Posts by behslayer

Beautiful Gun. Is that a Big Daddy Custom?

Here's another system. I've used this one in a Inflateable version. Great stopping power from a small float.

Hi Dan,
We make most of the stuff we use over here including Floats. We use a Snubber Release system so that a float can be pulled like a torpedo when swimming, but go down sideways if a fish is pulling. This drastically reduces the size of float needed to prevent a fish from dissapearing into the depths, but is best used with a length of bungee. Even a relatively small hard fighter like a Dogtooth Tuna can dissapear a big Float if the Float is in line. That is a concept drawing for a Float/Chute. The yellow line would be bungee to allow for the 'parachuting' effect. I've made some similar things. We use Heavy Duty webbing or Heavy Duty Nylon Deneer as the Bones of our Floats.
That's my friend Philbo on the left and me on the right.

If you are going to use Oil, I'd suggest using a good Teak Oil first and use a fine steel wool to rough it in to the wood. This should penetrate pretty well and then follow up with a few coats of rubbed in Tung Oil. This shouldgive you a good starting base coat which will last a while.

There are other Oil Like finishes which will last quite a while. For example there are some Silicone based sealers which will leave an oil like finish and can also accept a coat of teak oil or tung after for touch ups and look nice.

If you are going to go the route of Epoxy, it would be best to make your pin/screw holes slightly bigger ie @1.5mm as well as your Mech Box. I'd go with a Viscous first layer as a sealing layer. It would be better to do 1-2 thin coats of epoxy in the Mech Box and Screw/Pin Holes rather than mixing the Oil and Epoxy Finishes.

My own preference is that if I'm leaving a Natural Wood Finish including different wood stains, I will use Oils. If I'm going to be painting or adding some kind of effect, I use Epoxy. I look forward to putting a coat of Tung Oil on my guns and making them look brand new, but, if you get a good base coat to start with you will not need to Tung Oil it too often. I haven't needed to touch my guns up in a few months.

Over here, I like to use a different set up. I use a big Reel. 1OOyd Capacity. I spool it with a bit thicker Dyneema, ie 2.2mm. This allows a better grip on the line than a thinner 1.8mm. Different fish fight in different ways. For me, there's no better way to take Wahoo and other fish which will not swim straight down, than with a Reel. It's so much more interactive. I'd feel comfortable shooting a Huge Wahoo with just a BIG Reel.

If I'm out at sea, diving from a boat, or have the chance to see larger fish, or fish that swim for the bottom, I'll also pull a Float using a Nylon Rope and a section of Bungee towards the Float. I use a normal sized Float, ie like a smaller Riffe or RA, but I set it up so that there is something like a Band material release on the attachment of the line to the float. If I'm pulling it through the water, it pulls from the front, if a Big Fish pulls the Float under, the Band material will stretch and release and then the float is attached at both ends, and instead of being pulled in a streamlined torpedo.. it is pulled with maximum resistance. This allows using a much smaller float.

My Floatline is attached to the Back of my Gun, but I can easily move the Tuna Clip to attach it to my Shooting line. Similarly I can easily unclip my Reel line from the Shooting line. This allows the option of shooting with just Reel, just Floatline, or both.

If there is a big Prized fish involved, ie a nice Dogtooth Tuna, which is going to swim deep, I will use both my Floatline and my Reel. This means my Float can dissapear, and I'll still have 1OOyds of Reel line to hang on to and give extra resistance, and specifically, to know where the fish is and to try to keep it off the bottom.

Greetings from Uluwatu.