Recommendations on spools/reels

[DA Aquamaster]

I agree with NWD. My first thought when reading the 200 ft spool comment was that this could potentially be a bit wide to handle easily. 150' even strikes me as large and I agree that 100' makes morse sense for a safety reel as they are lower profile. I do have a larger spool, but I use it for shooting a deco bag in offshore diving, not in a cave.

In a cave I will carry 2 safety spools one in each pocket and each with 100' of line. I suppose if I get badly off the line in a really large tunnel and run out of line on one, I can just loo the end of the second one over the first and keep looking. Although to be honest, if I am searching for a ost line and come to the end of a 100' spool, I am first going to stop and assess whether I am seriously off track or searching down the axis of the tunnel.

Most of what you do with a safety spool is better handled by a 100' spool as under stress and in the dark doing a lost line drill or cutting your self out of an entanglement after tying in on both sides of the line you are about to cut, it is preferable that you have a smaller spool that you can control better and will be less likely to drop.

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I am also a Larry Green reel fan. Ralph Hood reels are by the way also the exact same design. The side handle configuration used by the Larry Green/Ralph Hood and Salvo/Halcyon designs works very well with a goodman handle and is in my opinion lower profile and less of a line tap.

The major difference is in the philosophy of birdnesting the reel. The Larry Green/Ralph Hood design is very open with the philosophy that eventually you will birdnest even the most birdnest proof reel and it helps if it is easy to unsnarl under wate so they provide a very open design with generous clearances to help you untangle any birdnesting.

The Salvo/Halcyon design (also identical except for the brand name) uses a different approach with very tight clearances between the reel and frame so that it is all but impossible for the line to get caught between them and loop around the shaft. That said I have encountered people who have still tangled them up underwater and when that occurrs, tools are required to unsnarl them.

In either case, both the Larry Green/Ralph Hood and Salvo/Halcyon designs are well made with very nice drag/lock screws.


Personally, I prefer the Larry Green/Ralph Hood approach and in any case with a side handle reel if you snarl it on the way out, you can still wrap the line around the reel as you proceed out if you don't want to bother clearing it under water. The Larry Green design also allows you a couple different handle position options and a couple more options to control line tension with your fingers than the Salvo design. I also like the Lary Green design for gap/jump reels. They are smaller than the primary reels and fit easily in a pocket and also do not hang very low if carried on a D-ring during part of the dive.

However, I would still go with a spool for a safety reel application as you get a lot more line in a bit less volume and a spool is simple and idiot proof. About all you can do is drop it and have several loops of line fall off but you will never bird nest it.

I am not a fan of the Dive Rite reels, even though the newer ones can be set up as a side handle rather than lantern handle design. They have no real drag adjustment, just a lock that is slow to apply and they are much more fragile in terms of overall construction. They are not bad, they are just not great compared to the other reels available.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

In some large cave, you may need the extra line on a safety.

I would definately have 200'+ for a primary of some sort, even as a cavern diver. Sometimes the cavern zone can stretch all the way to that 200' of penetration. If you move forward, it may take 200'+ of primary to reach an existing main line.

 

[Straegen]

FYI, Piranha Dive is having a sale on spools and reels. Can't speak to the quality or the value , but something to possibly check out. The $9 finger spool with line and brass clip they have seems to be a good deal.

February Specials, Product Catalog

 

[Dive-aholic]

Just my opinion but if your a cavern diver why would you ever end up over 150' from the main line? not to start an argument I really want to know this, even if you have unlimited viz in mexico caves you cant always see the line at much closer distances depending on the cave so wandering off that far seems like real trouble.

I can think of a couple of caverns where you can easily end up over 150' from the main line. And how many cavern divers do you know that even use a primary reel in caverns? In most of the more popular caverns you never see lines going into the cave unless there's a class being taught there. So at the cavern level is where the safety reel could be of real use.

For the record, I think 200' is too much for a safety or jump/gap, but 100' is definitely not enough for a safety.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I think you are right in that too many cavern divers do not maintain a continuous guideline to open water. That will eventually get a percentage fo them killed if they get silted out in a fairly complex cavern.

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The reference to potentially getting 150' off the mainline is I think an excellent example of what has happended to mainlines - they are often set way to close to open water encouraging divers (both cave and cavern) to develop the bad habit of not running their primary to ensure they have a continuous guidline to OW.

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I also agree that a 100' safety reel could be too short - but only in a very small percentage of circumstances where you would use a safety spool.

In the rare event I encountered one of those situations, I'd just tie a second one onto the end of the line for the first one. (I carry an extra spool anyway as back up for the safety and the gap/jump reels I bring along.) It would take very little time to tie it on (the downside) but would not saddle me with having to manage an overly large spool the other 99% of the time I may need a safety spool, and it avoids the temptation of stuffing too much line on a single spool.

 

[Cave Bum]

As I have posted before I am looking at taking a cavern class in the future. I know I need to talk to my instructor about equipment, but I also wanted to hear everyones opinion on two topics:

1.What kind of finger spools do I need and what length of line, ie 150 ft?


2. What kind of primary reel do you recommend?

First and foremost, ask your instructor what he wants you to have for the class.

Second, as has already been stated, 150 feet is the minimum in the cave standards for a safety reel, which is what the reel you do your cavern class with is going to become.

Third, anyone who has used a safety reel in real emgency conditions will tell you you don't want to have to deal with a spool when you're already dealing with being lost off the line. For a safety reel get something that is easy to operate, a reel not a spool!

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Third, anyone who has used a safety reel in real emgency conditions will tell you you don't want to have to deal with a spool when you're already dealing with being lost off the line. For a safety reel get something that is easy to operate, a reel not a spool!

I've never felt the urge to put my self in a position to have to use a safety reel in a real world emergency in the dark or in a silt out off the line. Why use something that could jam, birdnest or otherwise be difficult to operate. A spool is impossible to jam, easy to hold in one hand and control the tension without the use of a drag or lock. I want something simple and reliable that will work the first time, every time.

 

[wjefferis]

Does anyone know of an on-line store that sells Larry Green Reels?

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Eagle's Nest Technical Divers - Larry's Reels

Larry Green Cave Reel

Got those with a quick Google search...

Try googling Ralph Hood reels as well, they are the same things.

Shoot shagman a PM, he got a good deal on a set of Larry Green reels(Primary, Safety, and Jump) bundled for cheap(er). I don't remember where he got them off the top of my head.

 

[NorthWoodsDiver]

tech diving limited sells them, though they are a bit more expensive however there is a big sale there 20% off so that may bring them down to affordable again. otherwise I have always liked Addhelium dot com. They are the cheapest source for salvo reels I ever found and they have the larry green ones too.

you can contact larry and get them direct for the best deal.

You will eventually end up with a variety of spools and reels if you stick with this stuff so most anything should serve the purpose for now until you get some experience and a chance to try other brands.