Posts by mrmike

Nice addition!

I say go for it, do your research and ask lots of questions. If you work slow you can limit your mistakes and make a badass gun.

I have a 1/4" roundover that I planned to use but it doesnt fit in the 9/16" slot. I am hoping to do it something like this now:

Thanks guys I'm really happy with it thus far, I think it might be the angle of the picture because there is only 1/2" between the top of the band slot and the bottom of the Neptonics track. Maybe that's a lot but I thought it seemed about right. I still need to round the band slot to take the hard edge off of it, but I don't have a router bit that will fit in it so it will be done by hand or possibly with the help of a dremel.

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there! I sent mine to get her nails done which allowed me some time on the router table. All of the router work is now done, I just need to finish up the hand sanding to soften some of the sharp lines. I set it all together for pictures, I love the way it has turned out thus far and can't wait to get it in the water. Let me know what you think!

Mockup:

Nice fish! Cubera?

I had some time on thursday and a little this evening to get some work done, here ya go!

I cut the pocket for the trigger frame to sit into, material still needs to be removed at this point see next image:

If you notice at the bottom you can see the extra wood has been removed around the frame and over my wrist.

Tonight I was able to hog out the wood and fit/mount the line anchor.

picture of my blank next to my current pursuit(SPEARDIVER) euro gun

After more research I am willing to bet that the wood is Longleaf Heart Pine. It is supposed to be about as dense and hard as oak but is more stable. All of these match the characteristics of my piece.

Has anyone else noticed that the wind picks up every weekend for the last few months now?!?! every time the water starts to clear up the wind picks up just in time for the weekend to stir it up and make it rough.

the keys definitely have the nicest reef and also some good wrecks. key largo is great for snorkeling and freediving but no spearfishing is allowed.

I'd recmmend flying into MIA and saying in the keys, they are all pretty much the same scenery wise but some are bigger/smaller with more accessibility and amenities. All of them are based around tourism and the water so getting out wont be a problem anywhere between key largo and key west

anyone getting out tomorrow?

I think you should give him whats left of your vessel and you should get his.... glad your ok and thanks for the report

sounds like a great time... I guess the mutton curse lives on?

Dan thats not what I wanted to hear... Did you get any fish?

nice work, were headed out for a couple hours tomorrow before we head to boca bash. Got a full boat of beach buns so hopefully I can get some snapper. We're going to try to find that spot where I got the dog that was holding all of those grouper.

Ha, how was the viz out deeper? I had hoped that with the flattening seas and dying wind it would clear up nicely

May I ask the purpose of the laser designator?

I want my next mask to have streamers or tassles off the sides so it looks like im going really fast when I swim

excellent work!

This weather may not be good for Boca Bash but it gives me the time to lock myself in the garage and slowly chip away at this gun build. The mech pocket was stressful simply because I don't have a router table for my big 1/2" router and I don't have the bits for the little router(stupidity). So I decided to go old school: drill holes and chisel.... It's taken lots of drilling, chiseling, installing, test fitting, removal, etc. The mech pocket is finally installed and I can engage the shaft and pull the trigger to release it. It's not quite perfect but once I shape the bottom of the blank for the handle install I will fine tune everything. I also drilled the holes for the pins using Woodguy's technique. Here's the pic:

I have been meaning to upgrade the steering in my boat for about a year and a half and I finally had the chance 2 weeks ago. My 96 proline had the original cable steering which still worked but required trimming of the boat to minimize steering resistance instead of using it to run cleanly through the water. This alone was reason for me to upgrade. However, anyone that has been on or seen my boat notices that the console is poorly setup and is designed to be driven sitting down. Well at 6'1" I cannot see over the console when seated, so I don't know who they designed this boat for. I have always run it standing up but my height requires me to stand somewhat spread eagle and hunched - not comfortable when running long periods. While replacing the steering head I decided to move the wheel up in the console as much as possible and also change the mounting from 20 degrees to 0 making it parallel with the face of the console. It took me 2 half days of work to remove, glass, cut and then install the new. The worst part being 16 years of rust/corrosion which seized the wheel to the shaft. The quick and easy fix was to hack saw the shaft and work with the wheel on a bench. After removing the wheel I had access the the bolts holding the steering head to the console. A spray of blaster and a quick turn of my wrench and the head was out. Now, I measured the console and determined that I could move the wheel up 2 inches without major surgery to the console, that plus the change in angle gave me enough to comfortable stand and drive. A wooden plug was cut and glassed in place. After several layers and a chance to dry overnight I was ready to begin installation. I used a holesaw mounted to my drill and drilled the new hole exactly 2 inches above the old centerline. I then spread epoxy over all exposed wood to seal it from the elements. Next I mocked up the bracket and drilled the mounting holes and bolted everything in place. Attaching the old cables was easy with just a couple of nuts/bolts and then the steering wheel went back on with antiseize applied everywhere the dissimilar metals made contact.

First test Drive- I dropped the boat in the local canal just to make sure everything worked and there were no issues.

Second test run - Sunday I got to take it out for the first time and the 20-25 mph winds out of the west and northwest promised some good chop. I ran it for 2 hours ranging in speed from 20-35 mph and the new steering is amazing the no feedback makes a word of difference in how I can trim the boat for conditions instead of pull. It allowed me to run hard and stay on top and not get fatigued fighting the torque of the engine.

latest test - Tuesday I tried to get out diving, winds were out of the northwest at 15 and I hoped for decent viz but it just wasn't there. I did however get a chance to run in some smoother water at WOT and again was impressed by the difference the no feedback system makes. I think I had it up to 42mph over long rollers and a light chop. The ability to trim the boat for optimal speed is great and the lack of effort keeps me from being exhausted when I get to a dive spot. Before I absolutely had to keep both hands on the wheel and fight it to run fast, now one handed operation is possible in even rougher conditions and faster speeds.
Quite possibly the best $120 I've spent on the boat!

steering wheel removed notice the hole location

hole patched up
no feedback head mounted

this one shows the angle being parallel with the console