Posts by Dan

  • A wetsuit choice for colder water

    Yes, like you said open cell is the same neoprene as on the inside of any wetsuit but without nylon cover on one or more of the surfaces. Those surfaces will be smooth or almost rubbery to the touch. This surface really sticks to your skin and prevents any water circulation. But then you need lubricant to get into the suit.


    I don't know what your farmer John wetsuit is. But a two piece effectively stops any circulation even if the open cell material is just 2 - 3" seals around the wrists and ankles. The two piece also has overlap in the mid section where the top joins the bottom. This overlap is also made of open cell. It is the zipper where water gets in. How thick is your farmer John? At 15 years I'd bet it lost some of its insulating properties.

  • Best spearfishing Brand

    Riffe has good quality guns but each model with a design flaw, the handle. Bought a Riffe snorkel once, got rid of it the mouth piece was too big. That was the snorkel with a purge and the mouth piece that fits a scuba regulator. The Riffe spearfisher's knife is good but Speardiver Predator knife is a nicer one with double serration from the same Italian factory. Riffe's bigger knife the silencer I think, is too big and bulky. The sheath is hard plastic which is heavy and inflexible. Riffe thin wetsuits are crap, they fall apart see my review. For their new wetsuits just give it a chance before you buy and let some people get it and come back with reviews. Riffe floats are nice but expensive. The new big inflatable float (2 atmospheres) looks very well made and doesn't have a comparable one on the market. Their stringers are nothing but a shaft with a hole and a piece of mono. The Riffe trigger mechanism is $75 and doesn't hold a candle to the Speardiver triggers. Did I leave anything out?


  • A wetsuit choice for colder water

    A dry suit! Might as well build a submarine <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x"> I would think you could get away with a 5mm open cell two piece suit. Have you tried a two piece suit? It's really warm. And then you could go to a 7mm. I mean you can see people dive up in RI on SB. Must be hard to bend your arms though. At least you don't need to breath up <img src= " class="smiley" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x" height="23" width="23" loading="eager" data-tooltip="biggrin" aria-label="biggrin">

  • Are freedivers cheap?

    Did you ever notice that scuba guys are content with cheap guns? I don't think it's because they spend the money on other stuff though. I mean if you're going to spend good money on doing something why would you skimp out on the most important detail, the ultimate reason you're in the water and your only connection to the fish, the speargun. Maybe for a scuba diver the main focus is to get there and then everything else is a secondary matter. Maybe a scuba diver is able to get closer to the fish. Or possibly it's a cultural thing that's just passed on from diver to diver. I understand that the very first guns on the market were JBL, possibly the crappiest gun there is. Another possibility is that the euro pipe guns up until recently were simply too light a tackle for some of the fish we regularly encounter in US waters. The east coast when it comes to spearguns seems to be far behind California where a quality wood gun tradition has long been established. But then again they're mostly freedivers there. Obviously this is the place to discuss spearguns as we all love our guns and have very good reasons for using the ones we do.


    From things I learned from Tin Man I started to understand some of the conditions that may preclude freediving in a given area. I'd like to know more about the diving you do to understand why you choose scuba. What is difficult for me to accept is using scuba in up to 60' of depth in good visibility over a nice reef. From my perspective, if you're curious to know my start with diving, there was no great jump I had to make to get in the water and dive. I've been splashing around in sea water since childhood much like kids here splash around in a pool. Difference was that it was much more interesting in the sea and there's a natural inclination to go deeper and see what's down there. I not sure where and how the line is drawn between someone that thinks this way and someone who automatically connects scuba gear with any kind of depth. It probably has to do with where one lives/grows up. But I will tell you that freediving is easy and that I think anyone can do it. Striving to become a better underwater hunter however is a whole other ball game and will keep me motivated for as long as I live.

  • hello every one i wanna sparefish

    I love beach diving and boat diving.


    Please tell the story of what happened to your friend. I tried to find some information about it but nothing shows up. I know of a diver that had both his legs amputated by a boat propeller of off Dania beach. Was your friend spearfishing and were you there when it happened?


    Where were you diving in the Med?

  • DIY Making a wood handle for a wood speargun

    On this gun I had to do something a little different to fit the handle. I couldn't use the original thickness of the board for the tenon because the stock was too thin to hold it. So I reduced it by about %30. I got the stock dimensions down pat now for the next gun (if) so I won't even have to run it through the planer when I get it from your dad. I don't really need another gun but I keep wanting to make one that's mistake free along the way, it's a silly pursuit.

  • DIY Making a wood handle for a wood speargun

    Damn, I knew it was too good to last as with all things. Spearfishing I believe is not a big market in the first place and even less people today are into making guns when everything is available in a store. But nothing can replace a gun built to your own specs.

  • hello every one i wanna sparefish

    Hello and welcome to the forum.


    There's a few of us spearfishing from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami. Do you mean beach diving as in swimming out from the beach? How much spearfishing have you done before?

  • DIY Making a wood handle for a wood speargun

    I got to say Tin the color of that stock after a layer of penetrating oil is delicious. I hope your dad keeps making them.


    Not sure what you mean monster. I pressed it with my bare hand but I made sure the contours are pretty shallow. After the herculiner covering up most of the fine detail it should feel pretty good in a glove. I use thin fake leather gloves though, thinner than the ones I sent you and tight fitting.

  • Pensacola Bay, 11/24/08

    Just in case I hope you didn't perceive what I wrote as criticism, I didn't mean it as such. How come the wrecks you described don't move around on their own?

  • Pensacola Bay, 11/24/08

    You do the coolest stuff Jeff. :) When I think about my general approach to diving I realize that I alway try to have zero influence on the environment other than the fish I remove. I don't have the resources now but I'll keep in mind for the future the possibility to create some fish aggregating structures.