Current lines behind the boat?

[Peter_C]

I prefer three-strand twisted to the braid. It's easier to splice. And NEVER
count on a knot holding in poly. I carry 150' of 1/4" with a small fender
on the end. I put a swivel between the line and the fender and it made the
line coil more nicely.

Mine gets put out maybe one dive in 20.

Remember that if you have a big buoy on the end, the wind will grab the
buoy.

Chuck great idea on the swivel. It will also help weight the buoy down so the wind doesn't blow it around as much. I find the hollow braided poly really easy to splice, and have not had a failure YET! I leave the ends with a big mushroom on them to help hold. I cut mine at 150' last night, so I have both a 150' and 100' length duh. Also put length markers into my 320' anchor rope since I had the 100' tape measure out, and spliced a thimble onto the end.

A handheld vhf sounds great on the surface but....is it going on the dive with you as well??
Am I missing something??

No you are not missing anything. The VHF is only going to be used while on the boat or if I fall off.

I use a 100 foot line with a big red ball / I place a dive flag buoy every 25 feet including one with the ball at the end.
Does not leave a whole lot of imagination room ( I would think)

What is a dive flag buoy? Is it like one of these?

 

[Walter]

I find the hollow braided poly really easy to splice, and have not had a failure YET! I leave the ends with a big mushroom on them to help hold.

Run a zip tie through the center of the splice.

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

I think anything over 200 is on the longish side. Depending on where you're diving, if you let out that much line with no one on the boat, you could be creating a hazzard for other boaters trying to dive the same wreck. You don't want to come up to find someone got your line around their prop and pulled your boat from its achorage. And then, didn't secure your boat and left the scene.

Don't think something like that could happen... I actually had someone move my buddies boat when we were diving the Speigel Grove on a busy Saturday while we were on a deco dive. His excuse was all the buoys were in use and he knew we would be coming up soon! Incredible!

Obviously, the larger the diameter the better, and easier on your hands, but even 1/4 will get you back to the boat in a pinch.

 

[Zieg]

Run a zip tie through the center of the splice.

Just run it in and out a few times.

 

[NEWENGLANDCHARTERS]

a lot of Lobstermen use the Dive Bouy and flag as a target point as they race around your dive boat trying to drop bricks on the divers below.

Here is a simple trick I started doing many years ago.

Just run a piece of 1/4 inch braided steel cable tie wrapped to your floating 3/8 poly line that you run 100 ft behind your boat to your dive bouy.

do the same with your forward painter that runs to your glouster ball and then down to the anchor.


You will get instant notificatinon if any boat trys to cut your lines by running over them with their prop.

Its really fun to then call the USCG or Marine patrol and let them have the lobsterman explain why he violated the law and got wapped up in your bouy line.

dont tell them I tolfd ya

 

[Walter]

That doesn't sound safe for anyone. Even ignoring that issue, I doubt the line would float.

What's a glouster ball?

 

[FredT]

I expect it's an anchor retrieval line float. This is used to "trip' a hook in rocky terrain. It's a generally a smaller diameter line attached to the crown or fluke bar so the flukes can be backed out of whatever has them fouled. Not generally needed in the sandy stuff you usually dive.

 

[usmarinekurt]

Chuck great idea on the swivel. It will also help weight the buoy down so the wind doesn't blow it around as much. I find the hollow braided poly really easy to splice, and have not had a failure YET! I leave the ends with a big mushroom on them to help hold. I cut mine at 150' last night, so I have both a 150' and 100' length duh. Also put length markers into my 320' anchor rope since I had the 100' tape measure out, and spliced a thimble onto the end.



No you are not missing anything. The VHF is only going to be used while on the boat or if I fall off.



What is a dive flag buoy? Is it like one of these?

it is just a towable dive flag that a surface diver would drag along

 

[Nemrod]

That doesn't sound safe for anyone. Even ignoring that issue, I doubt the line would float.

What's a glouster ball?

In some areas it is common to set a buoy on the anchor rode and then tie your "painter" or bow line off to the buoy. I do it sometimes if I want to have the ability to leave the anchor and return to the same place and re-hook. I carry a small 12 inch orange round bumper for that purpose as well as using on my anchor lift ring.

As to people racing around buoys and dropping bricks, sooner or later somebody will be killed and when they do it will get ugly, people often carry guns and know how to use them. Imagine if they dropped a brick on your son or wife and she/he was killed as a result, I don't think we will be having a polite conversation. These people also need to understand that in the 21st century it is easy to record everything on a 99 dollar video camera or a cell phone. Does not sound like a smart idea to try and hook or drop bricks on divers to me. Just leave a cheap camera running, one off the stern and one off the bow, I have seen video camera as low as 75 dollars that can record hours of idiots acting like morons for the authorities.

N

 

[Scubamedicjoe]

give a call to any of the dive opps hear in nc they all run curent lines but sounds like you got a good handle on it from the start