DIR- GUE Reel for Cave 1

[crofrog]

Did you have to force out the screw? On mine, they used a punch and made a few indentations so the screw wouldn't come out.

Yes it’s punched. You can ask them to put the screw in the other side when you order it or you can file the threads some and get a new screw

 

[JoeTPhilly]

Yes it’s punched. You can ask them to put the screw in the other side when you order it or you can file the threads some and get a new screw

Thanks.

 

[RedSix]

If you ever decide to cave/mine dive locally in Europe, you might find that the dirty secret of these expensive reels is that they are mostly useless in cold water because the line is way too thin to handle in drygloves (especially in poor or zero viz) and you rarely need to run a line for long.

This is not true. There is no problem in using e.g. a Halcyon reel with 'thin' line with dry gloves.
At least in some german mines you might need to run a line for 50m or even more.

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

This is not true. There is no problem in using e.g. a Halcyon reel with 'thin' line with dry gloves.
At least in some german mines you might need to run a line for 50m or even more.

Ok, point taken about German mines. I can only speak for UK and France.

 

[flymolo]

This is not true. There is no problem in using e.g. a Halcyon reel with 'thin' line with dry gloves.
At least in some german mines you might need to run a line for 50m or even more.

i use a halcyon reel loaded with cave line on wrecks all the time. no issues with drygloves either

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

i use a halcyon reel loaded with cave line on wrecks all the time. no issues with drygloves either

Spend some time in cold water to lose some sensation of touch in your fingers. Put on a blindfold. Have fun. Try to manipulate a thin line. It’s a major pain. Also fun to watch when you record some very confident divers fumble with the line .

I’m not saying that a reel with a thin is useless, just probably doesn’t need to be a branded Halcyon with 200m of line.

 

[flymolo]

Spend some time in cold water to lose some sensation of touch in your fingers. Put on a blindfold. Have fun. Try to manipulate a thin line. It’s a major pain. Also fun to watch when you record some very confident divers fumble with the line .

I’m not saying that a reel with a thin is useless, just probably doesn’t need to be a branded Halcyon with 200m of line.

we dive in cold water here, low 40 degrees farenheit is common

 

[rjack321]

If you ever decide to cave/mine dive locally in Europe, you might find that the dirty secret of these expensive reels is that they are mostly useless in cold water because the line is way too thin to handle in drygloves (especially in poor or zero viz) and you rarely need to run a line for long. You might be better off with a couple spools with 3mm thick line once you get back to Europe.

Or maybe your line skills aren't what you think they are...

We use #21 on exploration reels around here. The "400ft" halcyon and LM models hold 500ft of the smaller line. It's all knotted, which is a huge pain, and the cave side of every knot is marked with a sharpie to make them easier to see. Water temps are 2 to at most 7C. 3mm line is fine for short primary reel runs to connect to a mainline. Line that thick is terrible for projecting and exploration.

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

Or maybe your line skills aren't what you think they are...

That hurt

 

[rjack321]

That hurt

Trust me, we all suck on real dives compared to our internet dives lol

I tried #18 and it was the worst spaghetti mess ever. #24 is ok but hogs reel space. #21 seems to work out more or less but I can't feel the knots at all. And seeing them is dubious with a high powered primary light and excess "whiteness" - hence the hours spent marking every knot with a black sharpie. I have some larger reels but 2x the small 400ft size gives me 500ft of usable line x2 and if I foul one badly the day isn't completely fubared since I have another 500ft fresh reel available. That seems to generally work out better than bringing a single 800ft sized reel (1000ft of #21). I have a 1200ft model that I foolishly bought and never used.