Wreck Reels?

[Green_Manelishi]

I find myself agreeing with the "simpler is best" philosophy.

Although I do not own one (yet?) I rather like the idea of
a reel that can be dis-assembled to some degree under-
water: that perhaps makes it easier to clear a jam.

Otherwise, I'd say that any mechanism designed to *prevent*
a jam will soooner or later fail and then what are you going to
do?

FWIW: I currently own two reels, an OMS (simple) and a
ReefSCUBA (simple, no anti-jam, not a "seal reel"). I bought
the reefscuba on special. It was explained to me that the
reels were being sold out at a special price because most
folks want "anti-jam" and tensioning mechanisms.

I think you will find (at least I found) that if the line is too thick
to pass between the spool and the body of the reel it is less
likely to jam. I am therefore replacing the #36 on my OMS
with #48 (like that on my reefscuba)

 

[Rick Murchison]

Originally posted by Iguana Don
My instructor and I talked about this and he had a brand new Dive Rite, during a training session the spool came apart and WHAMO 1000' of birds nest.ID

Interesting - I've never seen a Dive-Rite reel come apart. Perhaps it did because he crammed 1000' of line onto it, as there is no reel sold by Dive-Rite designed to carry 1000' of line. The max for wreck purposes on their largest (explorer) reel is 550'.
Rick

 

[padiscubapro]

Originally posted by roakey

Why add the complexity of a tensioner that requires a second hand to adjust when your fingers are right there to supply the tension and are instantaneously adjustable while leaving the other hand free?

Knobs, buttons and gadgets are great until you come to realize that they’re all spelled T-R-O-U-B-L-E.

Roak

Ps. If you're a wrecker you will have to replace the cave line with wreck line, unless you can order from EE with wreck line.

Personally I usually use the simpler reel from aquaexplorers. The manta reel I used when I am trying to video and lay a line(mostly on broken up wrecks or debris fields) at the same time. I can run the camera with one hand and the reel with another, and if i decide I want to put the reel down (and its not a mud bottom) I can just drop it and I know it will not unspool.

 

[Lost Yooper]

I use the OMS wreck reel. I don't have much of an opinion on it really. It works if you do your part (like any peice of equipment, I guess). I wouldn't get an enclosed reel, and if I were going out to buy one tomorrow, I'd try the EE reel.

Mike

 

[100days-a-year]

Don't like reels,but I have Dive-Rites.They are old,they won't jam unless I'm careless(or over task-loaded).They are hard to break.That being said I'm experimenting with handmade,cobbled together spools.They offer simplicity ,ease of operation and low cost .They are however moere difficult to rewind underwater.

 

[Se7en]

100 days

Been making different spools myself over the last couple of weeks, after a couple of friends did the 'can I have one' after seeing me use a really crap one I made.

Discovered that perspex looks really good, but will break and have sharp edges - esp if cold. Nylon and other symilar plastics doesn't look as good, but is damm near unbreakable.

The easiest design for a simple bombproof spool is a 20mm nylon bar epoxied and screwed into round 3mm nylon endplates (cut out with jigsaw, then ground into shape - 100mm diameter is a nice size for 20m or 3mm line) Three or four holes 5mm in from the edge of the endplates gives plenty of clip off points for a doubleender.

The best looking one is in clear perspex with Brass threaded rod, brass tube, nylocs, and washers holding the perspex enplates in place. My GF has that one...

BTW - Winding line back onto a spool is a pain, but it does keep your ascent rate low...

Mike

 

[bradymsu]

I use Dive-Rite reels though I can understand how the ribbed sides and the screw coming loose could be a problem though it's not one I've ever had. One thing I can say about Dive-Rite reels is that they are well made. Mine have been very abused by their owner and they've held up very well.