Thanks for the input guys. Spaghetti I did read somebody comment that the wire wishbones can fray, which is not so nice for the fingers - I think RA offer them too though but most people go for dyneema. So Omer has the more normal thread? BTW The Omer end-cap are nicer (soft, thick plastic) than the Picasso end caps (shiney, hard/brittle plastic).
My diving at the weekend marred by some equipment problems
. My newly repair
Omer mask started leaking again And I was unable to load my Omer XXV 75 to the last notch because the new
Dyneema wishbone would not stay in the notch! I eventually managed to load to the first notch but the dyneema's grip was precarious and extreme caution was required. When I loaded it a second time I could feel a
tendon pop in the back of my hand (wince) as I tried to hold back the bands while simultaneously gently removing my finger tips so as not to release the wishbone's tenuous grip on the notch -- painful & the back of my hand has swollen up (all those years of climbing somehow without damaging finger tendons and now this!).:crutch It's been a bad year for injuries & illness.
I caught glimpses of a couple of small-ish bass hiding in weed & 3 small-ish mullet travelling together at speed. A larger mullet had the audacity to swim over my head as I did a (very) shallow water aspetto in about 4 foot (1.5m) of water! The only fish to come near enough, long enough to shoot was a tiny, barely legal size bass, the smallest bass I think I have ever seen - which I had no interest in taking. But it's always nice to see bass & mullet. Lots of tiny wrasse about (often paired up with a spider crab, strangely), one big one & a couple of medium size ones. Not as fishy as it sounds though - quite disappointing really.
I think the Omer XXV is more precisely engineered than I anticipated. The bands seem ever so slightly higher than, say, my RA railgun's, presumably to work with the French articulated wishbone. The bands seem to be lifting the Dyneema out of the notch (the old metal wishbone would just dig itself in). Of course the
notches in the spear are also too shallow - I'll need to make them deeper somehow (suggestions welcome) - which is perhaps the main problem.
I wonder if removing the plastic bar which sets the height of the XXV's metal muzzle "wishbone" might help lower the bands slightly(?).
Meantime,
Plan B, I put in my order for bulk rubber to SpearIt in the USA (I was unable to source it in the UK, it's made in the USA and it's cheaper & easier to buy it direct from there): 19mm, 16mm and 14mm bulk rubber for making bands, 1.9mm Dyneema and some nickel/brass beads for making wishbones, some 3mm dyneema to make looped beads later and some kevlar contrictor cord (normally whipping cord is plenty strong enough but wanted something a little softer & wider so as to not cut into the rubber - kevlar strength seems unnecessary but the price was ok & the other attributes look good). Not sure if/how I'll use the 14mm rubber - perhaps as a pair or an asymmetric pairing with a 16mm band. We'll see.