Sea Hunt marker buoys

[Paladin]

The idea is for something cheap, functional and easy to make; something than wouldn't take up a lot of room in a pocket and would be easy to deploy if a marker buoy should be needed. A situation like ZKY described would get a little pricey. But a dozen or so of the little markers would be cheap and simple to make, and a dozen wouldn't be too hard to carry.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

The whole idea of those is to have something very compact that is small so many could be carried and deployed quickly and easily without having to fiddle with them by octo filling or blowing into a tube to inflate them. Plus being a rubberized balloon design they would start small and expand dimentionally unlike a bulky modern marker bouy that has to be rolled up then deployed and inflated manually. The C02 balloon idea actually to me seems more cutting edge than what they have now.

I suppose there is somewhat of a desire to recreate a vintage piece of gear, but more so there is a desire to recreate something that seems like a better tool for a job I still want to do of marking out the perimiter of that wreck..

 

[EevelMonkee]

Condom, whippets and duck tape?

Actually, strangely, I think I might have bought all of those at once before...

As long as it won't hurt you in a resulting court case, we'd love to hear that story! :guitarist:

 

[aquaregia]

When I was in Boy Scouts in Australia, we were always told to pack two condoms in case we ever needed to carry water. Apparently they can hold close to a gallon a piece.

 

[AfterDark]

I was at Giant Strides Dive Shop Warwick RI yesterday and there hanging on the wall was a yellow rubber "sea hunt" style maker from Dacor. It looks to be in good shape with a new C02 cartridge in it. I took a pic with the cell phone, if I ever learn how to get if from the my cell to my pc I'll post it.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

A while back I used a white nylon bag from white cap const supply, you put sand or gravel in for a weightbag. I then sprayed adesive on outside and let dry, it gave it a thin rubber coating. Ten bags are a little over a 1/2" thick by about 6" wide, and 2' long about. I put a small nylon rope in them and then aqua sealed it with rope hanging out and numbered with black marker. Put them in a 10" pvc pipe with Eye bolt on cap, took string with slice in other end of pipe, put cap on end. Used air nozzle on lp hose.

Out on the washington coast there is a ferry sunk in 240' called the chetzmoka, not knowing the currents for fist dive I hooked and sent one bag to surface then unhooked anchor and went along with inflatable and tied three more. I set anchor just off end of ferry, and did deco. Upon surfacing I had 4 bags on surface. It did not last a long time but enough to run depth finder to see what was what, as I past over the length of the chetzmoka. They did sink after awhile, but they shot to surface releasing air, yet had enough air to float for a short time.

So there is a tried and tested start, you can develope from there for cheap throw away smb's

Happy Diving

 

[simonbeans]

Were available from Dacor as early as 1962.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Do they still work simon, I would use them if they did.




Happy Diving

 

[elmer fudd]

The idea is for something cheap, functional and easy to make; something than wouldn't take up a lot of room in a pocket and would be easy to deploy if a marker buoy should be needed. A situation like ZKY described would get a little pricey. But a dozen or so of the little markers would be cheap and simple to make, and a dozen wouldn't be too hard to carry.

Sounds like something that could be easily made from a kid's punching balloon and a CO2 powerlet. What I'd do is take a piece of PVC pipe that fits a powerlet, put a tight fitting dowel in one end, drill a hole through the center of that and fit a nail through it so you have something to puncture the powerlet. The I'd drill a series of holes in the pipe to allow the CO2 to vent. I'd wrap enough tape around the powerlet to give it a snug fit, put it in the pipe, and put a snug fitting dowel over the other end. Finally, I'd put the entire thing inside the balloon and tie off or cap the end.

When it came time to deploy, all you'd have to do is grab the balloon locate the tube inside and give the dowel a firm push. If the dowel were slightly recessed, that would prevent accidental discharges. The PVC and wood should insulate the balloon from the freezing CO2 cartridge.

 

[Nemrod]

Sounds like something that could be easily made from a kid's punching balloon and a CO2 powerlet. What I'd do is take a piece of PVC pipe that fits a powerlet, put a tight fitting dowel in one end, drill a hole through the center of that and fit a nail through it so you have something to puncture the powerlet. The I'd drill a series of holes in the pipe to allow the CO2 to vent. I'd wrap enough tape around the powerlet to give it a snug fit, put it in the pipe, and put a snug fitting dowel over the other end. Finally, I'd put the entire thing inside the balloon and tie off or cap the end.

When it came time to deploy, all you'd have to do is grab the balloon locate the tube inside and give the dowel a firm push. If the dowel were slightly recessed, that would prevent accidental discharges. The PVC and wood should insulate the balloon from the freezing CO2 cartridge.

I think you could do it using PVC and then step the PVC for the CO2 cartridge up to the the diameter of a balloon tire bicycle tube. Fold and then cement with Aqua Seal the end of the tube. I would cut the tube so that the effective length deflated would be about 12 inches and experiment from there. The needle would puncture the CO2 cartridge if perhaps contained in the center of a threaded cap, screw the cap down, pow.

N