Hi from the Indian Ocean - South Africa

[Alan N Crichton]

I have been diving for the past 15 years and progressed to mixed gas technical rebreathers. Love the sea ! Decided last year to take up sailing with my wife - passed our day skippers course and subsequntly purchased a new Lavranos Cross bow. I had been searching for a vessel for over 2 years even though I had not sailed but I knew I would. So right now I am building up sea miles every weekend and Wed evening ready for my coastal skippers. Plan is in 3 - 5 years to sail around the Indian Ocean and visit my son in Australia - become "Gypseas"

Found this site when searching for info

[Hud3]

Good for you, Alan! Sounds like a good plan to me. Welcome to Cruisers Forum!

[scallywag]

Welcome to Cruisers Forum. There are a number of knowledgeable people reading the forum. Any questions, just ask.
John

[Wotname]

Welome from the other side of your local waters

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Alan,
Welcome aboard! Good to have you here.
Kind regards,
JohnL

[off-the-grid]

Are you bringing the breather with you?

I'm a CCR diver in training and a cruiser in training, and REALLY trying to figure out how/if the 2 can go together...especially in more remote areas.

[Alan N Crichton]

Originally Posted by grunzster

Are you bringing the breather with you?

I'm a CCR diver in training and a cruiser in training, and REALLY trying to figure out how/if the 2 can go together...especially in more remote areas.

The rebreather requires a little more preparation - I have a 50l Oxygen cylinder in my garage - this is decanted into an oxygen clean 15l cylinder which then is used to decant into my 3l inspiration cylinder. I also carry a 15l air cylinder which decants to my 3l air. Ultimately I intend purchasing a ROB Rebreather oxygen booster which allows one to get oxygen pressures upto 200bar. Without this I get about 5 oxygen fills with the last one being 90 bar but given that I only use 20-30 bar on 1.5hr dive this gives me at least 6 dives. I carry a decanting whip (connects 2 cylinders together) with me and any welding shop oxygen is suitable - just check the grade - Technical oxygen. So all you have to do is find any remote workshop and persuade someone to let you fill your own 15 l cylinder. Interestingly decanting from a 50l at 200bar you get 165bar in the 15 l which then drops to 90bar after 5 X 3l fills. Sodasorb etc you carry with you in sealed drums. Bear in mind in remote areas one is not going to do 2hr 90m dives as there are no deco chambers around so most diving is around the 20-30m mark within deco limits. Hope this helps

[off-the-grid]

Actually the biggest problem I see is the sorb. I just don't see having enough room to carry enough if cruising full time. Also in a cat carrying that much sorb is going to overload the boat. Lastly, getting it shipped to someplace remote is going to be really expensive.

I don't necessarily agree about dive times either. On sites with a lot of bottom contour (walls and sloping reefs for example), or shallower wrecks, diving CCR you have the potential to do longer runtimes without even going into deco. I read a while back on one of the boards about some divers, I think it was in the Caymans, doing some dives in the 250' range with run times of about 3hrs. With no deco. It was just a very long multi level dive, in which they maxed out at the depth, and immediately started working their way slowly up the wall.