Thanks for sharing the info.
On the other hand I never understood the mentality. You want to enjoy the sun but with all that white greasy crap (blocker or screen) all over you. I really don't see how that is better than wearing a t-shirt and a hat. That's what people did throughout history. Stay exposed for as long as it is safe and then put a barrier between you and the sun..
hehehe
BTW please put threads in the appropriate sections. This should go in general non spearfishing discussion so I'm moving it there. Severe criticism section es para cuando quieres quejarte de algo que possiblemente va a offender a alguien, para que no te tomen tan en serio.
Damn, I hope I get the mech with the tabs otherwise it will be another week of shipping back and forth.
Bill, so can I just slide the wood around on the drill press table under the bit and achieve decent accuracy or does the bit tend to grab the wood and move it all over the place? Thanks.
Bill, you have me concerned when you say the mech Josh sent wasn't the auto resetting one. Are you saying it's missing the little tab on the bottom? I just ordered a couple of Neptonics mechs, I hope this is not the case. I thought initially you're going to have a problem with installing the mech auto line release because of the thickness of the stock. Which is it?
When you talk about an end mill is it used with the drill press? A sort of specialized drill bit? Do you slide the stock under it as it's cutting?
Core, if still possible I recommend to you to go with a 1/2" round over on the bottom as well. The stock is pretty big as it is and it will make a marked difference in comfort when carrying it for extended periods of time.
Please note this is not a thread about boats so it belongs in a regional section. I'm moving it there.
Nice, have fun. There's nurse sharks at the Jacks sometimes and I've seen them come up to mid water and behave aggressively.
My question was really more along the lines of preferred float design. Regardless of how you did it, is a long and narrow float design a good thing or a bad thing, and why?
I think that buoyancy in a compact package is always better to reduce drag. Drag is the main factor.
I don't like inflatable floats. They ride too high on the water and create too much drag in wind and waves. With that said a 2L plastic pop bottle was my float for my first year spearfishing. I didn't see it as a means to land big fish, just security for my gun. If you went out there with the intention of taking big fish that will run hard and take your float down I think it would be foolish to use the plastic bottles.
I used the Riffe inflatable float for four or five years after that. The Riffe float is one of the best inflatable float available. I stopped using it in favor of hard foam blown floats.
Nice post fuzz. Seeing that parrot fish peeking out of the back brought back some nice memories. As you know we can't touch them over here.
When I had a kayak I was looking for something like this Da Kine bag. I was also eying the last specialized bag you posted and somehow figured it looked more complicated than it needs to be. A little tip for someone looking to duplicate the Da Kine bag. If you take the conventional sea angler fish bag and flatten it out so the zipper rather than running around the sides runs across the top, you can then have the bag easily stitched to the pattern you want with the zipper remaining on top.
It's 40.1mm. The .1mm must be the paint.
I think they differ in diameter but I'm not sure. I have a Mares Cyrano. The Cyrano would be one of the slimmer pneumatics. Let me know if you want the measurement.
Core, will the paint hold on the frame? Is it a die or what?
When you do paint it could you please post a few pics of the process and a description.
West Marine sells different diameters by the foot, I'm not sure about the price. I'm not sure if there's such a thing as marine grade bungee but would like to find out. What diameter are you looking for?
Now if I could just get my smilie as my avitar
Let me know if you ever get tired of it.
Better yet if you have an idea for an avatar let me know and I'll make it for you.
I did it. Bill please keep posting here, I'll copy the pertinent posts to the other thread.
I love that mech BTW. Are you going to use the auto resetting line release function of this mech? To me that was the trickiest thing to get right. I had play with the slot and reshape the line release.
hau are you taking flak from the flock? :oldman2:
In your honor my friend.. :hau:
Yeah, I wrote this up because of your thread 
I hope it helps.
Instructions on making a lifeguard rescue can float buoy for spearfishing, foam filled with ballast and flag base.
Here's the cheapest source I found for the rescue cans $65 https://www.marine-rescue.com/…quipment/rescue-cans.html Shipping was reasonable. They first sent me one that had a little hole in the handle. I called to ask for another one and they told me that it does happen from time to time and to cut off the piece that had the hole (happened to be the handle) and send it to them to get a replacement float. They actually sent me the new float before I ever sent them the piece. I cut out as small a piece as I could, about 1" long and sent it to them. Then managed to repair the first float after with a piece of PVC and epoxy putty.
I was contemplating how much weight to use for ballast and which density foam available in 2,3,4,8 and 16lb. I went with a 2lb lead weight ballast and 4lb density foam from http://www.shopmaninc.com/foam.html I bought the 16lb/4 cubic feet kit and had quite a bit left over but maybe not enough to do another complete float.
Forget about pouring the foam through the little hole covered by the plastic cap. You will need a bigger hole to insert the lead weight anyways and a place for the flag base. I used a hole saw to cut a circular hole at the top of the rescue can. I kept the resulting round piece of plastic with a hole in the middle of it to use later to cap the whole thing off. The lead weight had to be chopped up into 3 sections to be able to insert it through the hole. Maybe a different round weight would have gone in complete but that's what I had at the time. I used a dab of sealant to keep the segmented weight where I wanted it while I poured the foam.
When it comes time to pour the foam do not mix large quantities of it. Have a large supply of disposable plastic cups and do about half a cup at a time. The two parts need to be mixed well and the foam starts expanding very fast. Once it starts expanding you can't pour it. So do well planned small increments to best fill all crannies of the rescue can. I started with filling the handles, directing the flow from the cup more or less in the direction of the handles and then tilting the float to make sure the liquid foam seeped well in there. You will see if you did a good job of this as the foam will expand out of both ends of the handle hole. Next I poured into each end of the float alternating.
When the float was filled from each end almost to the middle I poured straight down and covered the weight. The expanding foam secures the weight inside the float. At that point is when I put the fuel hose (flag base) all the way down against the bottom of the float. Actually it's resting on the top of the weight. Before doing so I poked some wire through the hose to secure it from coming out of the foam. I also shoved some epoxy putty into the bottom of the hose to not have water enter the float through it. Once the hose was in place I poured the foam in increments all the way to the top. Support the hose straight throughout this process by keeping the flag pole in it.
I suggest you pour carefully as you get to the top so as not to have the foam expand out of the float. It's very sticky and hard to clean up. I managed to do it almost flush and then did a little scraping to make the hole deeper. I then drilled the cap I saved earlier from the hole saw with a bigger diameter bit to accept the fuel hose. Then used epoxy putty to give the hole a final level, put the hose through the cap and set the cap into the epoxy. Had I calculated better the cap would've been completely flush with the top of the float but it's fine and looks clean like this too.
Conclusions; I do not use this float for almost two years. The total weight of it is 9lb. It has a lot of drag which I can feel especially when there's wave action. If I were to do it again I'd still use 2lb ballast but 2lb density foam instead of 4lb. I think if you know for sure you'll be using it in bluewater with fish that will take it down then you may want to use the higher density foam. For reef diving like we do here though it's really overkill and you will dread dragging it around. The ballast and flag base system work great. The hose is of perfect diameter for the flag post and it stays in there very tight with just suction. I would also consider how to fasten a line spooling system and a cleat to it.
EDIT - The new Rob Allen 12L Overblown Hard Float has similar characteristics to the lifeguard in a smaller lighter package. At $94 it costs less than the sum of the materials to build the lifeguard can float, and is already foam filled and has a ballast and detachable flag.
One time I was swimming back to the boat and and I was surprised to see a speargun floating in the water. A diver went on the boat for "a moment" and left it there. The said diver accepted the suggestion that he shouldn't do that any more without resentment and that was the start of a beautiful friendship.
Pita bread is the best for this.
