Posts by Reefchief

Nice fish and nice shooting. Glad to see there was some nice water out there somewhere! I went out Monday out of Port Everglades and it was a top layer of pukey sandwater, and even in 500ft had tons of particles and bad viz (probably 40-50ft).

Beautiful fish, and beautiful pictures. I saw a hog nearly that size in the keys with nothing but a tickle stick and a net and nearly had a heart attack. I don't think Id be able to keep it together with a gun.

Cool design. Planning to use this for flashers. Im also looking for these in the Broward area. If anyone finds them let me know. Went to basspro/divers direct recently and couldn't find them there.

Yes that is definitely a great idea for adding some extra security to the bottom. I also really like your suggestion of attaching it on both ends and just flipping it over all the handles. Gonna make that addition as soon as I have a chance.

Thanks guys.

Quote from LunkerBuster

Super clean and very clever.
Is there some locking pin that holds the v to the bracket? I would be concerned about the whole mount hopping out otherwise

If you look closely in this picture you can see both the spring loaded locking pin (with the keyring on the right side of the mount) and the angled slot it locks into. This allows it to slide in and lock automatically and only come out by pulling on the keyring.

Quote from japsw

Nice, I just finished a rack to keep the guns inside the house , I'll post it tonight

Thats something I would like to do as well. Ill be moving soon and planned to build something nice for all my gear. Look forward to seeing what you made.

Quote from Dan

Very nice, very clean work. For a moment I was concerned that an up and down bump may dislodge the handles, but then I remembered they all probably have butt extensions.

That V-lock is neat, I'll keep it in mind.

Thanks, There are only circular holes drilled in the bottom, so enough room that a midhandle gun with a butt fits through, but a gun without a butt can be turned as its inserted and then sit inside the rack. But it definitely works much better with some kind of butt.

I want to share with you guys the speargun rack my father and I recently built for his boat. I was happy with the end product and hopefully my build can give others some ideas.

Ive been planning to build a rack for quite a while now and recently got some time to do it. Originally we were planning on making the entire rack from starboard. But I was inspired by Dan's quick and easy solution of using a PVC fence post for the base. It worked great and was very cheap.

We were also searching for a way to make the rack easily removable for when the boat isnt being used for speardiving. A few months ago we found the solution in in the. "V-Lock" mounting system. I cant say enough positive things about how well this mounting system works. Very secure, and the mounts are low profile with no sharp edges.

We wanted the guns secure in waves, but easily removable. So we decided to borrow the design of a boat gunnel rod holder for the top portion of the rack.

First we made a template to test the gunnel idea would hold and fit most guns snugly. Once we were happy we cut it out of starboard.

With some holesaw bits and some careful skillsaw work we cut out the top and bottom racks.

Then we mounted the V-Lock brackets to the rack. And mounted the V-Lock mounts to the center console. We also added some starboard supports so we could put a strong bungee across without deformation of the starboard.

The finished product

With guns

I haven't tested it in rough seas yet. But we beat on it good going full gas in some chop and so far its worked phenomenally. As an added bonus it also holds fishing poles quite well.

I forgot to mention, I also saw a nice sized bull cruise by the reef I was on a few minutes after I shot the hog. Also saw a huge hammerhead from the bow of the boat 12mi out after we ran up on a school of bait looking for mahi.

Heres some low quality pics from my phone.

I got out on the 4th of July. Just me and my dad. Went dolphin fishing early in the AM but without an east wind for a week there wasn't too much action. Boat traffic was surprisingly light all day for it being a national drunk boating holiday and it was flat with decent viz (30-40ft). Hopped in on the second reef south of hollywood with my rash guard and found a really cold thermocline, put on my 3mil and then hit a few spots and ended up with a nice red grouper and a hog after a few hours of work. Missed a few nice mangroves that wouldn't let me close enough. My breath hold was disappointing compared with when I was diving weekly, but it worked.

It was definitely amazing to be back in the water again. Ive been too busy to dive for too long. Will be heading to the keys for mini season, but hopefully going to get a few more broward dives in before then to get myself ready.

Gonna upload some pictures when I get them.

Quote from John Hanson

Dan made some excellent points. The most important one being finding the foot pocket that fits you best and is most comfortable.

Up until the last 2 years or so, I never really put much thought into the tendons of the foot pockets and how much they impact the performance of a particular set of blades. The difference can be quite dramatic. I only realized this after switching from my normal Omer Melleniums to a new foot pocket that had much softer tendons and putting the same blades in them. Blades that I thought were too stiff in the past became noticebly softer and much more to my liking.

My suggestion to your question of concern is to try the blades in a foot pocket with softer tendons.I don't have any experience with the Nemo foot pockets, but I know from years of use, that the Omer Milleniums are very stiff.

I know what I want out of a blade in terms of stiffness and flex and quickly determine just by bending the blades (out of a foot pocket) with my hands and know wether or not I will like them and that they will perform the way I want them to.

I have only become quite "pickey" about foot pockets since diving the warmer waters of the GOM and not having to use socks. My feet are much more sensitive and I am able to notice much smaller details while diving barefoot. I am also diving much deeper than I normally would in Cali and also shooting much larger fish on a regular basis.

Noticing the difference is not always something that comes easily with new fins, blades or footpockets. I often don't realize the differences until I go back to using fins I have already used after trying new combinations.

A good way to truly realize effiency is to count kick cycles to a predetermined depth. But it's not always the best way to determine what the best fin is. It seems to me that most people want smooth effortless kicks with maximized efficiency. While I think that is an important aspect, I think that being able to put brakes on a big fish is also equally important. If I am trying to kick hard to keep a big AJ from getting into the structure and running deep, a softer more effiecient ascent/descent blade is not what I am looking for. I prefer a stiffer blade on the back end and soft on the front. It's amazing how much the stiffness of a foot pocket tendon can effect this on a particular blade.

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I found the biggest benefit to upgrading to my carbon blades was not needing to choose between a "stiff" blade that feels like kicking boards and a soft blade with no backbone. My c90's seem to do both, they are soft and easy when im kicking in that style, surface swimming is a breeze with no flapping, but if i need to swim against a current or fish they compress like stiff springs and rebound with power. My earlier experiences with plastic blades was the opposite, gara 2000's were like boards, 3000's like noodles.

One other thing Dan pointed out to me a while back (and touched on a bit above me). Something many divers dont seem to realize they should really take into account. The same brand footpocket of the same size from different batches can have dramatically different properties and tendencies.

It seems the only real way to know what effects your tendons will have on your blades is by personally feeling the stiffness of the exact footpockets you plan to buy and understanding its effects. Or buying from someone like Dan whos felt enough pockets to know how they react and give you exactly what you want. But it seems that expecting a certain make/model of footpockets to be the same (or softer) can end badly in certain situations.

Quote from Wishihadgills

If you dont want to spend that much go buy a sheet of ply wood at Home Depot and put a couple pieces of rope through it for handles. It works.

Friends of mine like to call setups like this "trolling for sharks"

Is this nickname a joke or a warning lol? Ive been being pulled around on a plain old tow rope since I was a little kid and ive never really had a shark follow. Although Ive had some huge cudas follow along in the keys.

Quote from ladvr

The real expense is getting your ears fixed.

I was just going to say, why would they make something like that require two hands? :crazy: Ive been thinking about making something like this recently for tow-scouting on bad viz days, but the #1 consideration was always "how can I make it work with one hand"

I really enjoy diving with the Aeris F10. Before I got it I was using a digital wristwatch with a decently large display and a timer etc. it worked but if i wanted to keep track of my bottom time or surface intervals I had to spend way too much time looking at it.

What I love about the aeris is not looking at it. The big readout is nice, but setting up all the timers and depth alarms and just using the beeps to know whats going on has made my diving totally different in an awesome way.

Its a bit big, so I only wear it diving. Plus I don't want to scratch it. :laughing:

Although, nothing like Dons Sporasub. That thing looks like an old cellphone with wrist strap lol.

Quote from Josediaz

Reefchief, Thanks for the nice video, the images speak volumes.
the recoil looks soft
in my fishing zone there are many lion fish
They are edible

Dan, Reel that can be used?

José.

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Yes the gun was set up by Dan with a nice smooth shot. The bands could be shorter, but I find the gun has plenty of power and accurate range with the current bands and a single wrap. So I have no reason to try shortening them.

Its a shame about the lionfish showing up everywhere. But hey atleast they are delicious!

Between my own guns and friends/family guns I've used:

Riffe metal tech/euro/padauk, Mako predator/oceanic pro, Rob Allen, Omer Cayman, lots of scuba guns (billers sea hornets etc).

The barrel really seems to make the gun move in the water amazingly. Its by far the best handling speargun I've shot, even though its longer then most other guns I've used. Most of the guns I listed above feel like pushing and swinging around a log compared to this gun. The cf barrel also makes the gun really quiet and smooth compared to al rail guns.

Quote from Josediaz

I would like to see it in action.

Some video?.

Regards

Ive only taken a few videos with it but here is a video with a few shots of mine.

Speardiver 120 carbon - YouTube

My Feedback is I absolutely love this gun. Every single consideration was taken to make a beautiful railgun ideal in every aspect for a ridiculously good price.

I've got the same setup as hank and love it. The soft Omer millenniums are for me really comfortable especially in the instep area even with my pockets being pretty tight. The medium carbon blades really help with beach dives and long days in the water. They cruise effortlessly but still have balls when you need propulsion.

That said, footpockets fit people so differently. Make sure you find the right one for your foot.

Yep, remember the principle of law "Ignorance of the law does not excuse". Better to be safe then sorry with these things. I personally check all openings online before they start just to be sure.

I am really impressed that the pathos footpockets only weighs 91 grams! :laughing3: Thats like 3 ounces, those footpockets are obviousy quite superior to the others that are over a pound :thumbsup2:

Ive dove with stiff plastic fins that had me worried about fin slap and reading about ankle weights and extra angled fins. But getting a pair of pursuit carbons has me completely satisfied with surface swimming even for 5+ hours. Its easy to keep the fins from slapping, but the backbone is really there once they are under water.

Another thing I think is a huge factor is where the weight is. Ankle weight just adds mass to your legs. While heavy tendons, or a heavy blade adds weight in a way that may be more detrimental to performance.

Congrats JDV! I can see why that photo won. Its amazing. Hope to see more incredible photos and videos on speardiver in the future.