Shore diving with DPV and a dive flag, have you done it?

[Rick Brant]

Dano, I have your inflatable float and am very happy with it. Is there any kind of a preferred rigging drawing for it? I rigged it myself but feel like there is room for improvement. My only complaint is that it is easy to forget the flag since it is not attached. Twice I have found myself offshore with the blimp and no flag. I'll probably add a little keeper line so that it can't stray too far.

 

[MAKO Spearguns]

Rick:

Thanks for the support and the question. We have a few different floats, which one do you have?

 

[AfterDark]

How often do DPV's flood? Is it a common issue? 1% probability or more or less?

In my case operator error, plug wasn't tighten enough and vibrated loose and allowed water to seep in.

If all is right flooding rare.

 

[asher102]

In my opinion the hard torpedo float (sold by Mako) works best for towing. You won't be able to pull it underwater like some of the lobster-style buoys dive flags/floats. I also own their large yellow inflatable float if I need something with more floatation. Also mentioned, it's very important to have proper scope out on your line.

I honestly prefer not towing a float because they do add considerable drag but they are helpful in high traffic boat areas or for mapping. I mainly tow one so I can capture GPS coordinates and track lines of my dives so I can get an accurate sense of distances and times involved for planning purposes.

This is about 2.6 mile roundtrip to visit a wreck offshore. I'm using a GPS logger (Navonics App) on a phone inside waterproof case that is securely attached to the dive float. It outputs a .gpx file giving me distance, speed and accurate times.

View attachment 645905

That looks like a nice little dive to the OJ! Wish I could afford a scooter to get out there. Have you tried scootering to the tug from Red Rock point?

 

[Rick Brant]

I have the 15L high-pressure float, with the weight and 12" flag. I set it up with a yoke between the front and rear D-rings, and a descending line that has a slider on that yoke. That is great for keeping the float flat in the water but makes towing out tough as it does not align front-end first.

 

[macado]

That looks like a nice little dive to the OJ! Wish I could afford a scooter to get out there. Have you tried scootering to the tug from Red Rock point?

Hehe. I'm glad somebody recognized the location! I have not scootered to the Lavallee yet. It would definitely be possible but might harder to hit without surfacing. I thought about attemting it but I figured it was easier to do some of the shallower wreck so I could surface and take new bearing on the mooring ball. A few years ago Shelburne Bay was thick enough that we drove out there and did it as an ice dive.

I've also scootered to the General Butler behind the breakwater. That is another fun dive to do on a scooter. Lots of junk in the harbor.

 

[MAKO Spearguns]

I have the 15L high-pressure float, with the weight and 12" flag. I set it up with a yoke between the front and rear D-rings, and a descending line that has a slider on that yoke. That is great for keeping the float flat in the water but makes towing out tough as it does not align front-end first.

Rick:

I'm not sure I have a good answer for your question. Perhaps, you could clip off to the nose cone D-ring on the front on the swim out (when you are presumably on the surface) and then switch over to your slider harness before descending?

Thanks
Dano

 

[Rick Brant]

Yes that is what we came up with. Just wanted to make sure there was not a better answer. Thank you.

 

[happy-diver]

Here's an idea that came to me one day over a number of years
There was always that rock, that rock over there, with the crays
The rock, just over there, that by the time you swam out to him
underwater and back no more air was there not one cf to spare

Splashing out bucks for new was never my thing, so old it was

came by ship and by truck, and now it was time to try my luck

Nothing wrong but I had to fix it make a project as I always do

then here's the pieces what to do I don't know so I'll blame you

Here it is I'm broken hearted spent my bucks and no can start it

But please kill me first if you want to dive some float with it


that invention belongs here
The 50 Worst Inventions - TIME

 

[Tassi Devil Diver]

Just leave a flag/ float thingy at the entry point of the dive, no need to tow a flag around where ever you go.