Rubber to make a Bungee

[flyflicker]

Hi

I have searched high & low over the internet, does anyone know where I can order rubber tubing to make my own bungees??

10cm diameter with a 3 or 4 mm wall

Cheers
John

 

[felipe felop]

try portland oceaneering in dorset,not connected

 

[felipe felop]

you could try medical suppliers on the web

 

[flyflicker]

Ok cheers feloppy

 

[ben]

Go to local fishing shop and ask for catapult rubbers..... bingo!

 

[Mr. X]

you could try medical suppliers on the web

I recall seeing boxes of clear/white surgical rubber (silicone rubber) in medical supply shop inside a US hospital. They started using it in higher-performance catapults back in the 70s. Not sure if it is "the right stuff" for the job (my RA & Beuchat bungees appear to be regular black latex rubber, as far as I can tell) but it should work, it's hollow, strong & v. stretchy. There is a video on youtube of a Spanish guy making a bungee, he used some bright green rubber tubing (I wondered if it might be intended for angling).

[BTW the Beuchat bungee/swivel-clip from apnea.co.uk are slim and seem well suited to UK-size fish. The RA bungees & clips are considerably bigger, stronger and heavier - suitable for big game fish.]

 

[Trelawney]

I recall seeing boxes of clear/white surgical rubber (silicone rubber) in medical supply shop inside a US hospital. They started using it in higher-performance catapults back in the 70s. Not sure if it is "the right stuff" for the job (my RA & Beuchat bungees appear to be regular black latex rubber, as far as I can tell) but it should work, it's hollow, strong & v. stretchy. There is a video on youtube of a Spanish guy making a bungee, he used some bright green rubber tubing (I wondered if it might be intended for angling).

[BTW the Beuchat bungee/swivel-clip from apnea.co.uk are slim and seem well suited to UK-size fish. The RA bungees & clips are considerably bigger, stronger and heavier - suitable for big game fish.]

I've used one of the Beuchat swivel clip bungees on my Cyrano, and found them to be quite flimsy. The swivel clip corroded and snapped at the start of the season (April). The bungee on my Rabitech may be bigger, but its bombproof and is easy to open with gloved hands.

 

[Mr. X]

That's interesting Trelawney. I just fitted my Beuchat Marlin Bungee this afternoon. The clip looks like a high quality (bearing type swivel) but very thin spinning clip. The clip is much, much thinner than the Rob Allen clip, so what you say does not surprise me although I find it disappointing. I was planning to buy another; perhaps I'll wait a while and see how this one pans out. I have some clips from Foxfish in Guernsey that might make suitable replacements & I have a spare RA clip but that be too much for the little carbon XXV 75.

Since my last post, I had my homemade minimalist bungee (3mm of marine bungee in-line between spear & muzzle) fail - snap - twice. Although it worked fine last year, I think the problem was that I switched from a double wrap of spear-line to a single-wrap - so there is a lot more energy left in the spear when it reaches the end of the line. Also, I shortened the spearline by removing about 1.5m of 3mm bungee -- the remaining, 4-6" of bungee was clearly not enough to absorb the impulsive tension at the end of the much shorter spearline. Lesson learnt. Fortunately I was able to find the shiney silver spear, despite heavy weed, twice - phew. Luckily I had not spray painted the spear matt black, as I was thinking of doing on the drive down.