Marking distance on a wreck reel

[NJScubaDoc]

I don't like putting knots in my lines, so I use the following system:

red hash marks signify 10's
blue hash marks signify 50's
black hash marks signify 100's

so if I look at the line and it is black black blue red I have 260' of line out.

red red red 30'

blue red red 70'

and so on. I put the marks on with colored sharpies.

It works well for me.

Jerry

I like that, would work both on deployment and recovery, always telling me how far I am from wherever I started....only thing I'd change would be the color scheme....I'd match them up to casino chip denominations hehe.

One question though, how far apart do you space your markings?

 

[Diver0001]

I like that, would work both on deployment and recovery, always telling me how far I am from wherever I started....only thing I'd change would be the color scheme....I'd match them up to casino chip denominations hehe.

One question though, how far apart do you space your markings?

How can you tell the difference between red and black if it's dark, deep and murky?

R..

 

[NJScubaDoc]

How can you tell the difference between red and black if it's dark, deep and murky?

R..

Well I've got a light for one thing, which usually is all it takes. I'm not into penetration yet (and not particularly sure whether I ever want to get into it) so silt outs aren't as much a problem as they would be in the rusted interior of a wreck. Of course there is always the possibility of some muddy waters mcgee flutter kicking up a silt cloud, fortunately though the divers I've dove with (and most of the old salts in NJ) aren't johnny come lately's with buoyancy control.

I would be more afraid of differentiating between black and blue

 

[francousteau]

Ok, if you're doing some surveying of the wreck I can see wanting to mark your line. For navigation, I think once you get more experience you'll be able to figure out the distance travelled or distance between points. Seems to me you'll be looking at your line for the marks more than you'd be looking around. I'd have a hard time, with my 5mm gloves, feeling for knots in the summer time average temp of about 53 and now about 42. I'm not saying it can't be done, but for me it wouldn't work. As for the colors, unless you're going to be shining your light on the line every time, you won't see the color difference, especially in our waters. Do the "old salts" that you're diving with mark their lines? If so, just follow their example. I've asked around with the people I dive with and no one's doing this. But as always YMMV