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Floatline Set Up

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
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Brian Hamilton

Subsea Sniper
Jun 15, 2003
54
7
0
46
I am new to spearfishing and am just beginning to figure out a system for my floatline set up.

I am having difficulty tracking down a purpose built spearfishing float so am using an old lifejacket.

I bought twenty metres of 5mm starter cord cable from an agricultural supplier (the guy in the store was at a loss as to what kind of engine I would start with twenty metres of starter cord) which is string and mega stiff.

I have attached the cord to the lifejacket with a figure eight knot to the straps built into the jacket. I then got put a couple of elastic bands round the jacket to hold the bulk of the string to the jacket. The idea is that I dont have all of the cord hanging down round my body as I move around.

When I hit a decent size fish it will pull the remainder of the cord out from the elastic. the only concern I have is if the cord suddenly pulls through the elastic bands and starts tumbling on top of me.

What sort of set ups do you guys use? Have any of you made some kind of device to hold the cord until it is pulled by a struggling fish?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Brian.
 

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Haha nice system :)
Is the string at the other side held down as well? Maybe it will fall off into the water and get pulled down by a wave and it all comes loose?!
 
Hey Brian,
You could go the cheap and easy route by getting hollow braid polypro rope. The stuff is cheap, super strong, won't rot, floats and can be easily tied. You could also buy some premade vinyl floatline with some parachute chord or heavy mono inside. This is a little more expensive but is proven against huge fish. Remember that blue water guys didn't always have bungees so this is what was and still is used by a lot of guys. Up side is that it doesn't tangle as easily as the polypro. Down side is that it is usually expensive. You can make your own vinyl floatline but it is kind of a hassle.

As far as floats go, I am not sure if the lifevest is your best bet. I'm know the laws and regulations where you are but a lot of places mandate that you have a dive flag attached to your float. The Baywatch style torpedo floats are pretty good although I am partial to the 11 liter foam filled Rob Allen floats. To attach a flag, put the flag receiver on one side of the float then a 2 or 3 pound square dive weight on the opposite side. You can secure them to the float by either using long zip ties or whatever else you can tie that won't slip. You probably will want to attach a short line to your flag itself and tether it to your zip ties just in case you hit some rough water and youf float flips. In any case, good luck and happy hunting.

Brad
 
Hi Brian
This is my fav UK srearo shop, Ultra reliable :) http://www.apnea.co.uk/ t.hey sell floats and everything else
Details of a float line ripped off from http://ic_spearguns.tripod.com/
Start with 5/16" outer diameter clear vinyl tubing the desired length of your floatline. 50 to 75 feet is a good length. Attach a vacuume cleaner to one end with a near air tight seal (usind duct tape). Get kite string and vacume it through the tubing. Attach 300 lb test tuna cord, 1/8 in nylon or dacron line, or 2mm/3mm spectra to the kite string and pull it through with the kite string. Attach 6mm barrel swivel to one end of cord with 2 crimps spaced at lease 1/2" behind swivel and at least 1/2" apart from one another. Attach the other end of cord to a stationary object. Insert silicone rubber into end of tube and dip it into hot water to soften the end. Pull the tube over the swivel until it passes the swivel rotation line. Tie constricter knots between swivel and first crimp and between two crimps. This holds the tube onto the end. Now relax the line inside the tube and repeat at the other end to attach the swivel. Put 1/2" heat-shrink tubing over each end and heat carefully to shrink so as to protect the knots from abrasion. Trim tube around swivel line so the swivel will turn properly. Attach clips to ends as desired. Long-line clips and pigtail swivels both work well.

You can also use 3/8" outer diameter tubing with the larger diameter cord and 8mm swivels for a heavier duty float line.
hope this is some help :)
Ali
 
I went back, found this and dusted it off a little.

I took the idea from this picture: http://www.norcalfreedive.com/catal...s.php#diveboard but I didn't want to go poking a bunch of holes in a perfectly good body board :hmm. So I picked up a motorcycle bugee cargo net and laced it on with a piece of 3mm polypropylene 3 strand twisted cord. I laid the net on the board the way I wanted it and, looking at the bottom of the board with the net on top, I tied off in the upper right corner then went from there to the second hole down on the left side, to the third hole on the right, etc. all the way down and back up tieing off finally back in the upper right corner. The friction of the net and laces on the body board do a fine job of holding it all together, but I can slip the whole thing off if I want the body board for a body board again. :cool:

The picture shows a dive flag and shoulder straps. I left those off of mine. the picture also shows using two bungee cargo nets, I used one. It just doesn't cover the whole board.

For attaching the float line I unscrewed the leash plug, took the leash off and put that in one of my junk drawers. On the leash plug there is a top piece that is like a plastic screw and a bottom piece that is threaded on the inside like a nut. The bottom piece is built like a tube with a disc on the bottom. I took a piece of 10mm rubber tubing about 4 inches long and jammed one end of it onto the tube from the bottom piece of the leash plug, then jammed the whole thing through the leash plug hole from the top of the board down. The rubber tube serves as chaffing gear to keep the floatline from chewing up the inside of the leash plug hole. The top part of the leash plug went into the junk drawer with the leash. I then took 1M of 6mm polypropylene 3 strand twisted rope and burned one end to fuse the stands together then ran a piece of twine down through the hole in the leash plug, through the strands of the 6mm and back through the hole in the leash plug. I used this to pull the 6mm through the hole in the leash plug and tied it off with a double overhand knot http://www.realknots.com/knots/stoppers.htm
I made an eye splice in the other end of the 6mm http://www.northnet.org/ropeworks/text/s.html
I have 10M and 20M floatlines that I switch between depending on the depth of the area I plan on hunting. The eye splice just makes it easier to tie and untie the different floatlines without having to thread through the hole every time :head. It's kind of a tight fit and the fact that the leash plug piece I am using is threaded on the inside doesn't make things any easier. For a float line you will find you want polypropylene or something that is positively bouyant so it will hold itself up off the reef or wreck or whatever you're diving on. Some people also put a small float on the line a few feet up from the terminal end for this reason.

On the terminal end of my floatlines I short spliced on a 1M length of 9mm polypropylene 3 strand twisted rope after finding that this diameter neatly fits the hole in the butts of my Riffe guns. Then when I want to attach the gun to the float I just run the 9mm through the hole and tie it off with a figure eight knot.

This system isn't for fighting big, strong fish, but an easy way to tow everything around on the reef without loosing anything and with the least amount of hassle. For bigger fish that I would have to fight I would make this system a break-away and reinforce the attachment to the body board.

I hang a safety pin type stringer from the bottom of the board by hanging a snap link to the rear five strands of the lacing and snapping my stringer onto that. :)
 
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