Dive gear onboard

fastjedi

fastjedi

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I am pondering buying a dive tank, regulator and weight belt to keep onboard for occasional underwater inspections / emergencies.
I had some experience of scuba as a teenager. (My friends father had the contract to inspect local swimming pool tiles and used us to swim up and down for hours on end) I am looking for some advice on what to buy?
- Safe and cost effective
- Compact (will live under the forward berth for 364 days a year)
- Easy to use
 
Even if you have done some diving in the past.
Espesialy if you have no expierience in cold UK water.
I would strongly recommend a diving course first which will acquaint you with the gear and get recommendations.
There are lots of options the old BSAC was excellent but was a long frustrating proccess. many dive storse offer PADI which can be done in a week or over several weekends.
If you dont like the cold you can do the course at most holiday in the sun resorts.

Personnaly I have the gear in my garage, I am both BSAC and PADI certified. Have not done any diving for over a decade. I would not dive tommorow without a refresher.
I would not trust my regulator until I had it serviced by a certified teck.
the rest should be good. except maybe the valves on my dry suite probabaly should be replaced or serviced prior to use.

I have my mooring dived every year by a local pro. I don't like the idea of diving in a manky boat harbour. With several livaboards.

By the way if you are a good swimmer you can do a lot with just a snorkel mask and fins.
 
First of all, do a PADI course, just the basics will do. As it is unlikely that you will be diving very deep or for very long, I don't think the gear needs to be top specification: you could consider eBay for BCD and DIN regulators. Buy a new tank, or one that has been certified in the last year. I suggest a 10 litre one.

I am looking into the possibility of an on-board 12V pump to provide air for inspection and maintenance purposes. These are commercially available, but very expensive. I figure that for work up to 2m one could get away with just a cheap air pump, a long hose and a (possibly modified or adjusted) stage 2 regulator. Has anyone else tried this?
 
nigelmercier said:
First of all, do a PADI course, just the basics will do. As it is unlikely that you will be diving very deep or for very long, I don't think the gear needs to be top specification: you could consider eBay for BCD and DIN regulators. Buy a new tank, or one that has been certified in the last year. I suggest a 10 litre one.

I am looking into the possibility of an on-board 12V pump to provide air for inspection and maintenance purposes. These are commercially available, but very expensive. I figure that for work up to 2m one could get away with just a cheap air pump, a long hose and a (possibly modified or adjusted) stage 2 regulator. Has anyone else tried this?
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For work up to 2m you don't need equipment - down to 2m is different, Seriously one of the reasons that diving compressors are expensive is that they safely produce unpolluted air.
 
25931 said:
For work up to 2m you don't need equipment - down to 2m is different, Seriously one of the reasons that diving compressors are expensive is that they safely produce unpolluted air.
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send an email to hookamax in america with details of a couple of oil free compressors you have found, they will tell you if they are suitable for your purposes and sell you a low pressure regulator to go with it.

it worked for me.
 
+1 for do the PADI course.

I have an MiniB system which was conceived specifically for this kind of use. It is all together and compact and v easy to transport which is all to the good. The air system, including DV and spare, are standard Coltri-sub (Italian with, I understand, an excellent reputation). The bottle is only 5 litres so doesn't last long enough for much recreational diving but is adequate for small jobs at less than 10m depth (and mostly at ~2m when disentangling the prop...). The BCD (buoyancy control device) is odd since it's entirely on your back. You still need a weight belt, weight sacks, fins, wet-suit, snorkel and mask, but imho these are essential on-board safety kit anyway.

Would I buy a MiniB now (I bought it while just starting to dive). Probably not; I'd buy a more conventional set of equipment with larger bottle(s) and a separate BCD, but that's because I'd also use it for diving for fun. If only for emergency and maintenance use the MiniB is fine.

But whichever, the course is ESSENTIAL. Not for the physics bit which is largely irrelevant if doing short dives at <<10m depth, but the supervised familiarisation and practice. Refresher 1/2 days are easy to get from almost any diving centre (I recommend Porthkerris Divers near the Manacles: http://porthkerris.com/category/contact-us/).
 
Marsupial said:
it will run out of air, you then have to find a dive shop to fill it up, no problem unless the prop is still fouled up with a net . . .
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What a strange observation. What dive tanks DON'T run out of air? I can't dive ... but If I could I'd much rather go under a boat with 10 litres of air than just a lungful!
 
My understanding is that without a dive certificate to show you are a qualified diver most dive centres will not fill your air bottle (for safety reasons ). If you are a novice you need to be accompanied by a qualified diver. This actually happened to me some years ago.

Perhaps an informed forumite can clarify this situation.
 
Not true. From memory of the course I started it's the tank that has to be 'certified' ... a little bit like Marsupial.
 
Why put a man underwater at all? It'll be far cheaper to get a small underwater camera on a 'stick' and inspect anything on the boat that way. There are many different ways of recording it, many small camera's can have a waterproof housing to -10m. If you needed to cut net or line off of the prop, then put a cutter onto this stick and do it like that. Cheaper and safer.
I'm biased of course as I'm an ROV pilot anyway....:)
 
jamie N said:
Why put a man underwater at all? It'll be far cheaper to get a small underwater camera on a 'stick' and inspect anything on the boat that way. There are many different ways of recording it, many small camera's can have a waterproof housing to -10m. If you needed to cut net or line off of the prop, then put a cutter onto this stick and do it like that. Cheaper and safer.
I'm biased of course as I'm an ROV pilot anyway....:)
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Yeah ... a camera on a stick. That would have helped me a lot the time a VERY buoyant pot marker went round my prop and I spent half an hour trying to push down against its natural buoyancy to get it off.
 
shannon9 said:
What a strange observation. What dive tanks DON'T run out of air?
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no not strange at all, my system will provide air for about 1200 hours non stop assuming my diesel tank is full; no scuba system can match that- they run out of air.

look up hookah systems you moron you might learn something - second thoughts with no brain you are at a distinct disadvantage, synaptic ally challenged cant learn so you are a prime candidate for a Darwin award.
 
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Marsupial said:
no not strange at all, my system will provide air for about 1200 hours non stop assuming my diesel tank is full; no scuba system can match that- they run out of air.
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Well bully for you. So a downside of a dive tank that could possibly supply air for an hour is that you have a system that can supply air for 1200 hours.

You're being obtuse.
 
theoldsalt said:
My understanding is that without a dive certificate to show you are a qualified diver most dive centres will not fill your air bottle (for safety reasons ).
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My wife used to take my cylinders in for refill, she is not a diver. As long as the cylinder is 'in test' which is stamped on the cylinder, there should be no problem getting it refilled.
 
Did you have a knife to cut it away? How long would it have taken to kit up and release the pot? How long would it have taken if there was a current running to do this? How able were you to ensure that any dive gear that you may have had was servicable? How able would you have been to to recover yourself to deck at the end of the task? How able would you have been to cut yourself free if your kit had become snagged on the pot line? How much help would you have had to hand if plan 'A' had failed? A camera on a stick isn't a DSV, but for most peoples capabilities, it's by far the safest option isn't it?
 
jamie N said:
Did you have a knife to cut it away? How long would it have taken to kit up and release the pot? How long would it have taken if there was a current running to do this? How able were you to ensure that any dive gear that you may have had was servicable? How able would you have been to to recover yourself to deck at the end of the task? How able would you have been to cut yourself free if your kit had become snagged on the pot line? How much help would you have had to hand if plan 'A' had failed? A camera on a stick isn't a DSV, but for most peoples capabilities, it's by far the safest option isn't it?
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i'd go with all of that Jamie..... until a couple of years ago I dived the wrecks of the North sea for more than 15 years for pleasure....... i wouldn't look forward to going under the stern of a small boat in any kind of sea to do a job of work!.... easy peasy in nice flat warm water....not the same game at all in as little as 1/2 to a meter of chop
 
theoldsalt said:
My understanding is that without a dive certificate to show you are a qualified diver most dive centres will not fill your air bottle (for safety reasons ).
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I used to dive regularly, though not for about ten years now. Certainly at that time I never had to show anyone my little blue book to get a bottle filled. The bottle had to be "in test" of course.

Sailfree said:
As most of the use is lugging it on and off the boat can anyone recommend a cheap aluminium tank?
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I may be misremembering this, but I have a feeling aluminium tanks are actually heavier than steel ones, because they need to use more metal for the same strength.

Pete
 
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