Posts by Wishihadgills

Disclaimer: CJ, the owner of Neritic, is my best friend and I've personally had quite a bit of input on the design and development of these spears.

They are heavy duty spears designed with the intent of landing big fish and world records. They can also be disassembled for travel or configured in different lengths. CJ's dad runs a machine shop that manufactures high end aviation parts. Fuel pumps and other critical precision parts. The spears were a collaboration between the two. CJ's spearfishing expertise and his dad's machining and materials expertise. Occasionally I translated between the two of them. (my background is mechanical engineering) I was also one of the first testers.

The Neritic spears are made with extremely high quality (made in the USA) and CJ prides himself on customer service. Some of the main features are the ability to configure the spear into different lengths, heavy duty connectors and the tip. The slip tip that CJ developed is easily the best tip I have used for a polespear. It is a penta cut tip that is hollow ground. Similar to the most advanced arrow tips. It is EXTREMELY sharp. The other nice feature is it has a magnet in the base that holds it onto the injector rod. No rubber bands or strings to worry about.

If this sounds like a spear that fits your needs and targets and/or you have any questions about it feel free to PM me. I'm more than happy to answer any of your questions or put you in contact with CJ.

Solercomposites.com. I've had god luck ordering from them before. Prices are good, shipping and customer service are great.

I think it will have some impact on the flight. Like mentioned the flopper already does. The other issue is that this design assumes that the bottom of the spear is parallel to the sea bottom and that the shaft will not rotate at all during flight. Both are not always the case. It may have some benefit in very controlled tests but I don't foresee it being effective in real world applications.

Although I wish there would be more innovation in spearfishing I think I'm with Dan on this.

I don't understand where beuchat got the performance numbers. They claim 30% increase in range. There are a few problems with this claim. How are they determining the "effective range" of a spear? Most guns that I shoot will easily shoot to the second wrap of line and the shaft is not the limiting factor.

the center of gravity would be a real concern and would be trouble in rough weather. The pic aren't very detailed but there doesn't look like much that would prevent the weight from sliding. With enough lean it's basically falling but if that rope caught on something watch out.

Dan, they are great for going fast. the origin of that hull design dates back to fountain and cigarette racing boats. A couple companies then developed fishing boats off those fast hulls (donzi, contender etc) These fast boats performed well in the kingfish circuits and quickly became popular with recreational anglers. They were not really designed with diving in mind. Many have what they call an "integrated dive platform" but it is often taken up by 2, 3 and even more motors. There are a lot of boat styles that are much better suited for diving.

Hull looks similar to the large center consoles we have here Dan. a Seavee or Conteder. etc. 1800 'bs is a lot of weight but similar to a full tank of gas on a boat that size. Should be within normal limits of the boat.

Dan, I find the watch very helpful for "reading" the signals my body is giving me. Without a watch it's hard to tell how much time has passed. You could argue that it doesn't matter how much time has passed as it is all relative but for me it gives me a reference. What I mean by that is if I dive and I come up after 45s or so and feel like I was pushing I know something is off. Either bad technique, not enough surface time whatever. As the day goes on I can also track my performance. As I am warming up my dives are shorter then as the day goes on they get longer to a point and then start to fall off. When they start to fall off passed a point I know that I am fatigued and generally call it a day or move shallower. All things that you an judge by feel but it is much easier to compare hard numbers (at least for me). I don't really rely on any programming to tell me to do anything.

When diving deeper I do use the depth alarms as an aid to improve my technique. For instance If I know I am in 70 fsw I can kick down to a point with my head tucked and streamlined then as i approach the bottom the alarm can signal to start looking. Again not necessary. you can count kicks or with experience judge depth but an easy reminder.

The last function is like Marco mentioned to make sure I am getting enough surface time while diving deeper. Generally I feel ready to dive well before I should. What i mean by that is I feel recovered and ready to start a next dive after about a minute-1:30 after a 1:30 dive to 60. However if I dive again at this point my bottom time will be substantially lower.

Ultimately the watch is just a tool to help track the passage of time. It is not "necessary" but I find it very helpful.

Edit: Just thought of another helpful feature. A lot of the areas I fish in the keys are roll off or ledges. The depth can change 15' or more from the top of the reef to the sand at the bottom and the fish can be at a lot of places along this edge. If the boat is anchored or drifting it can only give you an idea of the depth bellow it. When diving these areas I make a note of the depths I am seeing fish and use this information when going to other spots. Some days the fish are on top of the reef at 45 other days in the sand at 85 or anywhere in between. Again experience helps but more information is nice to have.

Quote from Oscar

Having said that - frig the watch (except like Don to tell when it's lunch time) only safe way to dive is know yourself, dive within your limit, and listen to your body.

To me these course only teach you to dive deeper and longer.

The problem is that your limits can change for many reasons. Not enough sleep, a slight cold etc. There is no way to know your exact limit. With years of practice you will obviously get better at reading your body and this is often one of the reasons why older spearos end up being better.

The courses do not teach you to dive deeper and longer. This is a terrible misconception. Do some people advertise them that way? Yes. Do a lot of people take them for that reason? Absolutely. Are those the highlights that many report? Yes.

But that is not the emphasis of the courses. The courses stress SAFETY and proper technique. If you take a gun out of their hands, teach proper entry and finning, and remove all distractions a novice diver will dive deeper.

It's the same as saying a gun is dangerous. A gun sitting in a box will never hurt someone. Put it in the wrong hands and it can be deadly. It's not the guns fault, it's the user. If people choose ignore half of the things they learn in a course and just try to dive deep then yes they can get hurt but there are reasons there are very few deaths in organized free diving events (with the proper safety).

Ben did not black out because he took the course. He blacked out because he made a mistake (more than one) and was not using good technique. I don't know who the other diver was but I'm guessing he has taken a course and thats a big part of why Ben is still alive.

Ben's is not the only life that has been saved because a diver had taken one of these courses. And honestly I have never heard anyone say "he" died because he took a free diving course.

The problems I would see with the stopper are like you mentioned it may be impossible to undo (you could just cut it), it might have a hard time fitting into a mech and it has the potential to slip/fail. I like the splice idea but like Jon mentioned is a lot of work for most applications. The bowline will work. There are other more complex but more symmetric knots that might be better for drag purposes.

Bump :bump:

I've seen a couple of them off elliot key. The easiest way to tell the difference is the black spot on the top of their tail. If you can't see the tail and can only see the head, look for the tuning fork shaped marking on their forehead.

I would avoid Kevlar. It is extremely UV sensitive and degrades pretty quick in sunlight. You won't be able to see it though. It is also self abrading. A lot of the applications for kevlar rope are one and done. Fireman sometimes use it for escape ladders but it gets tossed after one use. For a soft connection spectra is the better choice. It is stronger for the same diameter and though you may loose some abrasion resistance it's not much. Better than either of them for reef hunting is stainless cable. Reef is sharp and will cut any of the fiber options. SS will hold up much better however you will sacrifice some tensile strength. The spectra is great for blue water species with soft flesh. The SS has a tendency to "saw" through.

It's easy to second guess yourself trying to find the perfect setup. I am certainly guilty of this. In the end, fish will break gear. The best you can do is check your gear often and replace wear parts regularly. In the end the fish will probably live. Theres a great thread on here that shows the ability of fish to recover. It takes a lot to slow down some of these big fish.

I would guess that Teflon powder would be a very bad additive. Teflon is very non reactive and I could think the epoxy would have a difficult time bonding to it. Most epoxies already struggle bonding to plastics and teflon is known for it's non stick properties. Graphite gets its lubricant properties in a very different way. My guess would be that if you used the teflon it would probably cure ok but would be very brittle and maybe even crumble.

As mentioned you will get the best information from the epoxy manufacturer and your own tests. There is a company KAP spearguns that I found through instagram that seems to be having a lot of success with colored epoxy tracks. I'm not sure how forth coming they will be with their methods but you might ask.

I guess it's possible. Stories pop up all the time of pelagic fish in shallow. Tuna are seen in channels and canals why not a wahoo?

For general spearfishing I would recommend the 90s. I have taken the spear diver 90's to 100' and back with no problems. (I've also done it in gara 3000's) I currently have a set of the C4 falcons a 100cm class fin. While I like them for diving deeper and they fit my kick style there are times when diving shallower than 60' that I would prefer a shorter fin. Also, while this may seem trivial, there are not a lot of bag options readily available for 100cm fins. 90's fit in a bunch of bags.

In case you are wondering I switched to the C4's after one of my c90's (in pathos pockets) flew off the boat. Working at a dive shop I could get a very good deal on the C4's and their new carbon has had fewer breaking issues so I tried them. I would not hesitate to recommend Dan's fins.

Ive long wondered if there was a solution to this. I'm lucky enough to have "normal" feet but I've dealt with a lot of people that do not have this luxury. A mold for a production pocket is like Dan mentioned very expensive but each person is born with a pair of molds (their feet) that could be used in a one off piece.

It would definitely take a lot of work but here are my thoughts. (this post can be moved or deleted if this is too far off topic or deserves its own thread)

Step 1: Use a silicon or polyurethane to make a female mold of your foot while wearing a sock.

Step 2: Use a resin to make a rigid copy of your foot. Smooth out features and add material to make it more generic.

Step 3: Using either a silicon variant or some other elastomer "paint" over the male mold from step 2 to make the basic foot pocket shape.

The tendons are where it could get tricky. I haven't thought about how to make them from scratch so I'll talk about the other potential solution.

Solution B: Buy an oversized foot pocket; then using 5200 or other adhesive glue the custom pocket you just made into it. Slightly more permanent than the sock.

This might be a bit off topic but I guess still falls under adjusting foot pockets. If I come up with a decent way to make good tendons I may add it here or start a new thread. Like Diving Gecko I like to tinker although it generally isn't cheap. Also theses are very "bar napkin" ideas and would probably take a few tries to get right. Could be an interesting service for our funny footed friends if someone did perfect it.

It's hard to learn much form that video but at first guess it would seem the shaft isn't engaging properly or the line release isn't set right. Does the notch on the shaft match the sear on the mech? When the line release lets go is the shaft released?

I've never heard a convincing reason to go with a slot over the holes. I always thought it was purely aesthetic.

I did notice that it looks like you have some pearl inserts. Are those just for looks? They would make a great place to hide lead if they aren't already glued in.

Otherwise GREAT work. It will definitely shoot fish and will only fuel your urge to build more. It's a sickness.

I agree about the loading pad. At the very least round the edges so they don't dig in. I would also suggest a little rubber so it doesn't slip.

Many of the less dense woods have poor strength. I would be concerned with the strength and the hardness. There are a lot of woods that can be used. Teak is very popular mostly for it's durability. Other woods can require much more maintenance and don't hold up as well or require more complicated finishes to protect them.

All that being said you can come up with the overall specific gravity of a gun based on rough dimensions of the stock and the weight/densities of the components. It takes a little math but isn't too hard to play with once you have the equation down.

:bump:

Shameless bump.