New Float Idea

[Griswold]

Those of you who know me, know that I'm always looking for a better way when it comes to guns, gear, etc. I freely admit that I don't have all the answers and have been guilty of inventing the wheel (spending a bunch of time and energy on something that has already been done) several times.

Many of you have probably read the tuna board threads, which are basically big floats with a mechanism for locking the float line or bungie in place as it is retrieved for both ease of landing the fish and for safety reasons.

I thought, why not apply the same concept to smaller floats? Many divers prefer a multiple float system to more slowly add resistance to the fish, or don't need the buoyancy of a tuna board while shooting smaller fish.

What I have done is add a cam cleat to a float which has approximatly 20 pounds of buoyancy. The float line goes through the float and can be locked in place at any length. Should be great for shooting around a rip or weed line, where a shorter float line is better. Additional floats can be added to increase the buoyancy as required for targeting large fish.

This system will allow a diver to fight a fish by pulling the float line or bungie through the float(s) and locking it in place so that the fish has to pull down the float(s) to get any line back. This is significant both for ease of landing the fish and for safety since a big fish that gets a second wind can't take the diver and all his hard won float line back down with a sudden burst of energy.

These floats should work well with all existing float lines, except those with clips on both ends which are too big to fit through through the float. They will also work with some bungies, but testing will have to be done to make sure the the bungie material can handle getting grabbed by the cam cleat.

I can make them with 20ish and 30ish pounds of buoyancy.

I don't have all the answers on the compressive strength, crush point, etc. of the floats, but I can say that this type of float has been used for years in applications were they get pulled down to significant depths.

If you want to make you own, go for it. If you want some that I made here are the prices:

20 pound float with cam cleat $75
30 pound float with cam cleat $85
Shipping is whatever it costs me.

What do you think? Good idea, or did I just invent the wheel again?

[Killer&Griller]

You definately have a good looking product there G.

[saltierdog]

hey chad
looks really cool!!!
what is the diameter and length of each?
do those smaller holes go thru the entire lenght and why?
would you be able to fit them with a weighted adapter for a flag like the rob allens?
thanks
joe

[Griswold]

The little one is 8" at its widest spot and 15" long. The bigger one is 9" wide and 17" long. The small holes do go all the way through. They were originally there to help with the curing of the foam, and the manufacturer found that they also liked them because of slightly reduced drag. You could fill one of the small holes with lead and epoxy in order to keep one side down for use with a flag.

[Joe Wegmann]

Damn Gris those look pretty Sweet, I might have to swing by and check them out!

[Mattedhead]

Excellent idea for sure.

[mjacobs]

Interesting concept. I wonder how a prusik knot on the floatline to your existing standard float would work out. Seems to me that might be even simpler, even more economical and adaptable to any float you might have. Your line for prusik knot would need to be slightly smaller diameter than your float line, of course. See:
www.animatedknots.com for a description if you need one.
Mark

[Mattedhead]

I played w/ that a little Mark, that's our back up knot for climbing, and a good emergency ascender...but my attempts at using it in the water--not so good. The wet knot seemed to lock up and became a little unruly. On my vinyl line I use and extra tuna clip and clip off bights of line as I gain on the fish. It can be a PITA though...I really like the idea of this cam cleat.

[Griswold]

If you just want the floats, they are available at any longline suppy house. The big ones cost me about $20 shipped.

[lars]

Good improvisation Griswold but the mention of the prusik knot and climbing offers much cheaper solutions. Climbers invented various cam-operated ascenders which are used for big wall climbing. They allow a climber to scamper up a 150 foot rope in less than a minute. There many models available for very cheap prices. Go to the following link for a list of models and prices.

http://www.mtntools.com/cat/rclimb/ascend/02ascend.html

With a float strong enough to support the pull and arms strong enough to do the pulling, if you clipped two of these off to your flotation on short ropes you could "winch" up a great white in short order.

The principle is that one ascender holds the rope while you slide the other one down the rope. You would have to test it before using it on the "full-length" bungees but I am certain it would work on a regular float line and the cheaper floating polypro lines used by some spearos.

Actually (this gets a bit complicated to explain in words) you could set up a two-float system where you could pull your float under 10 feet (or more ) at a time, release the grip of the ascender which would then grab the float line. You then leisurely swim to the surface and pull your second float down next to the first and let your fish fight two (or more) floats. Another great thing about this is that the ascenders attach and detach from the rope they are grabbing with a gentle one-hand squeeze.

This would have come in handy with that big YFT my buddy shot a couple of weeks ago on the Lump that I told you about.

Some ascenders have springs in them and others do not. The ones without would require less lubrication and maintenance

[deepdestroyer]

None of the ascenders on that sight were cheaper then a cam cleat and many of them were about twice the price, or more...and cam cleats are specifically made to work in the marine invironment, which in my oppinion means that they will probably last longer. Also I dont see an easy way to mount one of the ascendors to a float. Just my .02

[DarenDeath]

Originally Posted by mjacobs

See:
www.animatedknots.com for a description if you need one.
Mark

That is a great site! The best way to learn a knot- online.

[lars]

The ascenders clip into any loop (rope, cable , chain) or properly spaced hole in any object with any type of snap hook or shackle used in the marine industry. It's hard to describe something like this without a drawing. Basically they can any rope of about the diameter of a float line (climbing rope is about the same diameter)

It'll work. I haven't picked a fish up with it but I did pick a sunken boat with it that weighed 3000 lbs. instead of lifting with my arms I lifted with air bags that created a lift of 5 times more force than your arms can exert.

The beauty of it is you don't have to thread the float line through a hole. As far as prices, go I was just going on what he listed below.

[Griswold]

Thanks for the input, I've remember seeing a clip of someone working on bringing up a big tuna and they must have been using and ascender, I didn't know what it was. Looks like it worked though. No doubt there's more than 1 way to skin this cat.

I like the cam cleat approach and know it works well - Miles has proven it on big tuna over and over again.

[Blake Schaff]

Chad,
Are you still making these or have a few you wouldn't mind selling?