Laying line

Y

YobazEfendi

New Member
I would like to lay down some line to a wreck to speedup access. The wreck is at 50 to 60m and needs a 15 minute swim at 48m. Wreck should be about 200-250m far away. Last time I could not reach it opening my reel.

It is kind of an overhead environment as you have massive cargo ships cruising by.

I bought s spool of 3-4mm line. High vis, polyesther. But is is in a big spool. 40cm R x 25cm width. Guy who fabricated it for me says there is roughly 350m of it on there.

So, how would one go about laying this big spool? Split it up in to smaller spools? Or put a rod through this spool and use it as such? Make s contraption out of pvc pipe so it looks and acts like a reel?



Also what do you say to the idea of leaving a lot of slack on the line and then holding it and swimming at 30m?

There is a bidirectionnal current. One way in the top 20m and the other way deeper down. Current only strong at first 15m.
Teoman
 
If you're in the ocean I wouldn't waste my time. Any line that long is going to catch/snag everything going by and break. Even if you ran rope you're going to have problems, IMO. And then there's the whole issue of leaving that much "stuff" in the ocean. I see a lot of wrecks with a lot of reel lines, anchor lines, fishing lines, etc. Don't see any reason to put more out there on purpose.

You might be at the place where you get a scooter, if you don't already have one, and create some navigational landmarks on the ocean floor to the wreck.

I just don't see an easy solution. If you're proficient running a reel you can do it. Just one word of advice: That's a lot of line and it's going to be very easy to get into trouble running it in an open area. In the caves the line is being tied off every so often, so that you're seldom dealing with an unmanageable length, like you're talking about.
 
Thanks for the reply. I doubt anyone else will dive the wreck. And the sea floor already has some fishing lines.
You are correct, the line could get caught on some fishing crap or an anchor and get torn off but we will see.

I really would enjoy a scooter but they are just a tad bit expensive. And also my buddies need to get one aswell for it to be of any use to me. And ibknow they wont.

Any advice on managing the big spool?
 
In caves, we use homemade reels that have a capacity of about 250m. I have the drawings if you are interested.
Now the easy way: you just stick a piece of wood through the spool for a handle.
Try to fix the line as frequently as possible, so if it is interrupted, it will be easier to find the rest of it and repair it. It will be also less dangerous: beware of loose line, if you get trapped...

Good luck

Tom
 
I have used old wire spools with a crude handle made of plumbing bits. Almost free this allowed us to lay large quantity of line with little investment.

The plumbing bits were used to make a large D and one simply towed it with one hand while keeping a finger on the side of the reel for a little tension.

Good luck, sounds like a fun project.

Peter
 
Not entirely sure what your trying to do! Assuming you want to join the wreck to the shore in one long line then could you not run the line from the shore (spool on shore) to the wreck on the surface (swim or boat) and then dive the wreck from above taking the line with you? On return to shore you could tidy the lay and cut off at the end of the dive.

Or are you trying to do something more complicated like a mid-water line?

Matt.
 
Sounds like a two man job. One to handle the spool of line and the the to do the wraps

If you are solo then why not just run the line out as tight as you can to the wreck in one go. Then use snoopy loops (Big rubber bands made from car innertubes cut up) to lash the line to rocks etc on the return trip.

poly line will float so it may be worth stoping at say 1/4 distances to pull it tight and do a full on lashing to a rock to stop it from all getting too much to handle.


ATB

Mark
 
I am very interested in your diy reel drawings. Measured the spool with a ruler and it turned out to be 35cm r x 17 cm w.

I also noticed that the center or the spool is made of cardboard. (A million curses).
 
The objective of tje whole rope thingie is
1 to be able to find the wreck easily, and maybe pull oneself along the rope if need be. Its a long way to be able to find it with just a compass.

2 if it is possible hold on to the line, lift it from the bottom and follow it from 30m to save gas and start deco.

I just tested the line and it sinks :)

Unfortunately do not have acces to a boat (atleast not one that can find the wreck) and it is not possible to put a buoy on the wreck.

I do have a buddy who is eager to help.
 
YobazEfendi said:
Unfortunately do not have acces to a boat (atleast not one that can find the wreck) and it is not possible to put a buoy on the wreck.

I do have a buddy who is eager to help.
Click to expand...

#1 Dive 1 - normal swim, DSMB to mark it.
#2 Surface swim the line out to the DSMB.
#3 Dive 2 - fix the line to the wreck and swim back down it fixing as needed in whatever depth suits.

Get the support guy to do some of the swimming :-)

Matt.
 
That sounds reasonnable except if one surfaces on top of the wreck, one may get run over by a cargo ship.

Secondly the surface current is quite strong and the exact path would need to be calculated.


A scooter would be perfect. :(
 
YobazEfendi said:
That sounds reasonnable except if one surfaces on top of the wreck, one may get run over by a cargo ship.

Secondly the surface current is quite strong and the exact path would need to be calculated.


A scooter would be perfect. :(
Click to expand...

There's no surfacing from the wreck - only a surface swim where you can pick your time for cargo-ship dodging!

Towing a line that distance sound arduous to me and I'd not want to be at depth with it. At least of the surface you can add a float to the end to aid the process.

Let us know how you get on.

Matt.
 
Sounds like you need more than "cave line" to do a correct job of this. 6mm or 9mm at a minimum.

Don't use divers to set it. Reverse the process:

Pick your time and use a small boat, drop an anchor on the wreck and pay out line back towards the shore. Every 30 meters attach a cinder block. Tidy up the line later with diving. I would use prussik knot loops to attach the blocks so that you can adjust the main line to be tight between the blocks once set.

If you get a system like this set up and coiled correctly in a boat, setting it takes just a few minutes. Pre-preparing carefully is the key.

Dave

.
 
Last edited:
Dave, that's the smartest way to do it, for sure.

If you're going to "lay" the navigation system from a boat, then you can also use another system I've seen. Basically you tie a float on a short line (6 to 10 feet long - or longer, see below) and tie the other end of the line to a small cinder block, brick that has holes in it (grapevine), or other sizable weight/anchor. You drop one of these at intervals - spacing depends on the vis at the depth they're going to - as the boat heads out towards the floating wreck marker you mentioned.

When installed you have a series of floating markers that are much less prone to catching nets, lines, etc., that end up dragging over them. Basically the floating buoys lay down, like grass blowing in the wind, when something hits them, including current. You can make the lines longer, if the current isn't too strong, so you don't have to always swim on the ocean floor. Getting off the floor a little can help you off gas as you swim back to shore. Really depends on the conditions you've got at the site.

We use to put underwater floating markers on wrecks off of Virginia Beach, so that we easily find them and tie in to them. They even worked (stayed in place undamaged) with ships going over the wrecks.

We used anything that would float for the markers, including plastic water bottles, etc. Going deeper, like the depths mentioned by the OP, you have to use something that won't collapse at depth, or use something like small Clorox bottles (they have handy handles to tie the line to) and fill them with air once they are on the bottom. Wrap a piece of reflective tape around them, or paint them with a bright color that shows up underwater like "pink," and it's easy to spot them as you swim from buoy to buoy out to and from the wreck.

Anyway just another option to laying one continuous line.
 
Easy way: just attach a buoy to the wreck, then you can swim at surface...just locate it with rope + old plastic 20L jerrycan or something similar that floats...

Best

Tom
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top