Towable Dive Sled

[Ironman RA]

Does anyone have any plans for building an inexpensive dive sled?

 

[diver-greg]

Just a reminder for those of you that talked about the simple dive sled, I'd love to see a picture, or a diagram, or even a rough sketch. We need to do some exploring for dive sites on the island and this would be perfect.

Greg

 

[Thomas H]

I was hoping someone could help me with my problem. I am trying to create my own underwater toe sled for spearfishing with scuba equipment. I am not looking to build anything fancy with wings and a sheild, just something to get the job done. I would buy one, but all the ones on the market are junk. Do you know of any good ones? If I were to create my own: Does anyone have a good sketch or plans? What dimensions should I use? What type of material, wood or plastic? How much rope from boat to sled? Should a buoy be used to bring sled up upon release? If so, what size of a buoy? Where should buoy be placed on towline? Should a weight be used in conjunction with buoy? If so, where should weight be placed? What ounce of weight? Please feel free to write Thomas of Tampa, FL at tjh_tb_bucs@yahoo.com (Those are _ (underscores) in-bewteen spaces in my email) - THANK YOU for any help you can give me!

Add in: I went to the USF (Univ. of S. FL) library and found the July 1967 issue of Popular Mechanics and that design is for an aquaplane. An aquaplane well not work for my purposes because it is too big and will not allow for quick release when a bug or grouper is spotted. I am just looking for something to hold onto with my hands that will enable me to quickly let go when needed. Any help would be great!

 

[marek]

I want to build a dive sled that can be towed behind a boat. It could be simple or complex with spare tank and sheild. I want to know if anyone has experience with any towable type dive platform or sled?

Scott

Visit www.slediver.com

 

[Flyin_Grebel]

Im fascinated by this scuba sled idea. I will start to build one asap. If anyone has some home made sleds with pictures, I would love to see them.
Thanks for this fantastic idea!!

Kyle

Not a towable sled, but back in the '80's I built a scooter that worked well and had the advantage that I could stop and look around. I buiilt a normal "torpedo" style that you hang onto behind, but it would pull your arms out of their sockets after awhile. So i built a shorter one that would ride in one side of a doubles backpack. Worked great until I loaned it to a friend who was using it to pull another friend and got the rope tangled in the prop. Power was the head of an electric trolling motor with two motorcycle batteries in a pvc tube that mounted in the backpack. Partial cort nozzle for efficiency. HEAVY to get to the water when set up with the tank and wearing a weight belt (Oregon coast), but slightly bouyant in the water.

 

[SteveKL]

Like others who have posted to this thread, I have been researching existing designs for a tow sled. I found an extremely detailed report covering existing designs, ergonomic challenges, load calcs, etc.

http://www.gratisweb.com/aeronautico/proyecto/project.htm

Armed with this info, I've designed a simple sled that eliminates the major flaw of existing models (i.e. the necessity for the diver's arms to provide both the control and the "hanging on" for the unit). I'll post a photo and sea trial results once the unit has been built and tested.

 

[sailor025]

That is intriguing. Be sure to post your results. That may be fun to build.

Rodney

 

[critterc]

I had a chance to speak to the inventor today..
he said it had a wingspan of 6'
Length 6'
Height 39
weight 89 Lbs
he said he is currently rethinking how to make it more collapsable, and lighter.
He is working on using different materials that might make it lighter product.
He said that as it is now, it will plane down to what ever depth, and stay there if there are no control inputs from the diver.
Any one interested in this product, either to buy, or invest in can contact him at:
davejankaufman@aol.com
He can give you more information as required.
It was used for a IMAX film project to film dolphins, as it goes fast enough to kinda keep up, something a scooter could never do. He is interested in doing something with this product either by either selling them, or getting some financing to market it or whatever pops up. He also makes cool clear plastic childrens cribs and other stuff out of plastics.
Again, it is patented, just to remind you per his instructions.

diverrick, anything new on this sled ??

 

[meekal]

wow. this thread might go on forEver, but it is certainly fascinating.

steveKL... any news on your seatrials?

 

[Tom Winters]

I used to use a Fortress FX-7 aluminum anchor to tow people underwater especially at night when we were looking for the Mahi on the leeward coast of Oahu and we couldn't see the landmarks.
Those were some brave people riding down there in the pitch blackness. No HID wonderlights to light up the abyss. I thought a lot about attaching a big meat hook on the outside of their tank - I figured that if a big tiger shark ate them, we might as well get some fun out it. I could never quite figure out to bring up the subject, and I was always grateful that I had to drive the boat and not get dragged around in 200' of ink.
When I had customers on day trips, sometimes on the second shallow dive off Waikiki, I would just rig up a big long giant waterski towrope with a few weight belts tied on and just cruise them down the reef for a couple of miles. If anyone dropped off, you would feel it instantly in the way the boat jumped. They got a nice long run without too much work - perfect for tourist dives.