I have two Mako Utility Dive Reels and the spring has gone out on one of them. Can I repair this myself? The rest of the reel is in perfect condition.
Utility Reel Spring
- Thread starter Rick Brant
- Start date
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Rick:
Sorry to hear that. We don't stock spare parts for the reel.
If you have had the reel less than several years and you feel that we should replace it since it was not accidentally damaged or something, please send me (via PM) your shipping address and approximate date of purchase and we will get a replacement out to you.
I apologize for the inconvenience. Thanks for your continued support.
dano
Sorry to hear that. We don't stock spare parts for the reel.
If you have had the reel less than several years and you feel that we should replace it since it was not accidentally damaged or something, please send me (via PM) your shipping address and approximate date of purchase and we will get a replacement out to you.
I apologize for the inconvenience. Thanks for your continued support.
dano
OP
Yes it is "several years" old, I don't recall exactly how old though. I don't expect a replacement reel but would buy a spring.
You guys should really stock that part. The reel is absolutely perfect other than that. It gets soaked after every use. My guess is that the spring is not a good stainless grade. I know it's a cheap reel so that makes sense, but I hate throwing more plastic in the landfill. I spend all my dive time chasing down trash plastic as it is. Maybe this is just not the right choice for me.
You guys should really stock that part. The reel is absolutely perfect other than that. It gets soaked after every use. My guess is that the spring is not a good stainless grade. I know it's a cheap reel so that makes sense, but I hate throwing more plastic in the landfill. I spend all my dive time chasing down trash plastic as it is. Maybe this is just not the right choice for me.
OP
Yeah I'm going to look at my second one to see how it works. I'm not with the other one at the moment. It looks like it can be repaired with a rubber band if nothing more elegant. Looking at the broken one it seems like the spring may have simply popped out, the captive area is fairly open. Whatever I figure out I will post here.
Rick:
I'm going to send you a pm about this customer service issue.
I appreciate you letting us know that the spring has been lost.
Thanks
dano
I'm going to send you a pm about this customer service issue.
I appreciate you letting us know that the spring has been lost.
Thanks
dano
I see what you did there... 
OP
OK I had the good and bad reel together today and the failure is pretty easy to see. There is a plastic leaf that broke off that was providing the springiness. Actually it is a good design as it avoids a metal spring, but as I use my reel to go up and down a lot I just wore out the plastic and it cracked. It would be very easy to stock just that one part -- the trigger -- as it can be replaced with one screw.
For my use, since I use one reel for hundreds of dives a year and the other for about two dives a year, Iʻm just going to swap the two reels. The broken/modified one will be for the occasional use. I -am- going to try a repair on the broken one though. My idea is to drill a very small anchor hole or two inside the open volume where the plastic spring was, then fill those holes and the volume itself with silicone rubber. Once the rubber sets there should be plenty of back-pressure on the trigger, against that little black tab. It takes very little pressure to keep the trigger latched. Iʻm open to other bright ideas though.
BTW Dano at Mako offered me a free replacement via DM, but I definitely got a fair lifetime out of this reel. I love the lightweight design but obviously that comes with some limitations, and this is one of them. My main issue is avoiding the landfill rather than getting a freebie. Iʻm not a spearo at all but both the reel and my Mako float are great quality. The float also has 300+ dives and looks like new.
For my use, since I use one reel for hundreds of dives a year and the other for about two dives a year, Iʻm just going to swap the two reels. The broken/modified one will be for the occasional use. I -am- going to try a repair on the broken one though. My idea is to drill a very small anchor hole or two inside the open volume where the plastic spring was, then fill those holes and the volume itself with silicone rubber. Once the rubber sets there should be plenty of back-pressure on the trigger, against that little black tab. It takes very little pressure to keep the trigger latched. Iʻm open to other bright ideas though.
BTW Dano at Mako offered me a free replacement via DM, but I definitely got a fair lifetime out of this reel. I love the lightweight design but obviously that comes with some limitations, and this is one of them. My main issue is avoiding the landfill rather than getting a freebie. Iʻm not a spearo at all but both the reel and my Mako float are great quality. The float also has 300+ dives and looks like new.
Thanks very much for taking the time to report back to us on this issue. I really do appreciate (and respect) your interest in minimizing (plastic) waste.
thanks
dano
thanks
dano
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