K, here's the drunken idea
We were having trouble getting our casts out past the sand bars even with big surf rods and over 5oz of weight, I don't like using over 5oz weight because then it's almost impossible to tell if you've got anything on the line unless it's something really big
now, i'm not an engineer and i'm not great with physics other than basic theory so i figured i'd let someone with that sort of experience give the input on what and how something may prove useful
I figured 2 different ways of doing it, both involve an aluminum or steel tube
one way, uses a spring inside the tube with a cup/disk on the projection end of the spring and detents to prevent the spring from flying out the business end , some garage door cable attached to an eyelet on the underside of the cup and a hand winch to load it and a snatch pin to release it to 'fire' it
i think a M16 recoil spring would be too light, and a 50 cal recoil spring might be more along the length and weight needed
the other idea was using onboard air somehow but that would probably be much harder to build correctly and accurately
what kind of force would it take to propel 5oz of weight
i don't know the calcs for propelling a weighted object, but at 45 degrees elevation at 30 m/s ignoring drag and all it would be more than adequate
thoughts?
and yes, it's like a spring loaded fishing weight mortar