Kent Tooling and Components Ltd - Diving Products reels “9-90 UK DIVING IN DEPTH” review

As a member of the British CDG, over the years I have used many types of reel, all of which have been home made (due to the fact that manufacturers don’t make big reels –ie: 12” diameter) giving the cave diver the opportunity to carry more line with thicker, stronger properties. The best reel I have is one big lad that I made about ten years ago, it was constructed from hardened alloy and has stood the test of time and abuse, unlike some of the reels owned by CDG members that now have an uncanny resemblance to the two front wheels of a clown’s car!
I was asked to test the all-marine grade stainless steel reel manufactured by Kent Tooling and Components Ltd. The reel has an extremely innovative idea for the handle and is capable of carrying 50M of 2mm braided line. This isn’t the size of reel I would normally use as an exploratory reel, but there is ample line to use it as a search/jump reel. Bur the main purpose of the review was to try the unique handle. Instead of the conventional right angle handle, used by most manufacturers, the Kent scooter reel comes with a Goodman style adjustable handle with P-clip secured to the side of the reel.
I turned up at my local test pond with my scooter. Once I was in and under the water, the line was secured to the wheel of a Yamaha 125. Under starters orders, off I go, with stopwatch at the ready, the prop starts turning and me and the ‘pig’ (scooter) are underway.
Absolutely no problems at all, both hands on the pig, just like your mother told you! And with the reel on the outboard side of my hand, the line flowed off like a dream, 10 metres, 20m, 30m, 40m, 50m – BOING BUNGEY – 1 minute 45 seconds to pay out 50m of line with no snags or hitches.
Reeling the line back in took a bit longer than paying it out, but gave me time for the cogs to start turning and think of the many advantages of its design compared to the conventional right angle hand grip. For instance, lantern divers would be given the ability to hold the reel and lantern in the same hand (normally this would be a two handed affair) leaving the spare hand to do other mundane things like changing regs, compensating clearing ears, taking bearings and notes, belaying the line or even stabbing your buddy if he tries to touch your new reel! The reel is constructed from high quality marine grade stainless steel pressed out from CAD CAM (Computer Aided Design) with all stainless steel components (apart from the spool handle and brake knob) so problems with dissimilar metals corroding – ie: alloy corroding against stainless steel, are eliminated. The plate thickness of the reel is a good 2mm and therefore more than likely to withstand a cylinder being chucked on it (not like plastic). Inside, rather than using a solid bush for the axle to run through, 4 stainless steel pins are positioned round the axle, securing the sides rigidly at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock, which prevents any debris clogging the axle, which can happen with a solid bush.
The spool-locking device is on the axle, butting the spool hard up against the line guard when tightened. This works very well in securing the spool. Some divers like to call this type of design a spool tensioner but, to be honest, using reels like this doesn’t really work. If the knob is only slightly turned, depending on which way the reel is turning, it will either tighten up on you or slacken off, so the best way to use the locking knob, I feel, is either all the way open or all the way shut, and there’s no rattling. Besides, the best brake tensioning you have is your fingers.
If you’re thinking of something with a bit more line, then this isn’t a problem because Kent Tooling are manufacturing various models and sizes. One of the reels that were sent through was a 100m, this has the same diameter as the 50m reel (110mm) but at 75mm was twice the width. The basic design of the spools are the same, just the sizes differ and of course they are all marine grade stainless steel construction. The handle of the 100m reel is an over-the-topper in the shape of a half flattened ‘S’, kind of coming over the spool and back on itself (sleek looking). But if you don’t fancy that kind of handle on that kind of reel, then they can all be interchanged with each other according to personal preference. So, all in all, a good design, good materials, good construction, well finished and bloody good price, retailing at £64.86 for the 50m reel and £63.51 for the 100m reel – what more can be said about a reel with a mechanical magnitude over its competitors, with an inferior reel price tag. In the words of that famous cave diver Martyn Farr ‘I’m sold on it’.

By Mark Hooson