The official "Show off your gear" topic

After Medic Chris, this is going to seem waaay overboard, but...

Suits- Picasso 9 and 7 mil Commercial Termics
Picasso 5 mil Camu
Picasso 3 mil Termic
an old no BS Unisuit with a neck ring for my 17 and 27's

Boots- whenever I see a pair of 5 mil with NO zippers and thin soles, I buy 'em!
Picasso 3 mil socks

Gloves- The latest are Akona 3 mil Kevlars. They leak.

Masks- AQA Mantis clear, amber and mirror with lenses by Prescription Dive Mask in San Diego, who are great people.
An AQA Merman with lenses for my SCUBA stuff
An old Dacor similar to the Merman that I keep for sentimental reasons, like it works after 30 yrs.

Snorkels- A Farallon- big bore, great bend and a rotating moldable mouthpiece, which by the way if anyone finds one, it's a $100 to you! I'm serious!! The other is an AQA similar to the Farallon. The OMER Zoom is too limp for the kelp here and limp and the Sultan of Smooth are never used in the same sentence.

Fins- Esclapaz open heels- don't laugh, they rock!
Omer Millenium Comps
a pair of OMER Ice fins that haven't cracked, yet
a Waterway mono that just sits in the corner, but it was free, so...
C4- 40's
I'm looking forward to a set of Matrix fiber #4's

My weights are homemade, I use hydro's from Hana Pa'a and I use a Sporasub harness, it's great on my back.

My knives are cheapo $14 Skeleton's and I carry a pair of snips when I use wire.

I use old Seiko digital/analog watches including a smooth and rare titanium SAT model, the Roly stays in the safe and have a Mares Apneist provided by Stylin' Jay. Nice to know the temp if nothing else.

My guns- ahh my guns.
JBL Customs that are really reworked
An old JBL Magnum cut down and reworked that's a great tool for the rigs.
Two Riffe Islands. Yep, two.
a Riffe Metal Tech#1 and a #3
A homemade 42" hybrid titanium pipegun, kind of a Wong takeoff, with Alexander guts and OMER reel. A sweet snapper setup. Hurts the Jewfish better.
A 56" homemade laminated teak bazooka for the WSB and Yellowtail in the kelp. Alexander guts also.
A 65" homemade teak pure tuna gun. 18 pounds of stainless launcher.
A 44" teak gun similar to the 56" in the press.

All the floaters and bungies are mine, the big float is a Riffe and I'm looking at an RA.


The SCUBA stuff is another page or two and the work stuff is completely custom.

Makes me wanna get on ebay to make rent...

Sufferin Sh#@balls.

I was wondering what was takin you so long to get your ducks in a row and post the goods.

If you pick up any more hobbies, you're going to be living on the street.

Ted

Just to make this thread look more normal, I'll post my gear to get eyes of Svens massive list..

Finns: cressi gara 2000hf
masks: omer abyss, cressi big eyes, mares seta.
Suit: Omer 7mm yamamoto opencell. ( This thing will keep me warm anywhere.).
gloves: some omer gloves.
socks: omer socks.
knife: omer mini stiletto.
gun: omer alumnium 75 ( I'm going to get me something bigger for spearing trips.).
computer: suunto mosquito.

And some scuba gear that i dont use very much.

Tuomo

weights....

"My weights are homemade, I use hydro's from Hana Pa'a and I use a Sporasub harness, it's great on my back." --icaurus pacific

--I've heard of this setup being great, as the weights do not slide all over whilst diving...howz it work? I can't visualize this; is it pictured on the Hana Pa'a website?...(and what are hydros?)

Cynthia

Okay, somebody had to ask, so anybody that cares to read this better crack a cold one and kick your feet up.

My Gear
Gun-Riffe Competitor #3XS
Bands-made by me, Riffe parts, 3 9/16"x24"
Shaft-Riffe 9/32"x57" Hawaiian Flopper
Shaft Line-.065” (1.65mm) Weed Wacker Line x 2 wraps, the smallest diameter I could find a 600’ spool of
Mask-ScubaPro Trinindad, black silicone skirt
Fins-Riffe Silent Hunter (O.ME.R. Milleniums)
Snorkle-ScubaPro Shotgun II
Knife-U.S. Divers Master Knife
Gloves-cheap rubber dot recycled PET bottle gardening gloves from the hardware store
Wetsuit-Bare Velocity 3-2
Wetsuit-BodyGlove Pro2 2-1 shorty
Wetsuit-BodyGlove top
Hooded Vest-ScubaPro 0.5-2.5
Weight Belt-Sea Pearls pocket type with the zipper across the top
Weights-Sea Pearls shot bags
Lights-Princeton Tec MiniWave
Lights-Princeton Tec tec 40
Float-modified Wave Rebel Malaga body board
Floatline-6mmx10M three strand twisted polypropylene with 9mmx1M three strand twisted polypropylene short spliced to the gun end, from the hardware store
Floatline-6mmx20M three strand twisted polypropylene with 9mmx1M three strand twisted polypropylene short spliced to the gun end, from the hardware store
Socks-cotton ankle high athletic type
Stringer-Trident stainless steel safetypin type with a little loop at the top and a big loop on the bottom
Goodie Bags-Trident nylon mesh with a draw string top
Goodie Bags-nylon mesh with a folding hoop top with handles
Watch-plain ol’ Casio G-shock and another G-Shock that I found off the beach in 6’ of water, it had been in the water awhile, but it still works

Wife‘s Gear
Mask-Genesis SL, black silicone skirt
Fins-Mares Clipper
Fins-Gull MEW
Snorkle-ScubaPro Shotgun II
Goodie Bags-Trident nylon mesh with a draw string top
Goodie Bags-nylon mesh with a folding hoop top with handles

#1's (11 yr. old son) Gear
Gun-Riffe Competitor #2S
Bands-made by me, Riffe parts, 3 9/16"x20"
Shaft-Riffe 9/32"x50" Hawaiian Flopper
Shaft Line-.065” (1.65mm) Weed Wacker Line x 2 wraps, the smallest diameter I could find a 600’ spool of
Gun-Riffe Metal Tech #1, this was going to be my night gun but he took it over as soon as we opened the box :hmm
Bands-made by me, Riffe parts, 2 9/16"x18"
Bands-made by me, Riffe parts, 4 1/2"x24"
Shaft-Riffe 9/32"x44" Hawaiian Flopper
Shaft Line-Riffe 400 lb. x 2 wraps
Mask-ScubaPro something that I can’t find on their web-site, black silicone skirt, another piece of my gear he decided he needed worse than I did :hmm, but then, what are Dads for, right?:head
Fins-Cressi-Sub Pro Star
Snorkle-ScubaPro Shotgun II
Knife, large, leg-Oceanic Titanium Square Tip
Knife, small, arm-Scubapro small something with a pointy tip, good kill knife
Gloves-Akona Adventure Gear
Wetsuit-Bare 3-2
Wetsuit-BodyGlove Pro2 2-1 shorty
Hooded Vest-ScubaPro 0.5-2.5
Weight Belt-XS (as in excess) Baggage, pocket type with velcro flaps
Weights-Sea Pearls shot bags
Float-modified Wave Rebel Malaga body board
Floatline-6mmx10M three strand twisted polypropylene with 9mmx1M three strand twisted polypropylene short spliced to the gun end, from the hardware store
Floatline-6mmx20M three strand twisted polypropylene with 9mmx1M three strand twisted polypropylene short spliced to the gun end, from the hardware store
Socks-cotton ankle high athletic type
Stringer-Trident stainless steel safetypin type with a little loop at the top and a big loop on the bottom
Goodie Bags-Trident mesh with draw string top
Goodie Bags-nylon mesh with a folding hoop top with handles

Baby’s Gear (2 1/2 yrs.)
Dive Skin-XCel shorty

Extra Stuff Just Laying Around
Polespear-JBL 6’
Point-JBL Double-Barb Spinner
Point-JBL Paralyzer
Shaft-Riffe 5/16"x55" Threaded
Shaft-Riffe 5/16”x48” Threaded
Point-Riffe Large (there’s about three of these laying around here)
Mask-ScubaPro Microframe, black silicone skirt
Mask-ScubaPro Trinidad, clear silicone skirt
Mask-Seac-Sub e-xtreme, clear silicone skirt
Mask-ScubaMax, clear silicone skirt
Snorkle-ScubaPro Trinidad x 2
Snorkle-ScubaMax
Fins-Mares AvantiQuattro x 2 pr.
Fins-Oceanic Flex
Fins-Wave Rebel Body Board Fins
Wetsuit-Akona Adventure Gear CoolFrog full suit, was #1’s until he split the crotch out of it taking it off :hmm, now I’m just saving it for the neoprene
Booties-felt sole with a zipper up the side 4 pr.
Booties-rubber sole with a zipper up the side 1 pr.
Gear Bag-StahlSac
Float-net type commercial fishing float I found washed up on the beach, was the one I used
Float-Stearns Basic Designs SeaSafe that I got for Christmas and didn't know what else to do with, was the one #1 used

And of course various and assorted sizes and lengths of tubing, web straps, rope, cord, monofilament, snaps, buckles and zip-ties.

Oh well, it was time to update the inventory anyway.

Anybody that actually read all that deserves some kind of award.

P.S-I left out the Riffe Gun Bag

...Got Gear!?

....No kidding you got gear, Spearslinger! But I've got 1 little question....where's Mrs. Spearslinger's wetsuit and guns?! J/K

Well, she's just getting started. Until I met her I didn't believe there are people out there that honestly, simply can not swim at all. It took me a while, but a couple months ago I finally convinced her that she could lay down in the water with a mask, snorkle and fins on and she wouldn't go straight to the bottom. Now she loves snorkleing around in the sandy shallows and seeing the little fish when we go to the beach, but she won't take the baby and go to the beach with #1 and I when we're going spearing. She says we stay in the water too long.

Board Shorts, Mask, Snorkel, Fins.

Originally posted by SpearSlinger1
Well, she's just getting started. It took me a while, but a couple months ago I finally convinced her that she could lay down in the water with a mask, snorkle and fins on and she wouldn't go straight to the bottom. Now she loves snorkleing around in the sandy shallows and seeing the little fish when we go to the beach, but she won't take the baby and go to the beach with #1 and I when we're going spearing. She says we stay in the water too long.

Click to expand...

Thanks SpearSlinger. I have 3 of my own; when they were little, I moved at the pace of the youngest...funny thing (suddenly) years later, I find myself rushing to keep up!
---It is difficult to stay out for hours and recreate when you've got a baby to tend!
Good for you to help her find a way to enjoy snorkling It's a great start!
Once baby is older, Mom will have more freedom to get into the water and explore
There are plenty of parents here who have taught their kids. It's a long-term project/process.
As long as you're having fun, it's all good.
Thank you for the reply.

Originally posted by Hawaii Surfer
Board Shorts, Mask, Snorkel, Fins.

Click to expand...

mate now that is free diving

My gear

fins

Omer millenium comps that are starting to turn into a white colour through scratches

Tusa crappy soft snorkelling ones

Mask

Omer Abyss tinted
Us divers unknown model

Snorkel

Us divers unknown model

Wetsuits

3.5mm Cressi comp suit
5mm Us divers 2 piece without hood :hmm
3mm Steamer
1mm front zip up Mirage suit :hmm

Weight belt

Varies from 6lbs without a suit to 15lbs with the 5mm

Gloves

Dont bother anymore

Boots

3mm Cressi boots

guns

1.1m Rob allen (favourite)
1.5m Rob allen
75cm old school Beuchat
50cm home made job with 3 bands :hmm

Old mans guns

1.3m Rabitech
90cm Old school beuchat
soon to be added a Colins Bluewater gun

cheers

unknown low volume mask

sportasub h.disault snorkel

3mm old wet suit I took out of the trash in a dive shop

4lbs weight with clips on sporasub rubber belt

Suunto D3(I love it!)

and my Matrix #3 fins!! (I love it even better!)

I was going to buy a monofin yesterday but after trying it I realized I can go faster and farther with my Matrix kicking it mono style.

I highly reccomend the Matrix fins.

Re: weights....

Originally posted by OceanSwimmer
--I've heard of this setup being great, as the weights do not slide all over whilst diving...howz it work? I can't visualize this; is it pictured on the Hana Pa'a website?...(and what are hydros?)

Cynthia

Click to expand...

Just in from the coast here where the conditions have been flat and clear, as in 40' clear! All this and the temp is a toasty 51 F. Smoooth.

A harness is just that- rather than wearing a belt that concentrates the weight, all 20 lbs of it, on the small of the back :crutch the harness, resembling a carpenters suspenders, has a block of weight at the shoulder blades and two smaller ones at the hips. The distribution this way (weigh? :hmm ) lets me start a dive by just tipping my head down and off I go. And the creaking of the back post dive is history.

It means I have to carry a seperate bellt when I put on the SCUBA stuff and it's not the quickest thing to ditch, but that's about the only downside to it once you get used to having the straps where for the previous 30 yrs there was just suit. The DB store has a picture of a Sporasub model on their site.

The hydrodynamic shaped weights are a more streamlined teardrop shape in cross section that are flat against the sveltness and their 2-1/2 lb weight mean a nice even number on the belt.

...looks good!

Sven,
Thanks for the lead on the weight harness. Found it per your reference...I'd karma-size ya, but the computer says I need to share.......


“Happiness is as a butterfly, which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you."
N. Hawthorne

Modifying boogieboards into floats

Originally posted by SpearSlinger1
Float-modified Wave Rebel Malaga body

Click to expand...

Spearslinger,
Can you post a pic of your modified wave rebel? Or describe?

Thanks,
Adrian

Sure, Adrian.

I took the idea from this picture: http://www.norcalfreedive.com/catalog/tips.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.

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.

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.

Thanks for such a thorough reply, Spearslinger. I also have a wave rebel and I think it would be a great float as it's pretty large and will probably tow with less friction than a regular inflated float.

Adrian

Hey Seal

Curently i´m using

3mm bodyglove titanium suit without hood."dam cold" (15 degrees)
1 mm gloves
ellios 5mm socks
sporasub H dessault fins
omer asia mask
omer zoom snorkel
omer bouy
knive ???
Sunto belt
different kinds of slings and spearguns


This winther

just purchased 5mm gloves (today)
in order omer 7mm smothskin/opencell (still waiting a few more days)

well i just like being warm when the water get´s near 0 degrees.

What city do you live in SEAL!!!!!!!

with or without bad spelling.

Hi everybody,
i use a
- cressi super comp suit
- cressi gara 3000 fins
- cressi minima mask
- uwatec anatomic depht gauge (cheap from ebay)
- 1.5mm socks
it looks like this cressi stuff fits perfect for me....
but i should buy some gloves.....
greets mat

Suits/Elios 5mm,elios 7mm/
Fins/Esclapez black and green/
Mask/Sporasub samurai/
Computer/suunto D3/
Snorkel/Technicsub air/

Wow, and I told my wife that this would be a cheap sport... So far for me it is!

Fins/Mask/Snorkel Voit, from your one stop dive shop... Wal-Mart

Wetsuit was free, no idea what kind, 3mm and a bit too big, but its easy to get in and out of! However I'm shopping now that the water in Georgian Bay is getting colder... (not that its ever warm!)

Hood 7/5 mm hyperstrech, what a great hood! I love it!

Socks... well yes, running socks I guess. Heya Erik!

Weight belt $10, and free old weights from a scuba friend!

watch $30 timex, depth gauge US divers analog circa 1950...

Hey Medic Chris, you and I must shop at the same place!

Cheers!

Aaron