Worlds first gun with built in lantern?

[Craig Thailand]

Hi,

I just finished installing 60 Light Emmiting Diodes on to the barrel of my Euro. The whole job cost me about 30$us. I simply laid 30 L.E.D's on each side of the barrel, wired them up on some cicuit board, soldered up, then coated the whole thing in black silicone, except the L.E.D's of course! I used black instead of clear because i think it will be more resistent to UV rays, it wasn't untill i finished that i remembered i will be using this gun for night dives so UV rays are not really an issue

I am waiting for the whole thing to dryout before i take some pics and maybe a video, I connected it all up last night and it lights my room up real good. Even if it doesn't work as a torch it should still get the Cuda's interested

Has anyone else done something similar to this??

[marginatus]

pictures please

[takeshi]

cool idea. How does the light of 60 diodes compare with a standard torch?

[Craig Thailand]

The LEDs are VERY bright, they are economical too. I have the whole rig set up to one of those square batts that are the same size as 2 AA batts and it lasts for hours. I will post Pics, i promise, very busy at work so when i get time i will post the pics here. The problem is because the LEDs run along the Barrel they light up the ocean around me but not directly in front. So for aiming i still ned a torch but it should be cool for wreck diving and cave diving and stringing will be alot easier too.
I heard that fish can not see red light, is this true? If so my next mo' will be red LEDs inserted in the muzzle, I can see them clearly but they wont know whats going on, in theory.
Pics to come

[marginatus]

Why don´t you cover the sides with something reflective so all the light goes to the frontand not for the sides? I don't know if it will do any good... just an ideia

Fernando

[Ophiodon]

I heard that fish can not see red light, is this true

Some fish dont see red light. but most of the fish that you will be hunting will see the red light. red gets filtered out by the water as the depth increases.

[Amphibious]

Originally Posted by Ophiodon

Some fish dont see red light. but most of the fish that you will be hunting will see the red light. red gets filtered out by the water as the depth increases.

depth is irrelevant. red will be the first color to go by way of distance from the source. (so depth is correct association with sunlight) so a red light is still red @ 1000' or 10' if you are holding it in your hand.

be sure to check your local regs before using a light to spearfish. I know here in BC it is illegal.

[spaghetti]

Originally Posted by Craig Thailand

Has anyone else done something similar to this??

Ludovico Mares (founder of Mares company) some 35 years ago, on a pneumatic. But that wasn't succesfull, as LED technology wasn't available yet. The Mares flashlight gun was intended as a rock and hole gun for goupers and other cave fish. The problems were:
-lamp not on the same axis of the shooting line (thus pretty useless to focus on target)
-light spot too small (no LED available!)
-bulkiness: during testing, the lamp was often hitting the rocky edge of the hole, getting damaged or broken.

[Ted Budion]

Spaghetti, I remember that one! I've seen it at the Genova Boat Show, when it was THE venue for new spearfishing/diving products. The torch was braced under a Sten. Doomed to failure, it was just a gadget/marketing ploy for the unaware. Mares top spearos then (Scarpatti and Toschi) laughed at it in the back room... It wasn't 35 years ago. though. Hmm, 29?

[spaghetti]

Originally Posted by Ted Budion

Spaghetti, I remember that one!... It wasn't 35 years ago. though. Hmm, 29?

Ted, you are the "memoria storica" of Deeperblue!
You know a lot and have met all the greatest spearos. Scarpati is still a legend for us italians, many people say he was greater than Mazzarri. And you knew him personally! I'm jealous...
However, talking of Scarpati keeps us On topic.
For those who don't know him, Massimo Scarpati was six times national champ and one time individual World Champion (am I right, Ted?).
He's the spearo who brought the rock/hole hunting techinique to perfection: in his hands, a short pneumatic speargun and a torch became the instruments of a real science.
But those days are gone here in the upper Mediterranean: goupers have learned to find their hidings deeper and deeper (-25mt), sargos have learned to escape off shore instead of hiding in holes (maybe it's just a Darwin thing: those who used to hide in holes did not survive), giltheads stay well far off from crevices. The sea has changed, and the old short&torch technique has lost much of its sense iìon this neck of the woods...

[Ted Budion]

Originally Posted by spaghetti

Ted, you are the "memoria storica" of Deeperblue! And you knew him personally! I'm jealous...

We weren't friends, just met me few times when I was a wannabe. But he was always very nice. Insofar that he talked the then Mares sales manager (later CEO I've read) into selling me some gear whosale price factory direct at Rapallo. I still have the removable weights; they're the same sold under Sporasub brand now. I think I had good referrals, because I was a young buddy of freediving legend Amerigo Santarelli, who knew Massimo well and was a friend of the noted Mares product developer, Gianni Garofalo.

Originally Posted by spaghetti

Massimo Scarpati was six times national champ and one time individual World Champion (am I right, Ted?).

Yes, he won the 1969 Worlds, a competition still shrouded in controversy because the Italians decided to cancel the 2nd round due to "rough seas", nothing to do that the first three places after the first day were Italian, (Scarpatti, Gasparri and Santoro), I guess... Brazilian spearo Pedro Correia de Araújo (AKA Pete Turbulence, in Portuguese), who finished 5th individual, still has a mouthfull when he talks about this champs . He's the father of one of my best spearfishing buddies, Luisinho.

Originally Posted by spaghetti

He's the spearo who brought the rock/hole hunting techinique to perfection: in his hands, a short pneumatic speargun and a torch became the instruments of a real science.

Indeed. But he also sensed when the wind blew from other direction. He had Mares make a special longer Sten,105 cm long, new muzzle and all, later part of Mares product line for years, to dive and win the European Champs in Kilkee, Ireland, shooting only free-swimming pollacks.