Dive Compressors

[2divers]

Ok,
Among divers there is the assumption that any boat you own, you will do everything within your limited, meager and ever shrinking scuba related budget to acquire a dive compressor for your boat so you don't have to drag bottles to shore and pay $6 for a fill after they check your Visual sticker and hydro (and make you update either if they are out).

So far I've only heard of two (non-commercial) boats with dive compressors on board.

The first was Krogen 48 power boat with a really awesome membrane nitrox fill station bolt to the back deck in a "dive closet". Way out of my range, but hey I can drooolllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The second was from a diving artical in crusing world a while back. the folks had a Maxsea compressor on board. They kept it on deck, it ran on gas and would fill two tanks in about an hour. It looked roughly the size of a small cart generator (sans the wheels) and I'm sure it was about as noise neighbor friendly.

I have to say that this last option is the best I've seen yet and the only modifications I can think of are to enclose it in a teak box when not in use to protect it from the elements as much as possible. That and I would hazard a guess that this would be rather like a grill. Buy it once and assume it will rust out and die in a few years.

Can I get some comments from folks who have dive compressors, what where stowed, etc.

[shawnbush12]

I have a Bauer electirc unit and it fills a tank from 500 psi to 3200 psi in about 40 minutes (the gas unit is a little faster). I think it was about $3K and I keep it in the port, aft hold of our sugar sloop and pull the 12 foot whip out to fill the tanks. I put a dual head on so I can load two tanks at a time.

we dingy the the tanks on land if we are close since it is faster but filling on board is nice when you cannot get to land or only filling a few.

[onremlop]

I've been listening to their podcast for a couple years. They are on a cruise around the world in their catamaran and are big time scuba divers. Here is a link to their equipment on their boat.

Specification

[Kanani]

I had a Passport 45 and it had a big engine room. I had a 2 cylinder Kabota (11HP) diesel as an auxiliary. I had a dive compressor, Fridge compressor, water pump and 150A alternator mounted on it.

I only used the compressor about 5 times in the 4 years that I had it. In the tropics, most of the good diving is within 10-15' of the surface and not worth getting all the gear out.

I used my tanks in Palmyra when we were searching deep ship wrecks and off the Great Barrier Reef when we went with a dive club. It was kinda funny because hardly anyone went below 20' anyway. I consider that as just free diving depth.

I sold the compressor in Panama 4 years later for more than I paid for it new.

[2divers]

Kanani has a good point on how often it was used. If you have a compressor how often do you use it? once a month? once a week?

2divers

[Evan]

Friends of ours had a Bauer in a plywood box mounted just forward of the mast on their Valiant 32. It was pretty bulky looking but they were serious divers.

I bought my wife a gas powered Bauer for a mother's day prezzie a few year's back. It's going aboard our 40' cat. It weighs about 100#. A bunch of bottles would have been cheaper and lighter but it was a real item she wanted.

[Brent Swain]

I bought a hookah with an oiless compressor called a Brownies third lung. Wonderful way to dive. At first I spent a lot of time inflating the huge float ring that came with it, and getting the hookah macarmeyed to it. Then, while diving I thought" Now why did I bother doing that? Next time I put the hookah in the dinghy. No problem. I've left the float ring ashore ever since. The dinghy has less drag than the ring and I can keep my dead fish , fishing gear, etc in it and can climb in and row to where I want to dive. Duhhh!! Shoulda thought of that the first time.
Brent

[SkiprJohn]

Brent is the only disadvantage with the hookah being tethered to the surface?
JohnL