Posts by Dan

  • weight belt rubber

    I wish it was that easy. Finding rubber belt material of the right stretch and stiffness has eluded me. John if you get the FF material post back. The first thing I do when I test material like this is stretch and try to tear it between my hands. If it's crap it will break immediately along one of the holes. In your case there will be no holes but give it a shot anyways.

  • JBL spearguns

    I've heard statements before about big fish taken with JBL guns. You have to keep these things in perspective. The statements always come from scuba divers. This usually means put the spear point 2 feet away from the head of the fish and shoot. As freedivers very often we require more range from a gun than a scuba diver would, when the fish is further away the gun needs to be more accurate. JBL simply didn't cut it. As far as the new guns, I don't see why they wouldn't have range, accuracy, holding power, and durability. It now boils down to the small details that make a gun a pleasure to use. Why settle for less because of $100.


    hydroid, once you understand spearguns it's cheaper and easier to build a good gun than try to tweak a poor quality one.

  • JBL spearguns

    Interesting history, thanks Pete.


    Here's some of my own history. My first speargun was a Mares Cyrano 970. I bought it after my first experience spearfishing with a hand spear. Up until that point I didn't know spearfishing existed. I went into a dive shop to buy fins and saw the pneumatic gun, asked what it's for and how you refill it with gas :) and bought it. After using the Cyrano for a year I became more interested in spearfishing gear and from time to time would stop by different dive shops to see if they had anything for spearfishing. That was the time when you could hardly find any information on the subject. The only book available was Hell Diver's rodeo (a cool scuba spearing book which I still keep). When I first saw a JBL speargun I was impressed! It was a 3 rubber band aluminum tube monster. At that time I thought more power can only mean better spearfishing so I bought it with great expectations. I will never forget my first dive with it, squeezing the trigger and watching that shaft leave the gun in slow motion and arc down and below the fish. I think my eyes must have been bulging and my mouth open with disbelief. Knowing nearly nothing about spearfishing gear I still realized immediately I have a POS on my hands. That was my last dive with that gun. That's how my relationship with JBL started and I could never quite get past that feeling. Whatever new and improved speargun they're producing now, IMO it can't make up for the thousands of shit spearguns they unloaded on the market throughout the years, only changing their design when the market forced them to. I would be embarrassed to sell such a contraption.


    By contrast kudos must be given to Riffe for making the first mass produced high quality reliable wood speargun. Like I said before great guns except for the handle. And while we're on the subject kudos to Don Paul for inventing the open muzzle line routing system still used by Riffe and many other gun manufacturers today.

  • Questions about Speardiver carbon fins

    When installed properly all foot pockets hold blades well. This question shouldn't influence your foot pocket choice. Making holes or slots in blades would only affect the warranty if the blade breaks along the holes line.


    Gluing blades in a foot pocket doesn't void Speardiver blades warranty.


    Your warranty for foot pockets would be with the manufacturer of the foot pockets.

  • Speardiver reel

    Available from FreediveStore.com.








    The Speardiver composite spearfishing reel features a robust and lightweight construction. One of its main advantages is the strength of the reel axle attachment point. With other composite reels the steel axle is anchored directly in the reel base, where the material is barely 1/4" thick. This can be a point of failure if strong sudden pressure is applied to the reel, such as when the drag is left locked by accident or the reel jams and a strong fish makes a run. The axle and spool may tear out of the reel base. By contrast the speardiver reel has a more robust axle, formed by a full length stainless steel shaft %80 of which is encased in the composite material which is part of the reel base.





    A problem with many reels advertised as spearfishing reels is that they don't function correctly; when line is pulled the reel immediately goes into freespool. This means the brake/drag that was set before the shot loosens completely allowing the reel to spin freely. At worst when line is pulled fast a free spinning reel has the potential to create a birds nest/tangle leading to the reel seizing and the speargun being pulled away. At least even a medium size fish will take too much line. The speardiver composite reel has a correctly functioning drag system, the brake friction will remain at the level you set it before and after the shot, preventing a birds nest and maintaining the right amount of pressure on the fish.


    Included with the reel is a choice of mounting bracket for either round bottom railbuns, or flat bottom wood guns, and two #8 x 1” stainless steel pan head screws to attach mounting bracket to the speargun.


    Reels are available spooled with high visibility orange Dyneema line.

    Features



    • Line capacity 230ft (70 meters) with 1.75mm 450lb Dyneema.
    • Dovetail mounting bracket for easy reel attachment and removal.
    • Cutouts in the spool walls reduce reel weight and decrease line drying time.
    • Smooth adjustable brake/drag system. Reel will not go into freespool when line is pulled.
    • Sliding stainless steel line guide.
    • Optional rear spool guard. It's secured with one phillips screw and is easily removeable.
    • Streamlined folding winding arm.
    • All stainless steel hardware
    • Weight 5.5oz (156g).


  • Atomic Venom Dive Mask

    Nah man, it's atomic. Maybe I should hold off until the Ultra Super Crispy clear version hits the market. I know I will really regret it if I miss the chance to spend $300 instead of $200.


    This reminds me of a "new Russian" joke. A new Russian goes out and buys a Rolex for 60G. He's showing it off to his friends. When he tells them how much he paid one says "ha, you got ripped off, the store around the corner is selling them for 80G :)