Posts by Reefchief

4ft is probably adequate, I previously had a 4ft pole for mine before it blew away towing a boat, and it worked well. But when I made this one which is closer to 7ft tall I definitely noticed a huge difference in the visibility of my float.

Im not so much concerned with its ability to rise above larger waves as I don't beach dive when its rough. But even in calm or roller seas I noticed that the taller flag waves and moves significantly more and is easier to see off off a tall bow due to the extra long flag pole.The movements of the board are amplified on the long pole into a constant tall flag waving even on calmer days.

Ive had enough close calls to know that a 5ft flag on a 10ft pole isn't enough in some cases, and I still rely first on my eyes and ears to keep me out of trouble.
But I do think my giant double flag did enough for my floats visibility that Id always like a flag that tall. But for all that the banks board offers over a boogey board I may need to suck it up.

Bumping a year old thread.

Can any owners of the Banks Board comment on how well the board supports its dive flag?

Being in South Florida, home to blood thirsty powerboats driven by 80 year old men hunting the reefs for divers brains. I have an extremely tall dive flag on my current boogey board float. I mean tall.

I achieve this using a stiff but light fishing rod, and a counterweight that protrudes from the bottom of the float by about a foot. (its a round lead weight on a stainless steel rod)

Does anyone think I could come even close to this height with the dive flag on a banks board with some modifications? Im concerned that even adding some kind of additional counterweight wouldn't work because the flag is at the front of the board. But I would imagine a few banks board owners have tried to extend the dive flag. Thanks guys.

Quote from mrmike

well I went out this morning with LB and some friends. seas were 2-3 easily and fairly steep due to the wind. we had top to bottom viz in 45 though. had some difficulties in just about every aspect of the day and decided to come in after my friend came up dizzy with small amounts of blood coming out of his ear. no fish or bugs

Sounds like a rough time, I know how those days go :frustrated2:. Was your friend diving with equalization issues or was the blood and pain out of nowhere?

I went out yesterday south of Hollywood and tagged along with some people hookahing for bugs in 25-35ft mostly to test out my new Aeris F10. Despite the wind and waves being pretty favorable we couldn't seem to find viz past 30 feet.

The hookah divers got 8 bugs and I took a large grey trigger. Passed on a couple of nice sized hogs (got hog in the freezer) and saw tons of small mangroves and macs. Also got to see and follow around some neat sea creatures, a few large rays, a cuttlefish, a huge porcupine puffer, and an octopus.

I think Japsw is right. Neon Yellow for sure. A friend gave me a pelican saberlite 2000 underwater flashlight. Its neon yellow and its fallen off my waist/been dropped a bunch of times and its always extremely visible. Even when I can't see the bottom well I've often been able to see the body of the light from the surface. The color seems to reflect all the available light. Here is a picture of mine in my dark bedroom this morning. (carpet is light beige brown). And of me on the surface. I have a pursuits red knife on my other hip for comparison.

Quote from LunkerBuster

great pics...that is a huge lionfish...how deep was he?

Dan you are hilarious

He was actually the biggest of 4, all big enough to eat in 25-40 ft of water. I typically don't see them so big at that depth. Here is a video of me shooting it.

http://youtu.be/WjY_cSmIKlU

edit: how do i post a youtube video in the thread? anyone know?

Welcome to the forums. This forum is filled with great info and great local divers. Im from Fort Lauderdale myself.

I picked one of these up from Dan a few months ago but wasn't really able to get into the water with it until recently. I was very impressed with the gun out of the water. Everything about its construction is exactly what I would want in a railgun. A clean simple muzzle thats easy to wrap, high quality bands, beautiful glossy carbon tube with a nice integrated track, a handle I really like holding, a precise trigger mechanism, and a simple safety thats easy to know is OFF.

I finally got to take it out on saturday and put it to the real test and wasn't disappointed. It performed amazingly well.

It wasn't too hard to load or uncomfortable despite not having a butt and having the last loading tab almost at the complete end of the gun. Being used to a butt I did find having absolutely no obstruction between the spear and my eye helped my aiming tremendously.

Its got a great shot, with the bands Dan had on it the shot was nice and smooth, but it still has tons of power. And I love that for its size, its got more band stretch then any other gun I've shot.

Above other guns the thing I really liked most about it was the trigger mech handle and line release. The handle fits my hand better then most other guns I've shot. And the trigger reminds me more of my glock then of a speargun. The line release is of a type I didn't even know I loved until I got this gun. The pin is much easier to get the shooting line onto, especially wearing thicker gloves. And the rearward placement of the pin provides an additional 8 or so inches of shooting line then other guns of the same size.

It being made of sexy carbon-fiber that glistens in the ocean is also a plus I hope to shoot the crap out of it soon, but so far I couldn't be happier with it.

I need both my little hands to help pan/aim. Recoil is definitely not too bad. It shoots like a laser made of butter :dance:

I got out on saturday and did a long drift between hollywood and haulover @ 25-45 ft.

Between the bad weather and worse schedule I haven't been able to dive in so long it was starting to effect my sanity. So it was great just to be back in the water. Vis was better up north near port everglades, but we wanted to explore some new areas further south.

We got 2 nice hogs, a trigger, a cero, and kept a few fat lion fish. I also ran into a dolphin pod while scouting early in the morning and got to chase them around for a minute. As hau said, I hope this weather is here to stay for a while. My wife is making an invasive species ceviche right now.

Some pics

Hey Dan, Sorry you got sick, but at least there is bright side. You found out you were susceptible to this problem without too much exposure. I'm actually familiar with the toxicity of mango's as it happened to my dad about 10-15 years ago. In his case, his lesson was a bit more expensive.

He was under a wet mango tree picking mango's on a ladder after a rainstorm, each time he pulled a mango off the tree water from the leaves and branches of the tree rained down on him. The next day he woke up completely covered in a crazy skin rash that ended up being pretty severe for a while. He still eats mango's but stays far away from mango trees.

Cut that sucker down as punishment!

Incredible video. I googled a bit and came across a recount of what happened by the diver Mark Payne.

Quote from markpayne

Quite a good report. In this case I was running out of bottom time and desperate to avoid a long decompresion stop with this shark that dwarfed my cage and made me feel very uncomfortable inside the tight frame. After it had circled a number or times, I gained enough courage to confront it and after 14 minutes finally it went away.

Since my first close encounter in 1992 I have been able to observe Great Whites as they plan their various hunting methods on me. The usual method of a keen animal is to approch close at first and back off to an out of view circle with a few attempts of coming in at different approaches. There is no doubt that when this behavior happens I am being hunted as prey and I ensure I stay tightly on the bottom. Other times they just pass by on a mision to get somewhere. I actually completely forgot I had a video camera on my cage until after I got over the initial scare of the shark, and finally got back to my cage safely, and turned on my camera.

I have worked with CSIRO and Fisheries and currently carry an ac0ustic receiver on my cage but it is rare to come across a Great White with a tag. I tagged the first Great White in my Area off Esperance, Western Australia and am currently working with wafilmmakers who put this video on youtube.

How does that work Dan? Are both sides of the suit lined/closed cell with seals at the openings? That sounds like a nice medium between a closed cell suit and just a rash guard if so.

Ive been looking at some of the demo videos for the gopro2. I agree the 120fps mode isnt high-res enough to be worth it. The wide FOV also looks mostly useless but might work well for shooting shots of yourself underwater for some cool diving footage etc. One thing that I did notice was the major difference in low light shooting and white balance adjustment.

Gopro HD Hero 2 vs HD Hero comparison field of view - YouTube

This video shows how drastically different the two cameras are in low yellow tungsten lighting. You can see that the white balance in the gopro2 is completely different. I wonder how it will look in low blue lighting deep underwater. Both the hero and hero2 are listed as having "auto white balance" but it looks like the hero2 does a much better job of correction. Atleast away from low spectrum yellow lighting.

70% of my diving requires towing a float and flag around anyways. Either beach diving or diving away from a boat. So attaching my gun to it and getting rid of the reel is a pretty logical step.

For the other 30%. Shooting with a cheap pipegun I enjoyed having the option to use a reel. But with a nice gun and a go-pro mounted on it to boot. The risk of reel malfunction, band tangles, and lost guns isnt worth the reduction in drag while swimming. I have a reel but I see its use diminishing to near zero.

Quote from dave P

Glad I could help. Make sure you at least pass it through or something besides just whipping the end, it'll slip.
So, from what I'm understanding you just need a bit longer spectra line or trim off like 6" of tubing....? That way you could do it the exact same way you did the other side.
A picture might help.

I like that the poly rope is lighter than a tube floatline, I've had both of them knot up. I've actually got a neptonics floatline here that I used once. It's pretty bulky, but that's my opinion. I keep it as a loaner.

Yes I plan to follow the tutorial you linked to the T with both the splice and whipping.

For anyone wondering. Here is a video that shows the method I was finding in tutorials on splicing http://youtu.be/HiOzEELTWp4 You can see that it is simple and clean, but requires passing the entire line through a hole in the spectra. The tight weave prevents that hole from being wide enough to fit my hardware. With the tutorial Dave linked this problem is completely avoided (albeit with a bit trickier splicing+ whipping).

Quote from toptuna

There are some good tutorials on YouTube. If I remember correctly
I ran the spectra back through itself. Look it up and post the video you used on here.

Those are probably the same tutorials ive seen.

I did that for the first end (putting the spectra back through itself), before I ran it through the tube. The problem I am having is with the second end. The spectra cant be ran through itself with the tubing and other end attached.

The tutorials ive found overcome this issue by sticking the second floatline plug through the splice, but the swivels welded onto my floatline plugs prevent this from being an option.

Quote from dave P

I'm not quite sure, but something like this has always worked for me.....
Spectra Single Braid Lanyard
I've never bothered whipping the ends.

I usually just tie a knot, but that was a while ago, when I used to use tube style floatlines. Now I just use three strand poly rope. It always floats, doesn't get holes in it, and if it gets stuck somewhere, I don't feel bad just cutting it out..... Oh and it's like $0.15 a foot.
Samson-The Strongest Name in Rope, ULTRA BLUE-3

What you posted is exactly what I was looking for. It addresses the issues of double ended eye splices. It seems that since the line isnt passed inside itself in some fashion its relying on the friction of the splice (and whipping) to hold. I will probably do this and include the whipping portion. Thanks.

I also agree poly rope works pretty well and was an avid fan until recently. I used a tube style floatline recently and just found it to work much better. Especially regarding tangling and knoting. On the reef I dont find myself spearing in places where there is enough structure to damage my floatline. If I did I would most definitely switch back to a poly rope. And in bluewater this style of floatline is a dream.

I am building myself some tube style floatlines using 1600lb spectra, 1/4-3/8 PVC tubing, and end hardware from neptonics.

Floatline Plugs
Red PVC Tubing 1/4" I.D. 3/8" O.D. and 1/16" wall | U.S. Plastic Corp.
Samson Amsteel Blue 7/64", Foot, Black

The problem I am having is with splicing the final end. The type of splices I am familiar with / I can find online all involve passing either the entire line through, or passing the hardware through the hole made in the splice. Neither of these options are ideal in this case because my floatline ends have heavy duty swivels welded on, and the rings attaching the swivels are too wide to pass through the widest hole I can make in the line.

I am wondering if anyone has any options for creating an eye splice differently to avoid cutting the swivels off. Becuase swivels are great.
I will update this thread with some pictures of the process once I complete building the lines.

Thanks guys.

I find it amusing that the word speardiver can not even be posted like a curse word. And posts containing workarounds are deleted very quickly. I think its obvious he realizes that people, when presented with a choice between:
A) A forum filled with: more advertisements and arguments then information on spearfishing, hoardes of manchildren that say insulting things behind a computer, and moderators who either feed the manchildren or are also manchildren themselves.
B) A forum filled with: well informed respectful and friendly discourse on all aspects of spearfishing, well informed friendly tight knit and respectful users who can have adult conversation on various topics sometimes disagreeing, and ego-free common sense moderation.
They will only choose A is if they don't know B exists.

Quote from shallow runner

He's lucky it didn't get the femoral artery or he would have been done. The report said it was a 9' Bull off of Anna Maria Island in the Gulf.

Thats the first thing I thought too. Knowing how that artery works and where it is he is one lucky dog.

Im suprised that he was attacked without fish it seems, just wading in the water. Guess the bull thought he looked docile and tasty.

Yep its like the ocean has a 9-5 mon-fri job of being perfect for diving.

Quote from Nate

For those of you talking of diving tomorrow, the vis today was a huge improvement from yesterday. Had 40 in 55ft, top/bottom in 35ft, and 30 in 25 ft. If you can get out before the afternoon winds kick up, could very well be a decent shoredive day.

Forecasts seems to be calling for 15mph NE winds overnight. Do you think the winds will still be low enough until later in the day to get a dive in?

Edit: Then again, your last report was in like 3-5 lol!