What do you use for a float?

[Absolute]

Originally Posted by immerlustig

greetings,

i use this setup here for 2 years already. very rugged design (comparable to a boat fender), bright safety colors and cheap. the air ring gives added buoyancy and extra surface area, so during pull-ups the whole float can't be pulled down at all. on the carabiner i attach the line, etc.

i'm very pleased with that thing.

roland

Very Cool Roland. This is exactly the same system I was talking about.

But you get the cool points for the Nemo float.
If my wife saw that she would absolutly wet her suit!

Jay

[cdavis]

Thanks naiad and Jon. The pics really help.

Jon, if you are going to lend Ted the float, does the kid come with it?? She looks like a serious diver, might like Cayman.
Going back to floats. Given the distance we are planning, would a buggy board be a lower drag alternative? I have a relatively small, cheap one that should go on the plane ok.

Thanks,

Connor

[flyboy748]

95% of the time I use a boogie board float... only have a couple of (very bad) pics of it though. It's got a 1 gallon (4 litre) pail on top that I can stuff things into, and is also the attach point for the flag. It's 48" long, and goes through the water easier than any other float I've ever tried. There is a carabiner on the bottom (secured by a nylon weightbelt around the whole board) to hang anchor/downlines from. The spool has 30m of rope, and is homemade. The downside is that it dosn't travel well. It's fine in the car, but I've never taken it anywhere in the plane. In the plane I use an OMER torpedo float similar to Jon's Spora float. Small, inflatable and very convenient.

I also built a big dive platform (4'x8') that is fantastic... but too big to use regulaurly. I built it with two divers in mind, but last time we had it out on a club dive, it had 5 on board for most of the time, all with no problems. It's so stable that one person can easily sit on any edge without it tipping, and the deck is only 4-5 inches above the waterline, making it VERY easy to climb up on out of the water. *edit* This float was designed to support a counterbalance system, which it will do quite well.

Pics attached...
The distance pics of the boogie float are from at least 200m. Flag seems to be visible enough.
The bag on the big float is my 80m (12mm thick) diveline... haven't come up with a convenient way of storing/transporting it yet.

[cdavis]

Flyboy, thanks for the pics. Yours sounds like what I have in mind. I have a small, 32 in, boggie board that can be rerigged as a float, putting the towing attachment under the board and a series of bungie cords across the top, maybe with a net under them to hold drop line, water, sunglasses, flip flops, etc for two. Given your experiance, do you see any problems with my setup or have any suggestions?
When you tow yours, do you use a tow line (how long? ) or just the leash that comes with the board? Attached to your leg or arm?

Connor

[Jon]

Connor,

When I tow mine I use a D-ring threaded into one of the weights on my belt. I use a snap-clip on the float line, no suicide gate clips on anything attached to me, which I can clip and unclip anytime I want. I aim to have the D-ring in the middle of my back for faster swimming.

Jon

[cdavis]

Great idea, Jon. D ring behind the back it is. I figure on using arms and legs to get out to the wall. The ring thing should work well. How far back do you tow the float?

Connor

[Jon]

My normal float line is about 30' long so that's how far back I tow it. If I have a reel on it I let out about 20' of line and use that much- just enough so it doesn't bump my fins but not so far away that boats can't tell who it belongs to.

Jon

[Mr. X]

I use an 11 litre Rob Allen spearo float with dive flag (before I lost the flag crossing rocks ). It is a pretty good choice for a large male spearing but probably not the best bet for a regular size woman free diving as it is quite large & heavy, although robust (also relatively expensive). It sits high in the water though and produces very little drag.

Those inexpensive little round ones off ebay (from a dozen different stores) look quite neat & effective. I have seen scuba divers using them. Making one from a boogie board seems a good idea if you have an old one.

I had nice XL single bladder inflatible spearo torpedo float -- never used it though -- so sold it to another forum member. I think it came from Portugal originally. Really nice design. You'd probably need a pump to fill it quickly though.

Checkout the Omer site -- they make an excellent selection of floats.
Spearo Dave offers one, Portland Oceaneering have a few types in stock, apnea.co.uk have a fair selection including several of the Omer line.

[flyboy748]

Hi Connor,
I never tow mine anymore actually. I used to, but the line continually seemed to get caught in my fins and around my legs. Now I just push it in front of me while I swim out to the dive site, just like you see in pic 1 above. It actually makes me faster in the water than the other divers swimming along with me for some reason, maybe arm position.

My torpedo float I do tow sometimes, but only if I'm diving while touring along somewhere, and anchoring it isn't practical. Then I hook it to my belt with a carabiner, and I tow it with 50 feet of line so I can dive (up to 50 feet anyway) relatively unhindered. I like the D ring idea though Jon... I might try that out.

Cheers,
Aaron

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by flyboy748

Then I hook it to my belt with a carabiner, and I tow it with 50 feet of line so I can dive (up to 50 feet anyway) relatively unhindered. I like the D ring idea though Jon... I might try that out.

I have been toying with the idea of attaching my float-line to my belt rather than speargun (or perhaps to both even -- does anybody do that currently?). As the belt is quick-release, I guess it should not be any more dangerous (& the belt can be retrieved if nes.). There are quick release knots that could, perhaps, be used instead of a krab. (e.g. highwayman's hitch) but I doubt they'd stand up to rigors of freediving.

[Jon]

Aaron,

I use a floating line so it doesn't get caught up in my fins, too much, when I tow it. I can't push it because I always have a camera, or a speargun, in my hands.

I don't use knots on anything I might need to ditch underwater. I also don't use any type of 'swing gate' clips on my gear- a carry over from tech diving where we call then "suicide clips' because of their nature to tie you to the bottom. I only use bolt snap clips on my gear and you can get them in any size to accomodate thick gloves.

Jon

[Mr. X]

Terminology clarification:

Is "swing clip" the same as "screw-gate karabiner" (i.e. a climbing krab where you manually or auto screw a locking sleeve over the gate so it cannot accidently open - used for belaying)?

"bolt snap clips" same a regular karabiner with spring closure gate (i.e. the krabs you use to clip bolts, on bolted climbs)?

[Jon]

Here's a couple of pictures to show the difference.

I use locking carabiners on my diver lanyards for ice diving and my counter balance retreival system, but I wouldn't use them to clip stuff onto my body in normal freediving or spreafishing. Even when I use them for ice diving I still have a quick release shackel on the wrist side of my lanyard in case it gets stuck on something- I never want to be tied to anything on the bottom.

Swing gates have a nasty reputation in wreck diving circles from snagging on discarded fishing line and wires- that's why they call them suicide clips since more than one diver has died while wearing them.

Snap bolts are what you find on most dog leashes. The lock, but they can be released easily enough. I usually will tie my snap bolts off to whatever they are attached to- cameras, lights, tools, ect. This is just another carry over from tec diving (DIR to be more exact) in that you always want to be able to cut yourself free from anything- including a snap bolt that's been jammed shut by sand or ice.

Jon

[Mr. X]

I see. The built in swivel is a good idea. I was thinking of climbing carabiners, as I sometimes use a couple of old, lightweight, Clogg Wales anodized ones (designed to resist saltwater corrosion, for climbing sea cliffs). Here are images of what I was thinking of (& which I will probably use, unless somebody can think of a good reason not to). They are much larger than most (but not all) brass clips that I have seen but they are very easy to open one handed (esp. after years of practice) -- although you can buy cheap, small, rated & unrated ones for keyrings, etc.:

http://www.mtntools.com/cat/rclimb/cams/dmm_4cams.htm
http://gearx.com/product_info.php?pr...b4fbe219cac82b

..but not this:

http://www.mtntools.com/cat/rclimb/b...laymaster.html

[Mr. X]

Originally Posted by Jon

...
Swing gates have a nasty reputation in wreck diving circles from snagging on discarded fishing line and wires- that's why they call them suicide clips since more than one diver has died while wearing them.

Snap bolts are what you find on most dog leashes. The lock, but they can be released easily enough.

Re-reading your posting, I see you use the clips on the right -- initially I thought you meant the opposite (as I think I might have problems opening the dog lead clips with gloves on & cold, wet hands -- never tried it though). So the primary danger is accidently clipping line/net/etc. rather than the clip being difficult to unclip if jammed? In that case, simple clip carabiners would be contraindicated (bad!) -- especially modern wire gate & bent gate designs,with streamline snouts, which are designed for easy clipping. [Although, hopefully, there is always the fallback of releasing your weight belt (which, being attached to the float, can be retrieved).]

In that case, the old American-style oval carabiners, which are rubbish for climbing, might be a better design. The features that make them so bad for climbing (v. difficult to clip & orient) would be an asset for diving! [While ovals are bad, Black Diamond gear is excellent]:
http://www.bdel.com/


Think I will try one of those dog clips!