Cave spool on a diy float board

[Fishstab]

I’m looking at making a diy float board out of a body board which has been done many times before.

however I’d like a way to easily shorten and lengthen my float line, the simplest way is a cleat at front to wind the excess line around, but I’ve been thinking to take this a step further with some kind of spool/reel mounted up front.

ive attached a pic of the type of thing im looking at, however ima little worried about the plastic thumb latch that stops the free spooling.

anyone have an idea robust are these designed to be? My concern is if it breaks in some waves my float will be miles away before I know it

 

[Mr. X]

Yes, there are a couple of commercial spearing floats that do that and at least 2 forum members have made their own, one posted a thread within the last month.

I use a small piece of wood, about 10" long and about 2" wide with a big U-shaped notch at both ends to wind my float line around. I leave it attached to the float end of my float line. Although I can keep excess float line on that, I rarely do now, as I have tailored my float line length to my needs over the years, so the float line length is usually just about perfect for my needs. I can add a 5m clear monofilament "ghost," leader or a 1m reef-hook assembly if I needed to extend it but haven't found that necessary so far.

 

[Mr. X]

BTW I use Rob Allen's green polypropylene float line. It won't break.

I bought my RA float line for a reasonable price but some RA dealers overprice these cheap but excellent float lines. However the same or similar rope can be bought very cheaply elsewhere. I found some similar but slightly thinner, NOS, polypropylene rope washing lines at £1 for 20m! I bought a couple - these things last a life time, so I use them for other things. I also found a ball of near identical rope, new and unused in a carboot sale for 50p! I said to the seller, he probably couldn't find a more appreciative buyer in the country

So it is available elsewhere but not readily here, last time I looked. I just keep my eyes open. Those 2 examples above occurred over a 10 year period.

 

[Fishstab]

Yes, there are a couple of commercial spearing floats that do that and at least 2 forum members have made their own, one posted a thread within the last month.

I use a small piece of wood, about 10" long and about 2" wide with a big U-shaped notch at both ends to wind my float line around. I leave it attached to the float end of my float line. Although I can keep excess float line on that, I rarely do now, as I have tailored my float line length to my needs over the years, so the float line length is usually just about perfect for my needs. I can add a 5m clear monofilament "ghost," leader or a 1m reef-hook assembly if I needed to extend it but haven't found that necessary so far.

I’ve seen many diy float birds but none with a float line reel mounted yet, would be interested to see what others have done.

do you have any pics of yours? One thing I’m thinking about is where the float line attaches to, ideally underneath the nose of the board right? I see a lot of boards with the float line attached on top of the nose of the board which surely will encourage the front to dip into the water when swimming?

 

[Mr. X]

My floats all have attachments at centre front or below.

For a variety of floats, take a look at the Omersub.it website and Sporasub websites. Not sure if they still produce the same variety they used to. Also, take a look at this websites forum, DeeperBlue.com. We've discussed floats at length several times, once very recently and I inserted some images in that one.

 

[Fishstab]

Well sacked off the cave spool idea as the line used on them tends to be small diameter even though they say they can take 50m of line or whatever you would probably only get a few metres of floatline on them. Used some pvc pipe to make a cleat up front and the line routes through the board to the underneath to avoid the nose being pulled down when swimming with it.

Not quite finished, got a collapsible flag on the way and need to get some removable daysack straps on the back which I think I already have somewhere

 

[MAKO Spearguns]

We sell what looks to be a very similar reel. They are quite strong and I know some people have used them to anchor a kayak. You must be certain the thin line does not contact rocks etc.

However, a thin line like that used to attach the gun to the float, has a lot of opportunities for entanglement. Is it possible to use a more conventional floatline between gun and float?

I'm not sure I understand the proposed use/application.

Utility Diving Reel

The MAKO Spearguns Utility Diving Reel can be used to anchor your kayak, manage your fish flashers, or manage your surface marker buoy line

makospearguns.com

thanks
Dano