the knife in the suit.


    On the surface these are added value features but in reality it's just a mess. Like snorkels with purge valves and dry systems. I had to comment on the obvious, I'll let others speak to the real world usability of the Mako suits.


    Here's a link to Speardiver wetsuit reviews if you haven't seen it already.