Dummies Guide to Rigging a Speargun

[dave]

I'll second using the right tool for the job (the £3.75 pliers from UK tackle shops are not the right tool!) A properly closed crimp is also much more streamlined and less prone to catching than any attempt with pliers
cheers
dave
www.spearo.co.uk

[Mr. X]

Good points about not shooting others, loosing spears/fish, using the right tool for the job.

I had a close look at the crimps on my gun and they are incredibly neat - it looks like they used a very wide crimping surface - almost the width of the crimp itself. Presumably made with a commercial bench crimper (mentioned in above article).

BTW The LeaderTec article also shows the correct technique for crimping double-barrel crimps - which struck me as not obvious.

[Magpie]

Right, here's some of my whipped joins. Its a bit fiddly but worth it I think, no chance of them catching on anything and much neater.

I only hunt reefs for not particularly large fish so I'm not sure how it'd work for blue water fishing but I don't see why it wouldn't, you'd probably want to use longer whippings for strong lines/bigger fish.

Nothing wrong with crimps when used correctly, I just prefer these

[miles]

Hiya

THANX for the pic's!!

Those look sweeeet!! I'll try them on my fishing tackle and see how the hold up. EXCELLENT idea for using in an emergency as well. I'll keep some whipping thread and a small bottle of super-glue in my dive bag from now on. I simply HATE carry-ing my crimper in my dive-bag. It rusts so quickly when exposed to a bit of saltwater

Regards
miles

[Magpie]

No probs mate, don't forget to blob the end of the line, will help to stop it pulling throught the whipping.

[dave]

Originally Posted by miles

I simply HATE carry-ing my crimper in my dive-bag. It rusts so quickly when exposed to a bit of saltwater

You need a Yamashita stainless crimper not cheap, but pretty much indestructable. I keep one on my boat in my spares box

cheers
dave
www.spearo.co.uk

[Spiderman]

The tackle shop offers alloy and copper crimps - which should I buy?

[charly]

hi miles!
thanks a lot, that really helped.
still two more questions:

1) how long should the line be for a 75cm omer?
(maybe you wrote it and i didnt get it)

2) when i load my gun the spear can move upwards in the muzzle,
so i am wondering, whether it is a good idea to run the line across
the spear, when it comes to the muzzle the second time.

hope it is clear what i meant.

anyway. thanx in advance for any answers.

charly

[SpeerO]

Hello all... this is a great thread.. can someone please post a closeup pic of how the double barreled crimp should be place and squeezed in a crimper?

Thanx
Zane

[Bill McIntyre]

These aren't great photos, but I hope they help.

With a big crimper like this one, the jaws are centered on the crimp so that the ends are flared out, not cutting into the mono. With a smaller hand crimper, you will have to move it and crimp twice, but you should still leave the ends flared.

[SpeerO]

Excellent!! Thanx Much. I crimped mine the first time wrong, i used point to cup on a double barrel but knew there was something wrong so i cut the line off and thought i should ask here.. heh...

Thanx again

Zane

[Griff]

hey guys, great thread!
there was talk about float line winders etc. Not a great idea in my opinion, but what works well and is used by most if the divers on my coast is this system:
say 30m floatline. shore entry. the line is tied up into little bundles of convinient lenghts, say 3. so when swiming through the surf the float is just behind you. you get to backline, and undo one bundle. now the line is 10m long. get deeper, undo another and so on. when comming back, you tie up new bundles again for easier exit through the waves.
the bundles are made by doing a figure of 8 between hand and forearm. they are secured by looping a few clove hitches around the two ends. this system is bullet proof cause the figure 8 means no twisting and so no tangles. the hitches are easy to pull off, so undoing it is a cynch. confused? probably. i'll try to take some pics and post them tomorrow.
cheers
mark

[Griff]

ok, here are some pics. sorry, a wooden floor aint the best background for an orange line.

so here's how it goes, with illustrations.

step 1. hold the line in your right hand, palm up, about 1.5m from the end.
step 2. wind the line between your palm and elbow, making a figure 8. you do this by talking the line out the right hand side of your palm, bringing it down and accross the LHS of your elbow. then back up and into the LHS of your palm. keep going till you have enough winds.
step 3. take the windings off with the left hand, making sure you keep the shape of the windings.
step 4. tie a few hitches, 2 or 3, around the end. the closer to the end the more streamlined, but bigger chance of coming off by accident.
repeat for the other bundles.
to take it apart, just pull the hitches off the end. the bundle comes apart tangle free.

let me know if more expl is needed.
cheers
mark

[Griff]

more pics........

[Ted Budion]

How did I miss this one for a month? Thans Griff. I was looking for this since I traveled with Colin Chester (also from Durban) and saw him bundling his float lines like this. But we started getting fish so I forgot to ask him how to do it.

For years we've used in Brazil floats in which the line is wound around it (design inspired in a model we saw in South Africa many years ago) or with an European type hand winder. But it's a disadvantage too when boat diving with two or more guys in water: whenever you cross someone else's line, the damn things get tangled. I wanted to use a South African float without winder, but we dive near rocks here. Sometimes a swell throws the float over it, so we must keep the shortest line length possible.

I figure bundling Durban style may solve the problem, doesn't it?