Does adding a second band require cutting?

[MrChuk]

I am a new spear-fisherman so this may be a dumb question.
I have a cressi moicano speargun and when you look it up in the description it always says that it has room to add a second band. I can not find where to add a second band and was wondering if the "O" part has to have a small slice to fit in a band. I included a picture of the "O" part. Also will adding a second band affect the aim?

Thanks!

 

[Andrew the fish]

you have two options. One is to cut the ring, if you are using ready-made rubber with wishbone in place. This is not a big deal, but make sure you round off the edges of the channel you cut so it doesn't score the rubber. The second option, is using bulk rubber and feeding it through the ring before you do the ends. This is kind of a major step, you will need a rubber, dineema strings, insertion tool etc, by the time you get to this point you will have a couple hundred $$ invested and new skill. Kind of a marriage to the sport. Rite of passage in sorts (LoL).

oh and BTw, this isn't a dumb question

 

[MrChuk]

you have two options. One is to cut the ring, if you are using ready-made rubber with wishbone in place. This is not a big deal, but make sure you round off the edges of the channel you cut so it doesn't score the rubber. The second option, is using bulk rubber and feeding it through the ring before you do the ends. This is kind of a major step, you will need a rubber, dineema strings, insertion tool etc, by the time you get to this point you will have a couple hundred $$ invested and new skill. Kind of a marriage to the sport. Rite of passage in sorts (LoL).

oh and BTw, this isn't a dumb question

Thank you so much for the info! That makes sense now.

 

[Mr. X]

Yes you can use the hole. No don't cut it, just feed the rubber through and attach the wishbone.

Yes, it may affect accuracy but not necessarily significantly. Don't overdo it, manufacturers typically but not always put thicker spears on more powerful spearguns. Rob Allen for example. Good question - and others may have better answers. New spearos often over estimate the benefits of more power and underestimate the benefits of accuracy, balance, ease and speed of loading, and simplicity.

 

[DivingNomad]

You need to be careful of what thickness and length of the two bands that will be used simultaneously with this gun. Having two 18mm thick bands with high expansion factors will most likely cause issues with the trigger mechanism. This will lead to inaccurate aiming, trigger jamming, trigger will become difficult to press and even unexpectedly releasing the bands spontaneously. You may have to replace the original band to a smaller diameter band in addition to adding a new band. Choose wisely

 

[Mr. X]

I don't think I would add a second band to that speargun. Although you can in theory add a second band, I doubt they really designed for it (and I would say exactly the same thing for my lightweight, carbon barrel Omer XXVs). If you go for double bands, suggest you go no more than 2x14mm without specific reassurance from Cressi.

Alternatives: just fit a fresh band; fit new thicker/better bands or switch from screw in rubbers to bulk rubber, which are more powerful. You can get adapters to make screw in rubbers from bulk rubber, and to fit screw on wishbones, but I would probably try to use a bulk rubber loop through that hole in the front if taking the bulk rubber path - simpler and cheaper but perhaps more likely to upset your shooting accuracy. Actually that is what I opted to do on both my Omer XXVs. I also switched to Dyneema wishbones but mainly because that is what I started with and am accustomed to.