Bosun Higgs
N/A
how do you store your cylinder(s) on board your sailing boat? do you tie it down?
diving cylinder on a yacht
- Thread starter Bosun Higgs
- Start date
madabouttheboat
Well-Known Member
I keep mine in its case 
prv
Well-Known Member
When I took cylinders on charter boats, they were in a shallow cockpit locker, wedged about with the rest of the diving gear so that they couldn't roll.
If I was going to carry them routinely on my own boat, I think I would make up some kind of rack, frame, or clamp, inside a locker, which would hold them completely secure.
Pete
If I was going to carry them routinely on my own boat, I think I would make up some kind of rack, frame, or clamp, inside a locker, which would hold them completely secure.
Pete
Skylark
Well-Known Member
Since 2002, the old BS 5430 Part 3 for aluminium cylinders has been replaced by BS EN 1802:2002. This provides for a 5 year "full", hydrostatic test and a 2.5 year visual inspection. I found this from the BSAC website.
Bosun Higgs
N/A
But as far as I can tell, the weight of the ally cylinders is much the same as the steel.
G12
Well-Known Member
The difference is when you dive them...... The aluminium cylinder is only a little bit negative at the start of the dive and once you've breathed it down they can actually become slightly positively buoyant. Fantastic for using when you take decompression gas mixes as you don't really notice they're there..... I wouldn't want to use them for normal back gas though as you have to wear more lead to compensate. Lots of people do use them though....
KellysEye
Well-Known Member
They must be stored upright like any gas cylinder. We strapped ours to the side of one of the front berths.
D
Deleted member 36384
Guest
On a diving trip I was told a story where a diver lost his leg (not sliced off, just ripped through the flesh) when he walked through a jet of compressed air leaking out of a cylinder. I am aware of puncture wound risks from HP jetting operations and my father's stories of HP steam leaks. Is the cylinder leg lost story an urban myth?
I am not trying to drift the thread but the story would influence how I would store cylinders on a yacht.
I am not trying to drift the thread but the story would influence how I would store cylinders on a yacht.
prv
Well-Known Member
Says who? And why? It's not like an LPG cylinder that's half full of liquid. Certainly when I used to dive nobody ever said anything about storing them upright. Indeed on Andark courses, a cylinder stood upright unattended and not secured to something magically turned into a pint of beer, to teach you not to leave them where they might fall over.
Pete
G12
Well-Known Member
Dive cylinders do not have to be stored upright at all, that's not to say that you cant store them upright if you want. They only have to be secure and I would suggest left in a position that protects the valve which is the weakest part of the cylinder.
duncan99210
Well-Known Member
Ours live in the cockpit locker, wedged in tight by all the other stuff that's in there!
Csail
N/A
I keep mine strapped down under the bunk in one of the aft Cabins the aft cabin. Been fint that way for 10 years
Same here just wedged under the bunk.
Bosun Higgs
N/A
I think you are getting tangled up[ with the rule in industry that gas cylinders must be chained to a wall or similar if stood vertical because of the weight and the possibility that if they fell over they could knock off the control valve. If not in use they should be stored horizontal.
I would have thought the major issue with diving cylinders in a boat was the possibility of them bouncing around in bad weather and hull thicknesses of a few mm. So I would have thought they were best tied down and horizontal.
