I recently got my hands on a secondhand Apollo scooter and with a bit of time with the welding gear made some modifications so that it works one handed and drags me by a lanyard to my weight belt. Here is a pic.
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Modified Apollo Scooter for Freediving
- Thread starterADR
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
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40lb of thrust and 3 prop pitch settings. For recreational freediving it's plenty and the fast setting is actually a bit too fast. Havent used it up and down a line yet but imagine it will keep up fine with a monofinning CW dive. Burn time seems to be about 60mins and no finning required to get off the surface. I had one of the cheap ones from the dive shop in Beaumont st in Auckland and there is no comparison. Turn your head the wrong way and you will lose or flood your mask.....reminds me of another thread with an image of you. I will try and get some video soon. Rated to about 80m.
regards
regards
I use a rock climibng harness and just clip into a strap I tied onto the prop guard. It allows me to drive one-handed and clear my ears with the other hand.
Nostres made a pretty good video last year of Longfins and I playing around with our scooters up at freedive-a-apooza. If you dig around through here you should find it somewhere.
Jon
Nostres made a pretty good video last year of Longfins and I playing around with our scooters up at freedive-a-apooza. If you dig around through here you should find it somewhere.
Jon
Hi Jon,
Thanks for the post. I tried that originally but wasn't happy with the position as the handles are at the front which puts the scooter too close and the pivot point with the strap at the back in the wrong place. You can see in my pick the strap to the prop guard and the handle at the back allows me to get further from the scooter with true one hand balanced riding and directional control due to the pivot and towing points being both at the prop guard.
.....only thing now to solve is the tortion created by the prop as it is a bit like a helicopter without a tail rotor....simple mod for this with some deflection plates
Thanks for the post. I tried that originally but wasn't happy with the position as the handles are at the front which puts the scooter too close and the pivot point with the strap at the back in the wrong place. You can see in my pick the strap to the prop guard and the handle at the back allows me to get further from the scooter with true one hand balanced riding and directional control due to the pivot and towing points being both at the prop guard.
.....only thing now to solve is the tortion created by the prop as it is a bit like a helicopter without a tail rotor....simple mod for this with some deflection plates
Where your T-bar comes up is where I tie my loop into the scooter. I use a single, locking, carabiner to attach to my rock climbing harness. I used to use a standard weightbelt and crotch strap, like for a backplate/wing set-up, but after seeing how well Longfins climbing harness worked I forked over the $35 for a cheap harness from REI. It's very comfortable ad allows me to clear my ears or video tape with my camera. It also gives me extra places to clip off things like cameras and tow lines.
I had purchased one of those Saddles from Apollo a few years ago, but didn't care for it too much for freediving. It allows you to run the scooter between your legs and then you have the handle that comes up to your crotch. It works OK in theory, but the trigger doesn't activate as fast as I wanted- and sometimes got stuck in the on position.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K45pJRsqiIg]YouTube - Freedive Palooza 2007 short preview[/ame]
Jon
I had purchased one of those Saddles from Apollo a few years ago, but didn't care for it too much for freediving. It allows you to run the scooter between your legs and then you have the handle that comes up to your crotch. It works OK in theory, but the trigger doesn't activate as fast as I wanted- and sometimes got stuck in the on position.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K45pJRsqiIg]YouTube - Freedive Palooza 2007 short preview[/ame]
Jon
I think you may misunderstand the handle on mine. It's for your hand not for sitting on and I have a strap to my harness which you can see in the pic. Also in the pic you can see the remote trigger which is also operated at the handle. The result is a silent submersion or gavin scooter type riding position and control. My Apollo now rides like the black (non apollo) scooter in your video which is a vast improvement to the yellow(apollo) scooter which even with a tether strap only allows for momentary release of the dual type handles to equalise.
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I see it now.:head
I thought it was a T-bar seat at first. That's pretty slick. My father-in-law's Gavin is easier to stear than my Apollo because of the attachment points- so was Longfin's X-scooter.
Can you post some more close ups of that trigger mechanism? Does it ever stick on you?
Jon
I thought it was a T-bar seat at first. That's pretty slick. My father-in-law's Gavin is easier to stear than my Apollo because of the attachment points- so was Longfin's X-scooter.
Can you post some more close ups of that trigger mechanism? Does it ever stick on you?
Jon
glad you are with me now and I'll get you a bunch of pics of the trigger and the handle. Just picked up from your video that the x scooter has the tether in the vertical plane rather than the horizontal and I think I might be drilling a few more holes to change mine. The trigger is very simple and relies on both the scooter trigger spring and the natural rebound of the steel cable and sheath. Only been out for one session with it but it didnt stick at all.