floats

[icarus pacific]

Glad to hear it's working for you Adam. See how the karma works?!

Abri is describing just that- slipping some thin tubing over the connections, ala a "part hat". Easy too is to use heat shrink to keep things nice and smoooth. Kelp and all will nab a swivel or little piece of wire/line loop quicker than you want to experience often.


sven

 

[Hawkeye31]

True that...
I see now that it is a long road to smoothness.

Adam

 

[Abriapnea]

Hi Brad , and welcome ...
Your comment on the drag of the RA float vs. the lifeguard float intrigues me
Are the RA's still shaped like stubby cigars ?
We have relatively rough seas off the African coast , and normally drag the floats/lines behind the boat as we move upcurrent to the reeftip .
The speed at which we can travel is invariably set by the guys with the RA floats , as they tend to porpoise in the chop , whereas my big lifesaving float rides with a nose- up tendency ; skipping over the waves ... sweet

 

[rigdvr]

maybe the drag is determined by the towing angle? Lifeguard cans are designed to ride with that sweet nose up posture...when towed from the surface. Just a thought?

 

[Abriapnea]

I think you are right , rig .
I normally use a smaller foam float when spearing inshore , could be that the pointy nose of a lifesaving float will tend to make it dive if a fish sounds . The sailies/wahoo/marlin that I spear with the lifesaver don't run very deep as an ignobilis would .

Have you ever speared a big chanos chanos ?

 

[andrsn]

Originally posted by Abriapnea
Have you ever speared a big chanos chanos ?

No, but I dated this girl from Southern France that could pull down a... ah... hmmm.... never mind.

 

[rigdvr]

a who who????

 

[Abriapnea]

http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=80&genusname=Chanos&speciesname=chanos

Milkfish ; these fish give the hardest run I have ever experienced .

 

[unirdna]

Ahhh the milkfish....minnows of the ocean. Don't underestimate those primative little buggers. They brought their A-game 100 million years ago....if it's not broke, don't fix it .

 

[Mattedhead]

I use the RA floats offshore, and they have very little drag. The construction appears pretty bombproof. If you are worried about the connections there are several mods you can make to back up the webbing connection. Inshore I use the OMER torpedo float. It is 1/3 the price of the Riffe and it has held up for two seasons(75-100 days) of use around a rock jetty. It has several D rings, an outer nylon cover, and a flag. It's only sign of wear has been a slight fading of the orange cover.

Matt

 

[icarus pacific]

Something I've been waiting to hear from others here and haven't is the use of your floats to float something else...yourself.

Maybe it's just me, but after a couple hours or some real tough dives, I'll clip my weight belt or harness that I'm sportin' on to the float and let it support me for a no effort breather. True that I tend to weight myself heavy, being jussst neutral at 3m, owing that I cruise to bottom very easily, and dare I say smoothly this way.

It's hard to do this with a pool lane float for use in the kelp, in which case, I'll crawl up onto the kelp ala otter and snooze there. Gives the birds a good scare when they look to land too.


sven

 

[ivan]

hi

Yeah Sven im a lazy diver too I also prefer to weight myself heavy so I dont have to do all that mongrel kicking to overcome positive buoyancy, then I monofin kick with my bi fins all the way back up.

cheers

 

[Amphibious]

I use an ancient Mares Sausage Style float, inflateable. wen I want to chill I just slide up on it and fit it between my legs - nice, semi-stable platform to rest on - keeps my head way out of the water so I can scope out the next hunting area.

I asked early on in this thread - but has anyone foam-filled an inflatable float? I'm thinking of using that spray foam.

Willer

 

[w3ac]

spray foam

Willer,

I'm not an expert when it comes to using foam but from what i have heard, the spray foam is a really low density foam that crushes at high pressure. I've also heard that it absorbs water if not properly sealed (as in a gun barrell) so reduced bouyancy and a water logged, heavy float may result. Let me know if you heard otherwise or if you do try it, let me know the results.

Brad:martial

 

[Abriapnea]

Willer ,
That spray foam is no good . It will soak water and isn't dense enough .

 

[Amphibious]

any thoughts on what to use then? this old float has some pinholes in it - but if i could Foam-inject it with something it could have a new life!

Willer

 

[ivan]

hi

If you have Terry Maas blue water hunting book it tells you in there the stuff to use and how to do it, I dont have it right here but maybe someone knows.

cheers

 

[icarus pacific]

The stuff to use is a generic two-part foam available at most fiberglass/boat type places. If you have a TAP Plastics outlet there in BFE, you're golden. Pay real close attention to the temps and the volumes your dicking around with because you don't want to know the cleanup involved with the stuff...


sven

 

[Jay Styron]

As the Sultan said, places like West Marine or Boaters World will have the foam. Just ask for the two-part polyurathane foam. Also like Sven said, mask off anything you don't want this stuff on and use plenty of drop cloths/plastic. I filled a couple of lifeguard floats w/ the stuff, I might as well tow the boat around as these two things. Not to mention being hit in the head w/ them or dropping them on your foot :waterwork .
Jay

 

[icarus pacific]

Actually the best floats I've seen are those that you sent me Jay!!:inlove


sven