Posts by Dan

  • Annoying News

    If I were you I wouldn't tell them what you're doing, and as long as it's laps just do it. Be smart about it and don't black out. A factor that could be of importance is whether you use fins or not. Fins would draw unwanted attention and could get you thrown out. The question is whether swimming underwater using the breast stroke / frog kick style, is as beneficial training as doing it with fins. But the bigger question is whether pool training is at all beneficial for spearfishing. Personally I think not.


    BTW what you posted here is not new to me, I heard it before. And what they told you about someone blacking out and dying in a pool nearby is probably BS. They probably pulled that information from the internet. It's their regular excuse.


    PFI, FII etc. regularly hold courses in pools. I wonder what kind of "paperwork" they provide that means anything to pool management. Maybe proof of insurance is indeed all that's required.

  • Car dealer fee scam

    "business is war", "business and friendship, oil and water" etc. But if you expect to be treated like a friend you should reciprocate. A seller has a family and must make a living too. So the deal should be, as a good friend of mine often says, a win-win situation. My problem is specific to cars being misrepresented IMO as far as the price.


    We ended up buying a 2008 Dodge grand caravan, from a used car dealer. I did make sure there was no dealer fee on the phone before going to see the car. When we sat down to make the payment the dealer tried to tack it on anyways, and I had to remind him of our phone conversation.


    For a 2008 the car was dirty as hell with dings here and there, but I can see through that. In it's favor it was being used by the dealer's wife driving their seven kids around. This was true as I had to wait for her to arrive, unload the kids, and later take all the kids stuff out of the vehicle.


    I didn't haggle much because I hate that shit. All I said was the price doesn't reflect the condition of the car, and to give me his best price and I'll think about it. The dealer offered $1500 less, I said ok provided he clean the car real good. He promised to make it like new when we pick it up Monday. When we returned Monday the car was not detailed. I hated that because I knew my wife will clean it herself, but we needed the car so we took it as is. At least it runs good and looks good after a thorough cleaning. I would've preferred to buy private for a better price and buying experience, but could not find one of these cars for sale privately. There were many sold by dealers and without exception all had 100k + on them.

  • Speardiver trigger mechanisms for mono line

    Two new speargun trigger mechanisms have been added to the Speardiver lineup, top line release mono, and reverse mono. These mechs are wider than the conventional top line release and reverse mechs, to allow use of Euro shafts with the shooting line attached at the back (including 400lb mono and 1/16" coated SS cable). Rigging the shooting line at the back of the shaft is particularly useful when shooting into holes or wrecks, to prevent the back of the shaft from catching on structure and impeding extraction. Now available from FreediveStore.com.


    Features:

    • Compatible with all standard round notch euro shafts, including South African carbon steel shafts like Rob Allen.
    • Automatic resetting line release. When the spear engages the trigger mechanism the line relase arm moves to the locked position.
    • Quiet firing.
    • 316 grade stainless steel, 2mm thick casing.
    • 8 mm thick stainless steel sear and trigger.
    • All parts are precision CNC cut, which translates to a smooth trigger pull.
    • Hold up to 6 x 16mm bands safely with a smooth trigger pull.



    Trigger mechanism case dimensions:

    • Width: 0.637" (16 mm)
    • Height: 1.02" (26 mm)
    • Length: 2.76" (68 mm)


    What's included:

    • Mono trigger mechanism with line release arm
    • Two 7cm (2.75") long x 5mm (0.2") diameter mounting pins
    • 5 year warranty


    Top line release WIDE



    Reverse WIDE



  • sling made in Belize

    Belizeman, I can't clearly see the front hole of the slings, but it looks like the opening may be conical, in which case it will make insertion of the spear easier. If this is so nice touch :thumbup:

  • Speardiver spearfishing vest

    If any of you are using the spearfishing vests this weekend, I need feedback on whether they tend to ride up. If they do I'll consider adding a beaver tail with snaps or velcro closure. Let me know what you think about this guys.

  • Installing blades in footpockets

    When installing carbon or fiberglass blades in footpockets, it's important that the blades go as deep as possible into the slot. If the blade doesn't go all the way in, there will be less support from the footpocket, and the blade angle may not line up with the footpocket angle. For this reason I take one of each footpocket, cut out the bottom exposing the slot, and make a template. I use these templates to reshape the back edge of Speardiver carbon blades if necessary, for optimal fit inside the footpockets. It's not difficult to reduce carbon and fiberglass with a belt sander, or a Dremel for finer details, once you have a feel for the material and the tools. I'm sure you'd be amazed if you could see inside footpockets, at how poorly blades from some manufacturers fit.



    When the slot shape is something ridiculous like the Salvimar footpockets, I don't use them.



    Here's a template with a carbon blade reshaped to match.



    This is a Speardiver C90 blade ready to install in an omer Millenium footpocket.



    These omer Millenium footpockets were brought to me with a broken Ice blade. I was going to keep the plastic blade to use instead of a paper template until I checked the fit. I was surprised to see that the original omer blade wasn't made to fit all the way back inside the footpocket. 0.5" probably doesn't make a discernable difference, but I can't help noticing these details.


  • Rotisserie & Gun Coating

    The only tricky part is how to attach the gun to the turner. The rear end is usually no problem because the loading butt will cover whatever hole you make. At the front end I used the shark spike supported on rollers. Probably you will not have one, so you'll need to make a hole for a small diameter metal rod that's stiff enough to support straight the weight of the gun, then touch up the area after the coating dries. Probably there's a cleaner way but that's all I could think of.


    I wouldn't bother with any of this and just use penetrating epoxy. You couldn't mess it up if you tried.