Scuba Gear for Basic Boat Maintenance

[DefinitelyMe]

I carry a tank a little bigger than a pony tank, a back plate, a regulator and a mask. With the back plate instead of a BCD you save a lot of space and you probably won't need any weight, particularly if you want to be slightly positively buoyant for fixing stuff like ropes in props.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by DefinitelyMe

I carry a tank a little bigger than a pony tank, a back plate, a regulator and a mask. With the back plate instead of a BCD you save a lot of space and you probably won't need any weight, particularly if you want to be slightly positively buoyant for fixing stuff like ropes in props.

Last year prior to scuba training, I went under to inspect the prop using only a mask, snorkel, and wetsuit... no weight belt... I got stuck backside up to the underside of the stern. Was almost eliminated from the gene pool for being too buoyant.

Next, I did something really stupid... I stuffed an 12 pound zinc anode down the front of my wetsuit and tried again. Fortunately, I'd also put on a pair of fins, so I was able to make the surface in time after the zinc took me straight to the bottom.

The proper training is a good thing.

[bboyher]

I've been cleaning the bottom and changing zincs the last few years myself and have used an 80 cu ft tank with bc, weights and the all the stuff. I'm 65 now, fatter (more weight needed) and have 4 ft freeboard on my older sailboat and no swim platform. (Pearson 35)
It's all a real pain in the ass. Ordered a 25 ' lp hose from Divers Supply a few days ago(~$52) and if I can just attach my 2nd stage to it and leave the tank on deck I can clean the whole boat and do the zinc with much less effort. Re hooka rigs and do it yourself compressors, had a commercial diver with lots of experience tell me not to use them. They all have a little oil in them and getting it in your lungs causes major problems. They clean boats using tanks, long hoses and full face masks. I tend to believe him and $52 is pretty cheap.

[bboyher]

Sorry, but that's funny. I have changed my prop zinc and cleaned the prop free diving. After feeling real smug about doing it though, I thought it needed tightened a little more and the last trip down I stripped and broke the prop nut (bronze cage thingy) if screws on so I lost the zinc and the nut. Moral is, it pays to take your time and not over crank it and that means you need an air supply. It is a good work out though.

[hellosailor]

Positive [BONK] buoyancy [BONK] under the [BONK] hull is [BONK] a great [BONK] thing [BONK] [BONK] except for the blue paint in [BONK] your aching head.

Wearing a couple of wool watch caps really helps with that.(G) Also keeps you warmer, even in the water.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Zanshin

That was an awesome video and quite eye-opening, I'd not realized the forces involved. But did you watch the whole video to the end? At 3:38 they do the exact same test on a tank with a safety valve installed and nothing happens. I need to see about getting those!

The force is even worse if a tank fully ruptures. There were a couple of tanks that blew at SCUBA shops in FL a few years ago. One of them blew out part of the wall and roof in the corner of the shop and killed the guy filling the tank. Someone said it the force was roughly equal to a half stick of dynamite.

[hellosailor]

Ages ago SCUBA shops used to have a picture posted of a steel 72 that blew up in the trunk of someone's car. Looked like the car had been seriously rear-ended. Our instructor said it had the force of 3 sticks of dynamite (not tnt, which is more powerful) and when my fellow student buddy clipped the side of the pool with her tank one day and the instructor said "She's your buddy, you get to go in and check it" I had to ask myself, I'm putting my face up close and personal to that?

[a64pilot]

Pretty decent friends of mine. It was an O2 Deco bottle and this accident would not have occurred with either 32% Nitrox or compressed air, but stuff does happen
https://www.osha.gov/pls/imis/accide...l?id=201352556

[hellosailor]

Why do you say the accident would not have happened with other gases? The URL report seems to indicate the problem was that she dropped the tank, with the neck impacting a concrete floor and shearing off the neck. At which point the pressure of any gas would have blown the neck away as a projectile.

Unless I misread it, there's no mention of an oxygen explosion or fire, just the neck being blown out by gas pressure.

And no mention of the pressure of the fill or the history of the tank. In some areas shops are known to be fairly generous and casual about how much pressure they fill with. Others...not so much.

[a64pilot]

What did happen was there was some sort of fuel, Oring, maybe a tiny bit of organic matter. whatever that was ignited that caused the bottle to fracture, it was an oxygen explosion, Bill Rennaker and one other if I remember right was treated for burns and released.
There have been more than a couple of O2 bottle explosions in the last couple of years in Fl anyway. I think at least that pumping the bottles to 3,000 PSI has something to do with it, you can't get O2 higher than I think 2640 from a supplier.
Either way a compressed gas cylinder is a bomb, but treated correctly it's safe. Bomb wise it's nowhere as big a bomb as the gas tank in your dink though just for comparison.

[Adventurebound]

Originally Posted by Blue Crab

HAHAHAHAHAH! Sure boss, whatever you say.

Of course I made that statement to attract discussion to free diving and no one can do hard work underwater for 22 minutes on one breath and multiple breaths make the job complicated and using tanks and/or hooka is the way to go when you have a big job such as cleaning the hull, freeing the prop and the many jobs that other wise require you to beach the boat which would take more time than going underwater. [said that on one breath]

[Pelagic]

A lot of overreacting about the dangers of scuba tanks.
Dramatic photos of failures on poorly maintained STEEL tanks are pretty old and before international Inspection regulations now required before tanks will be filled at a store.

ALL tank valves today come with a safety blow off valve if over pressured.

Mandatory inspection is simple and easy as is good user practice about storage.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dhnwQHPLpzA

Personally I will stick with my Aluminium 80's as they are multifunctional for both maintenance and sport.

Hookahs are ok, but if I were diving at a lively Anchorage with a strong current and had to cut away a fouled drift net...I would want my breathing air to be self contained with no umbilical!

[Adventurebound]

More than many years ago I was diving with the old two hose Cousteau regulator and got wrappped up in seaweed which easily cut off my air supply. The single hose regulator is more durable, but getting tangled is always a risky problem-even if you can hold your breath for 22 min.

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

A lot of overreacting about the dangers of scuba tanks.
Dramatic photos of failures on poorly maintained STEEL tanks are pretty old and before international Inspection regulations now required before tanks will be filled at a store.

Personally I will stick with my Aluminium 80's as they are multifunctional for both maintenance and sport.

Hookahs are ok, but if I were diving at a lively Anchorage with a strong current and had to cut away a fouled drift net...I would want my breathing air to be self contained with no umbilical!

Aluminum tanks are at least if not more dangerous than steel. The two explosions I know of that happened in FL dive shops about 10-15 years back were both Al 80s.

[pbiJim]

Originally Posted by ontherocks83

I thought every kid tried doing that when their parents weren't looking. Or was that really just me? Thought sure as hell I could find a way to dive to the bottom of the pool and stay there.....I was very wrong

QUOTE=fstbttms;1556048]

When I was a kid, I got a little more creative. I put weights on a 2-liter soda bottle full of air & brought that down with me. Later, when I actually learned about diving, I realized how lucky I was not to have had a serious lung expansion injury.