• Welcome to the DeeperBlue.com Forums, the largest online community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing. To gain full access to the DeeperBlue.com Forums you must register for a free account. As a registered member you will be able to:

    • Join over 44,280+ fellow diving enthusiasts from around the world on this forum
    • Participate in and browse from over 516,210+ posts.
    • Communicate privately with other divers from around the world.
    • Post your own photos or view from 7,441+ user submitted images.
    • All this and much more...

    You can gain access to all this absolutely free when you register for an account, so sign up today!

Some equipment insights for 2017 - silicon spray & weight vest leads

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.

Mr. X

Forum Mentor
Staff member
Forum Mentor
Jul 14, 2005
8,348
1,707
418
We live and learn (hopefully). Here are a couple of things I learnt last year:

1. Silicone spray - useful for protecting & lubricating speargun rubbers, O-rings on torches, etc.. especially when stored for the winter. I often see this priced at ~£6 but Toolstation consistently has the best price I have seen: 400ml for £2.79 - check it out:
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p21983?mkwid=s_dc&pcrid=142461465581

2. Weight-vest ballast - I have bags of lead-shot in my Mares weight vest. It gives a surprisingly organic lumpy texture to the vest, which probably helps camo BUT it takes a heck of a long time to dry (2x as long as the rest of my gear). The lead shot really seems to hold the water. So lead plates/dive weights might be a better option ;)

Did you learn anything new last year? Any tips to share?
 
If your buoy bladder punctures and you cant get a replacement, at a pinch you can use empty squash or coke bottles, they work a treat, repurpose and then recycle and all that! :D

Blackwitch neoprene glue really is as good as they say it is! :)

Don't get over obsessed with gear and become a gear junkie, enjoy the experience of being in the sea, that's were the fun is.

If you do a lot of surface swimming and swim on your back or sides, consider a tinted mask.

Don't paddle a kayak with smooth neoprene gloves.............. you will need the blackwitch glue!

I think that's it............. for now ;)
 
A load assist rubber. Even for guns less than 1.4m where one isnt really needed, they still are great to use as they reduce the amount of energy used to reload & recovery time after reloading is much faster. It also means that 1.7m guns & 2m spears are now practical.

I started using a silicone weight belt, I had only ever used ones from the webbing type material which didnt stretch. What a difference in comfort with the silicone one.

Using small profile slip tips on 7.5mm spears. I use & trust the Riffe slip tips on 3/8 & 11/32 diameter spears, but they are not great for smaller diameters & this has stopped me from using thinner spears even in areas where fish 30kg or smaller are expected. I have a couple of the little Mori sliptips now which fit on a 6mm thread & this has allowed me to scale down to lighter spears & guns for some occasions. For example I am currently using a gun 1.6m with a 1.8m 7.5mm threaded shaft with the little sliptip which brings its effective length up to 1.9 when fitted. The three pieces of relativly new gear which makes this particular set up practicle now are the green progressive rubber, as the spears start with less whip, a load assist rubber, longer guns are easy to load now, exquisite small diameter slip tips, I can use little 7.5mm diameter shafts without putting 14mm diameter slip tips on them.

I think that enegra in composite fins now will also be a game changer as it adds a level of durability to carbon without compromising performance to much. This will be interesting to watch.
 
DeeperBlue.com - The Worlds Largest Community Dedicated To Freediving, Scuba Diving and Spearfishing

ABOUT US

ISSN 1469-865X | Copyright © 1996 - 2024 deeperblue.net limited.

DeeperBlue.com is the World's Largest Community dedicated to Freediving, Scuba Diving, Ocean Advocacy and Diving Travel.

We've been dedicated to bringing you the freshest news, features and discussions from around the underwater world since 1996.

ADVERT