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popolarbear · 03-17-2010, 03:58 PM,

some local interest is developing in underwater Tow boards. these are very common in Florida were divers use these to search massive areas for lobsters / fish / treasure etc... as i understand Minnesota doesnot allow for a dive flag to be raised while the boat is moving.

what is the difference between say a small 5 man dive boat that has a dive flag posted, and is being pulled by a diver as they explore an area,

a parked boat with the flag properly posted,

and finally a boat that is slowly pulling a diver on a tow board.

Hydro · 03-17-2010, 04:41 PM,

if lakes in minnesota had the vis of florida.....

DetectorGuy · 03-17-2010, 08:22 PM,

We have used tow sleds a few times and they are a ton of fun. We did not use a dive flag and one time we had problems keeping people from cutting right behind us. It was in the fall and there was not much boat traffic. We were using a bright red inflatable pulling the diver at 2.5 MPH. I really could not blame the other boater as we were not flying the flag. We ended up stopping for the day. Another time Art was towing me with his boat and Shooter jumped off the tow boat and waited at depth for me to come "flying by him". He got it on video. I was fairly surprised to see him just waiting there. We used GPS on the tow boat to monitor search pattern and speed (2.5 MPH seems optimum). We attached a wrist mount Tusa computer to the sled to make it easier to watch depth changes. (changes in depth seem to happen in a heartbeat if you are not paying attention).

Shooter · (This post was last modified: 03-18-2010, 08:04 AM by Shooter.)

post the clip......

I can't wait to ride the tow sled again ;D 8) 8)

the tech diving config. required no modifications to ride the tow sled. Big Grin

Really makes me want to ride a scooter. I loved doing barrel rolls to miss trees going through the underwater forests.

ballfrog · 03-18-2010, 08:40 AM,

I rode a sled a few times when diving for Becker County. The rocks and stumps sure can show up fast.

popolarbear · 03-18-2010, 04:01 PM,

when you look up the lake clarity ( visibility ) numbers for Minnesota lakes, they are listed for summer time. during late fall, none of those numbers are correct. during some special years, for instance, lake Minnetonka which has maybee 10ft vis , will approach 30ft on some of the bays, especially from an underwater perspective!once and a great rare while, some lakes will clear up in the spring(from a strange plankton bloom/ lake stratification effect) tow searching late fall Makes sense! and I'm thinking of Tow fishing late fall! THAT would be historic fishing breakthru. id like to be towed and select from a host of folllowing fish, which one id like to share my bait with Smile

popolarbear · 03-18-2010, 04:04 PM,

ohh and legally, i was thinking if the flag was not on the boat, but carried by the diver instead, this might be a loop hole in literature of the law!
also i was thinking of towing a float line from a swimming pool lane, to prevent other boaters from crossing the path.

DetectorGuy · 03-18-2010, 05:07 PM,

Here is a link to the video of the tow sled: the clip is very short, so I added some still photos of the sled being tied on and such in the beginning of the video.

popolarbear · 03-19-2010, 07:08 AM,

my video player is crashed until next weeks reinstall...i cant watch this vid for a week, and its going to kill me waiting...was this a home brew sled?

Shooter · 03-19-2010, 07:51 AM,

[quote='popolarbear link' pid='5727' dateline='1269004106']
my video player is crashed until next weeks reinstall...i cant watch this vid for a week, and its going to kill me waiting...was this a home brew sled?
[/quote]