Hookah vs Scuba dive kit.

[sailing_gal]

I keep a SCUBA tank on board and had a 25 foot hose made for it. To clean the bottom, I leave the tank on-board, around mid-ships just strap on a few pounds of weight and go. Works for me.

[Gaia]

We are both qualified Scuba divers but did not carry the tanks. We do have a Brownie electric Hookah unit and with Li batteries it does what we want from either the mother ship or the dinghy. So no horizontal limitation unlike what was stated earlier. We can also buddy dive with it. The depth limitation is 65 ft if I remember correctly but that is for one person I think. I would not recommend Hookah for those not qualified which does not apply to the OP of course.

We have an Autoprop and removing it to tighten a blade was made easier with the Hookah. It gives security to have the Hookah on board and the Brownie unit is a gem. My vote obviously goes for the Hookah.

Cleaning we have always done by free diving. Good for fitness ��

Jim sv Gaia

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by SV__Grace

Fun fact- you don't need a tank or hookah to dive your boat. My previous diver just snorkeled to scrub the bottom and even change zincs and service a prop. I was amazed, but he explained that he can work faster and more efficiently without the tank and free diving 6 feet or so is easy snorkel depth.

No self-respecting professional hull diver works this way and if I'm a boat owner, I gotta wonder just how good of a job a breath-holder is doing.

[garychurch]

I have both a hookah with 75’ hose as well as scuba gear with four tanks and compressor.

I find the hookah used with a few pounds of lead weights great for boat bottom cleaning, inspection and maintenance. With weights and a 75’ hose you can do a lot of exploring in waters up to 32’ in depth. Although you can buy an electric or gasoline driven compressor for your hookah, I have the luxury of using and refilling scuba tanks from an L&W compressor. At shallow depths an 80 cu ft tank will last a couple of hours.

This setup is fine for the shallow waters of the Bahamas where you can also snorkel and generally see as much on top as under the water. Also, using a hookah where you have currents make provide a life line to the boat.

If you want to dive deep say more than 32’ or meander tens to hundreds of yards, or maybe drift dive if you have someone on top in a dinghy, then you’ll want scuba gear. However, getting air fills in many locations are non trivial. So logically if you want scuba gear you’ll want at least two tanks and a compressor. All not cheap and challenging for a space limited boat.

Also, if you have a certified scuba shop they will look for an annual inspection sticker on your scuba tanks. Some places no current sticker no fills.

Good luck. I hope this experience helps.

[robert sailor]

If you end up cruising in and around atolls I'd have dive gear aboard. In the south pacific the trade winds are not steady from one direction as they are in other areas. Getting chain wrapped on coral bommies are rather common and its certainly a gift if you have dive gear to allow you to free yourself. You can carry a piece of 50 foot hose and leave your tank aboard. Attach a regulator and your free to change zincs, clean the bottom without bothering to wear a tank and gear.

[Davy J]

As a few have mentioned, cleaning the boat in full SCUBA gear, as in, BC, tank, weights, is a PITA. Since I was a diver before sailor and owned two full sets of SCUBA gear and four dive tanks, I did it several times.

Eventually got a 50' hose and regulator, I now leave the tank on the boat. It is much, much easier. I now still have the option to go sight seeing in SCUBA gear if I desire.

The only negative with using you own tanks is that they will need, eventually, to get hydro-tested.......... Not something that most SCUBA shops do on site.

[Bill Youmans]

Look at the Mantus scuba system. It’s a small tank and between the hookah and full scuba might fit your need especially with a spare tank.

[JPA Cate]

We have had, and used both.

For many years, we cleaned the hull free diving, why not? retired? out cruising? normal maintenance. We used the SCUBA gear some, mostly wall dives.

Later, we were loaned a hookah for as long as we wanted it. It works well for cleaning the boat, but hauling the hoses around is a drag. Also, it is noisy. You should be able to free dive to clean the hull up till your 70's, and perhaps beyond. If you don't keep up the conditioning that allows you to do that, it would also be time to sell your Scuba gear.

So I would say that it will partly depend on how you use the boat and where you go. But I would go with Scuba if I were going cruising, and I would plan on using it in the fouled-line-on-the-prop times, or the anchor fouled times (where it was safe to do so).*

*One time we had an anchor fouled, while up a river that had very low visibility (opaque), and was running 1-2kn. The anchor was probably fouled on a tree that had come down in a flood, so there were branches one could not see, as well. Jim decided it was not worth the risk to life of getting snagged there, too, and we finally jettisoned the anchor after hours of trying lots of things to get loose. We've had to cut the chain to get free once, and one time it took two friends, working together, 4 tanks of air to free our chain (a boulder had rolled over it) from under a rock in a marine park in Mexico. Thanks again, Brooklynese! They wouldn't accept money, but Jim fixed their windlass later on.

Ultimately, I think the Scuba gear is the more flexible as to use, and also more fun of using. Australia has a lot of tropical venues to explore, and the whole Pacific is awaiting! And I'd look really closely at one of those nice little Italian dive compressors. If you have the compressor aboard and maintain it, it will open up hundreds of possible diving situations where you will be able to have buddies from among the cruisers, because so many only carry emergency tanks. Furthermore, if you have people who may visit you, you could do lots of diving together, if you can fill your own tanks.

Ann

[jmschmidt]

Tanks are a big expense and clumsy with all the other gear. I built a hookah with a $99 oil-less compressor (on sale most weeks at Home Depot and Lowes), 50' of air hose with quick engage and release fittings already installed. Got a used regulator from a dive shop for cheap. Cut the end off the regulator hose and put on a quick release fitting from the hardware store. Made a backpack with straps from an old backpack and a scrap of synthetic decking material (slightly non-buoyant) to mount with plastic water pipe U-mounts, the hose ends of the 50' hose and the regulator hose .

It will provide 130psi but not enough CFM to stay at that pressure so compressor runs pretty much continuously to maintain 80-90psi when you are breathing heavy under water. Makes it a little hard to draw air (I assume the regulator is set at 150psi). Since I only go down to the bottom of the keel (6,'2") its not a problem and not worth rebuilding the regulator with low-pressure springs.

Of course I can use this setup for other things like tire inflation which you now have to pay for at most gas stations. I have an assortment of quick attach air tools; a fine air nozzle to blow dust out of things, tire valve-stem fittings, etc.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by jmschmidt

I built a hookah with a $99 oil-less compressor...

It will provide 130psi but not enough CFM to stay at that pressure so compressor runs pretty much continuously to maintain 80-90psi when you are breathing heavy under water. Makes it a little hard to draw air...

The way around this is to not cheap-out on the compressor and spend a few extra bucks on a serious unit that can supply enough air to breath comfortably even while working hard running continuously and without the need for a volume tank. On top of that it has a small footprint and is nearly indestructible.


Thomas 1207PK80- About $400 from the manufacturer

[PhilC]

As others have posted above snorkelling is a very effective way to clean the bottom of most boats. It’s also a great way to get some exercise. If you have an emergency situation and freediving won’t suit then you want something that is easy to setup and use quickly. A small electric hookah or a pony tank rig without bc is just that.

[GILow]

Wow, lots of great additions overnight.

I think, reading through all this carefully, the best approach for me would be to buy the scuba outfit, but also add a hose so that I can leave the tanks on deck. Shouldn’t add to the cost too much, and sounds like it will make cleaning the hull easier.

This boat has a horrendously large wetted area, so cleaning will be a BIG task,

[roverhi]

We took tanks with us on our sail to French Polynesia. We used the SCUBA gear for one brief dive to retrieve an outboard for a fellow cruiser who'd accidentally dropped it over the side. A snorkle, mask and fins worked just fine for everything else from cleaning the bottom, spearfishing, lobstering, and just communing with the tropical fish. Spending hours a day in the water got in good enough shape to dive to 50+ feet with some bottom time. Felt so much more at home in the water without all the stuff that you strap in to use SCUBA. That motor retrieval dive felt so encumbered by the gear and never used the tanks again.

The secret to free diving is enough weight for neutral buoyancy. If you are positive buoyant you waste so much energy getting down the first 10' or so that your bottom time is limited. Starting out neutral buoyant you just have to get your self oriented down and a few kicks and your 20' or deep.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by GILow

Wow, lots of great additions overnight.

I think, reading through all this carefully, the best approach for me would be to buy the scuba outfit, but also add a hose so that I can leave the tanks on deck. Shouldn’t add to the cost too much, and sounds like it will make cleaning the hull easier.

This boat has a horrendously large wetted area, so cleaning will be a BIG task,

Yes, but hopefully you'll be hauling regularly to keep bottom paint in good condition. If you don't let it get foul, it is easier to keep clean than it is to have to deal with it after you let it get foul. I'm sure fstbttms would agree.

More anon.

Ann

[Dsanduril]

To me this all comes down to where you will be sailing and how easy/difficult it is to get tanks filled. At one point I had a tank-filling compressor on the boat, but that is a tremendous commitment in money and time. For us, we can comfortably carry 2-4 tanks, and in the places we liked to go in the South Pacific it was months between shops that could fill them. In that scenario, if you want to be using supplied air (we too find snorkeling covers most of our needs) having a hookah is great. If you're traveling someplace where air fills are easy then the tank and long hose becomes the most versatile setup.