For the Love of God, Not Another Reel Question

[Garf]

OK, after my little beaver reel decided to fall to bits in the middle of a dive with 20 mins of deco remaining, leaving me in the rather boring scenario of having to wind the bloody thing in hand over hand and hold it together on the stops rather than just relax in front of it, I guess I need a new one!

Sooooo...

Manto, Macmahon, Custom Divers, or the halcyon pathfinder. It needs to be comfortable to hang off on stops, and simple to deploy. I'm not that fussed about it being ratchet as I used to use a spool anyway and still use a spool as a backup. I'm not the world's biggest fan of the mcmahon large reel as I just can't being myself to hang something that large from a D ring.

thoughts please......

[Andy M]

Originally Posted by Garf

Manto, Macmahon, Custom Divers, or the halcyon pathfinder.

Do you mean Manta? if so, awesome reel. I have three. They are indestructible and really solid.

[gunsentry]

Use the spool and clip on your double ender at your stop depth.

Easy nothing to break or fall to bits.

Cheers,

Gary.

[David Martin]

Originally Posted by Garf

Manto, Macmahon, Custom Divers, or the halcyon pathfinder.

The Pathfinder isn't really a DSMB reel - it's a bottom reel. it's excellent for this, but it's weight and the lack of a genuinely secure locking mechanism would make me worry about using it for a DSMB. Sooner or later you'll screw up, at which point your reel is 120m below your DSMB...you're unlikely to get it back - and they're expensive
The McMahon works - but it's big and bulky. Don't know about the other two.

It needs to be comfortable to hang off on stops,

Why?

and simple to deploy. ....as I used to use a spool anyway and still use a spool as a backup.

In which case - buy a second spool. They're small, easy to deploy, and so long as your buoyancy is fine, they're easy to wind in too. You can't hang off them on stops or use them to winch yourself up - but you wouldn't do than anyway would you

David

[Fiona]

Garf

I posted some picture of the Kent Tooling reels I have just bought in "New Toys"

http://www.yorkshire-divers.co.uk/fo...d.php?t=18892d
I haven't used them yet but they did come highly recommended and are half the price of the Manta ones

[Scuby]

The Custom Divers ones are nice (the black plastic-type one with steel other bits with a pull out knob ratchet thing). Used one for a while now since my cheap crap plastic one fell apart, and its so much nicer to use. Its a bit funny getting used to using the knob for the ratchet, and the one disadvantage is that it needs two hands to disengage the ratchet, but in reality when using it you only need to do that once before you deploy the DSMB, and once more whenever you want to re-engage the ratchet (on ascent). Using it as an SMB line I tend to just leave the ratchet off and rest one finger on the spindle, and that works fine. And of course, the best thing, you can get pink string :o\

David

[Digger]

Well, for my money you're goign to want a ratchet and a friction. It's the solution to all your diving needs. There are times when a friction is just lovely, reeling off a shot, laying lines generally, and depending on my mood, firing bags. But now and again I want to use a ratchet. I don't know why, but in these situations the friction is a real PITA. I must be a moody bugger.

KT is my suggestion for a friction, and Manta for a ratchet. But only real advice from me is most things work except those Beaver pieces of poo. I think Kev (Bottle Monkey) has now gone through at least 2, and there seems to be no way of stopping them falling to pieces.

A reel you can use to hold on to can be nice, and something you can hang off in a seriously rough sea I can understand, none of the suggestions you've come up with already are going to be a problem doing that.

As regards the size of the thing, I just clip mine off to hip D-ring which are quite far back, so they don't stick out in front of me at all, and that seems to work fine for me. Even with a big wide KT reel it's not a problem, and I can hang stages and things off the same D-ring with no problems.It actually helps to keep the reel sitting against my hip instead of dangling a bit. SOunds messy, but in practice works quite well.

[tom]

The Narked at 60 60m reels Mark Powell is selling are pretty good. I like mine.

[Garf]

Originally Posted by David Martin

Why?

Becuase I dive in the English Channel and North Sea, and getting chucked about at 6M with another 20 mins to stay there is a lot more comfortable hanging onto the handle of a reel than it a spool. In calm waters spools rock, but in a current or a rough sea they just don't do it for me. I'm sure others will disagree, but then that's their choice as a reel is mine. I use a spool inland becuase they are a delight in calm or realtively calm waters.

In which case - buy a second spool. They're small, easy to deploy, and so long as your buoyancy is fine, they're easy to wind in too. You can't hang off them on stops or use them to winch yourself up - but you wouldn't do than anyway would you

Yes I would hang off it. If the sea is chucking me about, it's quite feasible I'll be hanging off it. Sometimes I wonder if I dive in a different sea than everyone else. I can do a drift dive and all you need is a couple of foot swell, and your arm is going up and down like an uppey-downey thing whilst you remain neutrally bouyant. At a long stop at 6m, the same argument applies. in both scenarios, again I find it easier to have a handle to hang onto.

If I missing some skill here, please let me know, as I am always keen to learn, but frankly I asked for a opinion on an appropriate reel from the selection I presented, not a lesson in why spools are better

[David Martin]

Originally Posted by Garf

Becuase I dive in the English Channel and North Sea,

So do I

and getting chucked about at 6M with another 20 mins to stay there is a lot more comfortable hanging onto the handle of a reel than it a spool.

actually, I think the uncomfortable bit is trying to hang onto something. If I've got a long stop and there's lots of waves, then I'd lock-off the spool 0.5-1.0m beneath me, keep the line through my hand and let the whole thing move up and down... if it's really rough, I'd probably leave the spool at 6m or 3m, rather than try to wind it all in.

but in a current or a rough sea they [spools] just don't do it for me. I'm sure others will disagree, but then that's their choice as a reel is mine.

I'm happy with a spool, I'm not trying to force you to use one - I had one as a backup for quite a while before deciding to use one as primary

[quote] I can do a drift dive and all you need is a couple of foot swell, and your arm is going up and down like an uppey-downey thing whilst you remain neutrally bouyant. [quote] I'd use a reel on a drift dive (although I don't do very many of these), because you're using it from the start, the size doesn't matter. My old McMahon gets used in such circumstances.

frankly I asked for a opinion on an appropriate reel from the selection I presented, not a lesson in why spools are better

I gave you advice on two of the reels. You had mentioned that you use a spool, and that you disliked the size of the McMahon. In these circumstances I thought that mentioning the use of a spool was appropriate.

David