scooter bolt snaps

[LiteHedded]

Remember, if it breaks, you can rerun it through the bolt snap in seconds and continue the dive.

Looking at how Casey does it, it would take 4-5 cave line failures to get to that point however.
GUE Forums

jarrod does his differently. but yes the idea is that you can just run it through the snap, or use a double ender (if you don't have a gavin ) if the line comes off. but it doesn't. this is why we use cave line for all our attachment points.

if it works for those two gentlemen I think it will work for me
i've also seen it done where it goes through the eye of the clip twice like gibby says. but I've never ridden one like that.

 

[Dive-aholic]

I posted this yesterday, but it got lost (stupid phone).

I run my bolt snap free. I've never tried it secured in place, but my guess is it would make it more difficult to maneuver through the tighter passages. Typically, I keep my scooter in front and slightly below me, as I'm sure most do, but when I'm scootering in smaller, lower, tighter passage, the scooter goes off to the side and at the same depth as me. It would be near impossible to do this with a fixed bolt snap. With the loose snap, it just slides over and puts even tension on the line and the scooter. With a fixed snap, the tension would be uneven and probably cause the scooter to want to pull off to the right. This isn't a problem for large passage, but is definitely something to consider for sidemount divers.

 

[LiteHedded]

that's a concern for places like ginnie for me. i try to do that when i go through the lips. it's not pretty yet, but I guess fixing the clip would make that little move even more difficult

 

[rjack321]

For open water diving with an X, fixing the clip just seems like blasphemy

 

[cmalinowski]

I have the semi-fixed on a gavin 26. Always have though. I have run on some other scooters with the floating snap and it didn't annoy me or anything, but I really wasn't working them too hard or really thinking about it.

It does feel comfortable, and when it's just right, it's sweet.

I'll have to free float it for some dives and see how I like it.

...Tying the boltsnap on with cave line introduces a secondary failure point and is thus, a poor system.

Not really. Mine cord runs through the bolt eye and then is tied with cave line. If the cave line breaks, it just becomes floating. I don't do five different knots though either.

Chris

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Not really. Mine cord runs through the bolt eye and then is tied with cave line. If the cave line breaks, it just becomes floating. I don't do five different knots though either.

Chris

In that case, you aren't tying it "on," just tying it. Tying it won't introduce failure points, tying it "on" will.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Here's another thought: Gavin's can use fixed clips because the tow rope is tied to the top and bottom of the shroud (because it is tilted to leave a handle at the top in use). In this configuration, turning does not change the length of either side of the rope. SS and X, however, tie to the sides of the shroud. In this case, turning results in each side of the rope being different lengths, difficult to do if the boltsnap is tied on.

 

[PfcAJ]

The gavin is weighted so the handles are horizontal. The torque of the motor at full pitch put the right handle on the top (allowing the right hand to just rest on the handle). The top length of cord is therefor shorter than the bottom one.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

The gavin is weighted so the handles are horizontal. The torque of the motor at full pitch put the right handle on the top (allowing the right hand to just rest on the handle). The top length of cord is therefor shorter than the bottom one.

Yes, but they each stay at their same lengths when making turns. SS and X rigging require the sides to change length when making turns.

 

[PfcAJ]

I think it depends on how its attached. Mine has a free floating clip and it definitely moved when I turned. Last night, I tied it on with cave line McKinlay style. Ill give it a go and see how it feels.

I hypothesize that it will be a little easier to turn with the kinda-fixed clip. We'll see though