Quick Detach Weights-3things, 3tools, 30minutes

Here is a quick DIY project, for anyone who wants to adjust weights on their spearfishing weight belt- quick and easy.

You'll need 3 "things"
a-Cotter pins about 1.5"
b-Rubber 3/8 tubing about 6" (will vary depending on type of weight)
c-Epoxy (I like G-flex for this project)

3 tools
a- Drill
b-Drill Bits
c-Dremel or File

30 minutes
Thats about how much time it should take to pull this DIY quick detach weight system together.

1-Drill 2 holes on the top (or bottom) of the weight and 1 hole on the opposite end, deep enough to fit about an 1" of the cotter pin
2-Clean up the holes with a file or dremel tool

3-Fit your cotter pin into the first 2 holes, a 1/2" should protrude 4-Mix your epoxy (I used about a drop of each per hole) and fill the hole
5-Put your cotter pin back in, pull it up and down a few times to get a good even distribution of poxy



6-While that is curing get your 6" piece of tubing open the cotter pin (the one going into the singular hole), and push the tubing to the end then tie it with a constrictor knot http://www.animatedknots.com/constrictor/index.php, nip it neat,










7-Once the first 2 holes are set,flip it around and do the same process for the other singular hole (that has the cotter pin with the rubber tubing) and let it set.


8-After its cured overnight, place the lead where you want it on your belt and pull the tubing around, engaging the 2 cotter pins-finito!

This simple DIY works pretty good! The weights sit right where you put them, and the rubber tubing also helps keeping the dive belt from shifting around your waist.





Till next spearfishing report, tight bands, straight shafts, and smooooooooth triggers!

Tone

http://www.settingsteelspeargear.com/

AssKickin' day yesterday

Woke up all sore yesterday (yep started working out again), kicked my ass out bed at 5am, got our ass kicked headed outa the bay (bad sign to start with) everywhere we dropped the low viz kicked our ass, 2-3' swells kicked our ass, ripping current kicked my ass, no fish in site kicked my ass, gusting wind kicked our ass, and drive back at 6 knots (engine acting up) entertaining 3' chop (in the bay) with nagging "salt spritz" kicking my ass....yep all in all it was a KICK ASS day.

note to self- take a look at the bouys before headed out in the am...even if you'gills'be dry for over a week

Till next spearfishing report, tight bands, straight shafts, and smooooooooth triggers!

Tone

http://www.settingsteelspeargear.com

Enclosed Track Hybrid Euro Speargun- first of its kind? Part1

Well we had quite a few gun builders and hardcore spearo's visit my tiny booth at the Bluewild Expo...and they were all pretty impressed with the HalfBreed (the only gun I showed, actually the only gun I had just about finished)It seems this is the only enclosed track hybrid speargun made on the market...I've been doing a few searches and up to now that statement seems to be true- lots of hybrids, but none with a fully enclosed track, pretty stoked!!! Alot of questions popped up about this gun and I wanted to blog about it as it may very well be questions that others of you may have, plus its a nice opportunity to showcase the HalfBreed. The idea behind the HalfBreed is my persistance in shaving inches off a speargun, while making it incredibly accurate and lessening the spearguns recoil- not an easy task fo'su, but if it were such then everyone would be doing it,right?


Speaking of which alot of great guns were at the Expo and from the looks "anorexic spearguns" seems to be catching on, I think alot of wood/composite gun makers are trying to get the manuevarability of a pipe gun with the benefits of wood-at least thats how it all started with me a few years ago, when prototyping various designs till finally creating the HalfBreed.
A Euro enclosed track Hybrid speargun is a great combination. A Euro speargun, due to its design recoils mostly straight back towards the spearo, the speargun's handle placement in the furthermost rear is the primary reason, this is a big attribute to why Euro spearguns are so accurate, and thus so popular with spearos worldwide. A "pipegun" style European speargun provides a minimum of drag, due to the narrow barrel, most are about 1-1.5" in diameter. Thus a narrow barrel makes for a more hydrodynamic speargun and so the final result is that the speargun tracks fast, this is essential as many fish targeted in Europe are smaller and faster than here in the States. So we can safely say that a European type speargun although it recoils, the recoil will not have a huge influence on accuracy; due to their streamline design will track fish faster and more efficiently than a square type gun like the Riffe Competitor Series and AB Biller spearguns to name a few.

The wood type spearguns have a few benefits as well which makes them also very popular with a lot of spearfisherman (and women)- For one wood is quiet, a wood speargun has very little if any metal clanking against the shaft (or reef), making it quieter than metal guns like the Mako spearguns, Jbl spearguns and Riffe metaltech spearguns. Wood is bouyant, more so than metal. Bouyancy is important in a gun(I will add that not all guns need to float- even though alot of spearos insist that a gun float with the shaft out- this is not always the case depending on what/where you are hunting. I'll talk about this more in another thread). Ok so why is bouyancy important? A speargun that floats will allow you to add ballast (fancy for weight)exactly in the area it needs it most not so much to "balance" the gun, more so to tame the spearguns recoil and shaft whip. I'm often surprised to see speargun builders novice and experienced alike put lead plugs along the entire speargun barrel's length "balancing" the gun throughout, ultimately making it negative...sinking completely horizontal, although it looks cool, its not the best way to ballast a speargun for optimal results e.g. best accuracy, most consistent accuracy, least recoil, and least shaft whip- these are the important factors when ballasting a speargun.

If a speargun is ballasted correctly shaft whip will be minimized. Shaft whip is the inertia caused when the speargun's bands,shaft, and muzzle react. Think of a rifle. When you shoot a rifle the recoil causes the front of the barrel to jump up, this is exactly what happens with a speargun...but the results are a bit different. When the speargun's shaft leaves the muzzle, the tailend of the shaft is lifted (due to the upward momentum of the muzzle)as it exits the muzzle, this inturn causes the shaft to move at an angle downward, resulting in a low shot- most guys who's spearguns are shooting low think they need to power up on the speargun bands, when in actuality they are more than likely overpowered! Of course, the shorter the barrel of your speargun, the more exaggerated the whip will be. Again using a firearm as our example, if we shoot a handgun you notice a more exxagerated whip of the handguns barrel compared to a rifle, this also applies to spearguns. We all want a short speargun (easier to maneuver) that shoots far (heavy bands or lots of bands or both)but having the best of both worlds is tricky, very tricky.

To help spearo's attain more power, in a shorter gun- the Enclosed track came to be. An enclosed track is a channel that runs from the muzzle to the trigger, in which the shaft is "enclosed" in (think of a rifle barrel). Many wood guns have the facilty to incorporate this in their design so you'll see many custom wood guns in enclosed tracks (this is very different than a rail, often found in pipe (Euro) spearguns. A rail is just that, a long groove in which the shaft sits atop, the shaft is NOT enclosed, it just rests on the rail).
Basically the enclosed track will tame the tailend of the shaft as it exits the muzzle so you can power up the gun while keeping shaft whip to a minimal. Another surprising observation is that most gun builders will open up the front 2-4" of a guns barrel (muzzle area), although I will if asked to, this will actually defeat the purpose of the enclosed track, as those 2-4" are the most vital to prevent the tailend of the shaft from dipping.

All these factors where important considerations when I set fourth designing the HalfBreed speargun-ease of maneuvarability, quick tracking, accurate, minimal recoil, quick loading, and quiet. Plus a few extra perks to make it the complete weapon for hunting the ocean. Stay tuned for Part 2 where I'll talk about the HalfBreed's Euro design coupled with wood and carbon fiber all inside an enclosed track.

Till next spearfishing report, tight bands, straight shafts, and smooooooooth triggers!

Tone

http://www.settingsteelspeargear.com/

The BlueWild Expo, Miami's best spearfishing show!

Sheri Daye pulled off another great event this year- The Blue Wild Expo is Miami's (and becoming the Continents) best spearfishing expo! This year had a lot of new exhibitors as well as many of the old standbys, with all the best spearfishing gear, at the lowest prices- I mean where else can you get a set of carbon fiber fins for under $100? Yep that's right many spearos don't know that not only is the BlueWild an expo where lots of folk get see newly introduced gear, but its also a show where we can all buy in on the latest and best spearfishing equipment heavily discounted! This year was special as Dr. Terry Maas was there first hand introducing his freedive vest, as well as Sheri's latest addition... the "Spearfishing workshops"...all sorts of "how to" from speargun band tying, to spearfishing off a kayak, to tricks on catching more lobsters, to yours truly workshop, Speargun Building 101, a complete simple step by step guide to building a spear gun. But that's not all, the BlueWild featured an awesome section on spearfishing art that in and of itself was a mini art show. Quite a few of our neighbors over in Europe came over not only sharing tips and tricks on apnea and spearfishing, but also bringing some pretty neat equipment, Juliano the man behind the wetsuit company Polosub was there exhibiting (and selling) has wetsuits- if any of you have tried a Polosub wetsuit then you know aside from being incredibly warm, they fit to a "T", and rightfully so as all are custom made to order. Dimitris from DEEP magazine was there again this year, with a great presentation, and a great spearfishing magazine as well. Speaking of great spearfishing magazines, we had our local boys representing with SPEARFISHING magazine, it seems they just keep upping the bar, on cutting-edge news on spearfishing our local waters, and even some international stuff too. Art Pinder was there, it was quite a privilege to be in such a legendary spearo's presence and also quite humbling to see one of my custom built trophys lined up along side his championship awards. Martin Stapanek from Florida Instructors International (FII) a legendary freediver and quite a spearo too, was there too, providing some great tips on longer breathold and diving deeper as well as diving safety. This year FII organized the ‎1st Annual Fort Lauderdale Freediving Open on Memorial Day and everyone had an awesome time! And lets not forget our locals, you know the fellas we go to (sometimes on a daily basis) for spearfishing gear- Mike from Florida Freedivers, Ulysses from ScubasWorld, Dennis and Luis from Austins, Andrew from Nautilus, and even some not so local- Josh from Neptonics was there with bags full of spear gun trigger mechanisms, speargun tracks, speargun remote triggers...and lets not forget Daryl Wong with his awesome spear guns. We also had all the local dive clubs representing Florida making a splash as well. Top of the line spearfishing gear for cheap, spearfishing workshops, Freedive clinics, spearfishing contest (unfortunately cancelled due to 30+ mph winds), Spearfishing Raffles and spearfishing legends all under one roof, where else but at the Blue Wild Expo...see you all there next year.


Till next spearfishing report, tight bands, straight shafts, and smooooooooth triggers!

Tone

http://www.settingsteelspeargear.com/