Scuba Diving from a yacht?

Tim Good

Tim Good

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We plan on circumnavigating in the next 24 months and plan also on taking our scuba gear with us. Does anyone else dive from their boat and have any nifty little tips. I was thinking of places to safely and securely mount the tanks on deck and then also pulley systems from the boom to hoist gear in and out of the water into the cockpit.

Boat is a 43ft sloop.

Any other cool ideas or experience?

Tim
 
northcave said:
We plan on circumnavigating in the next 24 months and plan also on taking our scuba gear with us. Does anyone else dive from their boat and have any nifty little tips. I was thinking of places to safely and securely mount the tanks on deck and then also pulley systems from the boom to hoist gear in and out of the water into the cockpit.

Boat is a 43ft sloop.

Any other cool ideas or experience?

Tim
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It's probably easier to use the dinghy for entry and exit purposes (my own preference at least). Also, make certain to have the air intake for the compressor somewhere sensible and away from fumes. With the main engine, possibly a gen set and the compressor all on board it could be easy to kill yourself with gas at depth. It's easy enough not to as well of course so don't let that worry you :)
 
Done a fair bit - I even had a compressor strapped to the coach roof.

We stored bottles etc below. For entry we let a guardrail down and jumped - for exit we used the dinghy tied alongside.

We did find that good dive sites make bad anchorages and vice versa, but got round it one way or another. And it's jolly useful being able to dive your anchor if it gets stuck or someone parks their boat over it.
 
For the last few charter holidays I did as a teenager with my parents, we took our diving kit (minus weightbelts and cylinders) and did some diving off the yacht. We generally didn't get bottles refilled, just hired two each and that lasted a week's worth of occasional shallow dives.

On typical charter boats with big wide swim platforms, we didn't find any need for special lifting kit. My brother and I would just take off our fins and climb up the ladder with everything else on, my dad preferred to take his jacket off and then lift it out of the water by hand. It would be a different matter if you had a more traditional boat with a high transom.

We stored all the gear (including cylinders well chocked in place) in a cockpit locker - charter boats carry very little gear so there was plenty of space. May not be so easy on your own boat.

Pete
 
Yes - as to diving.

As you are going blue water think about being self sufficient. In some of the best spots to dive refilling cylinders is not easy. Coltri probably make the best range of compact compressors that will refill a bottle in around 30 minutes. You can opt for either a petrol or electric motor. Each source of power has its advantages. I prefer electric but obviously you need a reasonable Genset. 6Kw is enough and the compressor is single phase 240V.

Ideally you are going to need one cylinder per person plus at least one extra cylinder, together with a cylinder of oxygen. I am lucky in having a large lazarette into which the cylinders and compressor are strapped but any arrangement to keep them secure will work fine. I am not sure I would want to store the cylinders on deck for any time for all sorts of reasons. Of course there is a reasonable amount of other kit - all that can be said is you store it as best you can. A collapsible bath bucket or something similar to conserve water while enabling the kit to be washed is useful. Of course take spare masks and weights - they do seem surprisingly easy to mislay and can be hard and expensive to replace. A range of other spares never goes amiss and particularly spares for the compressor including filters.

I cant overly comment on getting into and out of the water. For me a large rear platform with a ladder works perfectly. "drop' the weights and jacket in the water and its easy, if you feel fit and strong and its reasonably calm climbing onto the platform fully kitted works. Without a platform some way into and out of the water would be vital. Maybe some form of hoist. I would also think about having the RIB in the water. Its good that it is available anyway should the divers surface some distance from the boat as its a lit easier than moving the boat, of course assuming someone is left on board!

Think about a decent fish finder type sonar - really useful for accurate positioning on some sites.

Think about suits - in more remote places you really don't want to get stung without medical assistance being reasonably close at hand. Think about a spear gun - it is not a bad way of finding fresh supper!
 
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I carry a single and twin set, stowed down below and filled locally at dive shops. Jump in off the sugar scoop, I take fins off in the water as ours, in common with most stern boarding ladders aren't long or wide enough to use with them on. As someone has already mentioned, follow local rules as hefty fines and confiscation of equipment likely if diving without local license. Make sure you set off with new 5 year bottle test as it can be more expensive elsewhere - £12.50 Liverpool, 80 euro Portugal:disgust:.
 
wl745 said:
ip485,why would you need a cylinder of Oxygen?Your not doing tri mix are you?Dangerous to have lying about!!!
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I'm guessing to breathe on the surface as an aid to decompression. We too carry one, but fortunately only had to use it once in 30 years.

Also Bauer make excellent compressors, I have a Bauer Junior which is well made and compact.
 
wl745 said:
ip485,why would you need a cylinder of Oxygen?Your not doing tri mix are you?Dangerous to have lying about!!!
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First aid in the event of decompression sickness - it's standard on proper dive boats although wouldn't have occurred to me for a yacht doing a bit of diving on the side. Although, in remote places where Portland Coastguard aren't going to show up by helicopter to whisk you off to a decompression chamber, I'm not sure whether half an hour's oxygen is really going to help all that much.

Pete
 
prv said:
First aid in the event of decompression sickness - it's standard on proper dive boats although wouldn't have occurred to me for a yacht doing a bit of diving on the side. Although, in remote places where Portland Coastguard aren't going to show up by helicopter to whisk you off to a decompression chamber, I'm not sure whether half an hour's oxygen is really going to help all that much.

Pete
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My club carries one for dives even in the UK and I'd say a cylinder full would help enough to make it worthwhile having. Also worth reading up on in water remedies which despite common training do in fact work and if you're remote enough it might be the only option.
 
We used to use the dinghy for diving. We put on wetsuits then lowered the tanks, BCDs, regulators, masks and fins into the dinghy and then kitted up. Getting out we took the tanks off and lifted them onto the boat, then passed up the regulators, BCDs, masks and fins. Thus no need for hoist gear. Then we washed everything in fresh water. We kept the tanks below deck in the forecabin wedged in.
 
In warm water steel tanks are great as you don't need weights when just diving in shorts. We dived with friends on a Nich 32 3 people and quite crowded with gear but still room for two tanks.
 
wl745 said:
ip485,why would you need a cylinder of Oxygen?Your not doing tri mix are you?Dangerous to have lying about!!!
Click to expand...

See here

http://www.divernet.com/Diving_Gear/diver_tests/953771/oxygen_therapy_unit_marinox_mk2_boat.html

Carrying oxygen is pretty much standard H and S on dive vessels in the UK, and for once, for good reason.

Personally my dive profile in more remote places would reflect the increased risk of a lack of medical facilities, but even so it is more than possible to be caught it a down current or for all sorts of reasons be in a situation where the availability of oxygen might make a real difference. If you are going blue water and serious about a lot of diving in remote places I think the cost involved is more than justified. As always you will want to think about safe storage of any compressed gas, and be aware of the added risks of oxygen leaking. You will be well aware that at times you might be days away from medical facilities, and even with a fat wallet in some places getting a helicopter evac. will be very difficult. Better to be as self reliant as possible.
 
We used to hang out a couple of lines with carabinas on the end. At the end of the dive you hooked on your weight belt and tanks to be pulled up later. The swim ladder was sufficient to climb aboard once the gear had been hooked on.
 
We went pearl diving a few years ago in the indian ocean. Off the yacht we used a dhingy to get in and out of the water. Made the experience that much more magical. Sadly, we didn't come back with any pearls though.
 
If you are heading for warmer waters consider a rash suit. I never bothered and dove in shorts but did sometimes have a short period of irritation.

It is worth while doing a shallow water practice to make sure everyone can get back into the dink. You need good upper body strength. I have got back to the dink after a tiring day and found I could not make it in. [ Got old somewhere ] I was able to reach in and 3/4 deflate one section and with the aid of a rope got back in.

Always have a carabiner on a line rigged and if not in the water accessible from the water so it can be deployed if required.

In the Caribbean it is easy to get bottles refilled.
 
TQA said:
If you are heading for warmer waters consider a rash suit. I never bothered and dove in shorts but did sometimes have a short period of irritation.

It is worth while doing a shallow water practice to make sure everyone can get back into the dink. You need good upper body strength. I have got back to the dink after a tiring day and found I could not make it in. [ Got old somewhere ] I was able to reach in and 3/4 deflate one section and with the aid of a rope got back in.

Always have a carabiner on a line rigged and if not in the water accessible from the water so it can be deployed if required.

In the Caribbean it is easy to get bottles refilled.
Click to expand...

I used to hang a loop of rope over the side of the tender to aid getting in, but more often than not just removed the tanks and used fin power to get me over the edge of the tender.
 
We kept the tanks in the gap between the bunks in the fore cabin tied on. When diving we tied the dinghy alongside and lowered the tanks, BCD and regulators all fitted together into the boat with a rope then we passed down the weights and put them in the BCD, then we passed down the fins and masks. Kit up go backwards off the side. Coming back take off the kit climb in the dinghy and pull it up, take out the weights then rope it to the deck, pass up the other stuff and wash it all. Be careful when buying a compressor it must be designed for diving as it has to remove any water in the air.
 
We are currently in the ABC's and have SCUBA kit on board. Mostly we visit dive sites in the RIB. Lowering the gear from the boat is pretty easy. Getting back into the Rib sometimes not so! We normally put our weights in the RIB and remove the gear in the water, then it is easy to haul the kit into the RIB. If it is difficult to get into the RIB then a rope loop from front to back is usually enough to be able to get the extra lift to get in.

If we have dived from the yacht, I normally climb up the swim ladder with all the kit but minus my fins. The admiral finds it easier to take her kit off in the water and we attach it to a line with a carribiner then just haul it up. Getting in we normally assemble and throw the kit over and put it on in the water.

Bottles are stored clamped to the bulkhead in the cockpit locker, no pobs in the last 2 years.
 
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