Time & Money spent on your local dives

[Rick Inman]

I have a question about the time & money spent on your local dive trip. Every time I went out to be wet, here is the time I spent:

1. preparing and loading on the gear at home: about 30 min
2. driving to the site: 1:30 hr..
3. set up the gear at the site: 30 min
4. two dives and surface interval: 2:45 hr.
5. set off the gear and loading: 30 min
6. driving back to home: 1:30 hr.
7. loading out the gear and cleaning: 45 min.

Cost: $20 plus gas

So, it used to take 8 hrs (+/- 30 min). Is it a typical time spent and cost on your local dives? The money part is ok though. Sometimes, it is so much time consuming for me to do because it is almost one day off. Maybe, I can save some time for loading on and out gear, and cleaning if I have my own garage. Please share your case. Moreover, is there any tips to save time spending?

Thanks in advance,

Hoosier

1. preparing and loading on the gear at home: about 10 min
2. driving to the site: 35 min.
3. set up the gear at the site: 15 min (+ 15 min talk)
4. two dives and surface interval: 2:45 hr.
5. set off the gear and loading: 10 min (+_10 min talk)
6. driving back to home: 35 min.
7. loading out the gear and cleaning: 15 min.

Total cost $16.oo + gas

 

[matt_unique]

Starting out with gear on rack:

1.) Organize/pack gear - 1 hr total. This may include drysuit zipper waxing, making a lunch, and loading the gear into the truck.
2.) Drive to boat - 1.5 hrs
3.) Load boat/prepare boat for day - 45 min
4.) Cruise to dive site - 20 min to 1 hr depending upon conditions and site chosen.
5.) Suit up/splash/descent - 30 min

Add reverse time from above to get back home. I am definitely outdoors for about 30 min rinsing and hanging gear.

Definitely about a 10 hour day to dive.

--Matt

 

[Deep Lake]

I use a cargo trailer to store/hang my gear in and since I typically shore dive in fresh water so I can suit up in the trailer, dive, unsuit in the trailer and hang my gear to dry. When I decide to go for a dive all I have to do is hook up to the trailer and when I finish it is just a matter of refilling my tanks and unhooking the trailer. The trailer has been a great time saver and nice way to store gear.

I also keep bottled water, snacks, ect. in the trailer so I can go on the spur of the moment with very little planning.

 

[triton94949]

I spend about the same time as you do, Hoosier. There is no way around it. However I split it all up into 3 days normally: the day before, the day of, and the day after.

The day before is for gear prep and loading the jeep. That is usually on Thursday evening when I know the weather for the weekend is going to be good, or on Friday at the latest. If the dive site is close (90 minutes away) then I will do the driving early in the morning. If the dive site is further (2 hours or more) then I will drive up on Friday evening after work and stay in a motel. That adds to the cost, of course, however, by about $75 bucks for the room and another $20 for more gas.

The day of the dive is usually Saturday, but sometimes Sunday if someone in our group can't make it on Saturday and has Sunday open. Generally I prefer to dive on Saturdays however, and rest on Sunday.

Sunday is usually the day after, with an hour for church in the morning, and scuba clean up in the afternoon. My drysuit I will have brought upstairs on the day of the dive, when finished diving, to rinse and hang up in the extra bathroom to dry. If you use a wetsuit, then there is no rush.

By splitting up the work like this, you don't wear yourself out on a given dive day.

It is good to dive at least once a month during the season, and no less than every other month to keep your skills current and your body exercised. It is difficult to dive more than every other weekend however, because of all the work that goes into a dive activity. You almost need a weekend off from diving to relax.

I think about diving all the time. But I only get to go diving about once a month, during a good month.

 

[ScubaSarus]

I consider it a day

 

[scubafool]

Ya'll are making me me feel bad. Decide to go. Load gear, ~ 15 minutes. Drive to closest dive site 20 minutes. Assemble gear & dress 15 minutes. Shallow dive so figure 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Undress & disassemble 10 minutes. Pick up C-card & BS with park employee 5 minutes. Drive home 20 minutes. Rinse gear & hang out to dry 15 minutes. figure 4 hours total if I push it for one dive. Two dives only makes about 6 hours. Now if I decide to head to cave country.....

 

[Hank49]

1. preparing food and gear: 60 min
2. driving to boat house: 30 seconds
3. Launching and loading boat: 15 min
4. boat ride to and from sites including gas stop and tank rental shop (Longer if I stop to fish): 2-3 hours
5. usually one dive: 1 hour
6. stowing gear back on boat: 35 min.
7. Pulling boat out and washing: 30 min.
8. Washing dive gear: 15 min.

Total cost $5 for tank + $70 or so in gas (US$4.50 per gallon)

 

[Charlie99]

How do you guys clean so fast?

1.) Organize/pack gear - 1 hr total.
5.) Suit up/splash/descent - 30 min

I am definitely outdoors for about 30 min rinsing and hanging gear.

Having a couple of good rinse tanks and hanging area makes the cleaning go fast. Since my condo doesn't have a good area, I make do with a couple of 58 quart tubs in the parking lot area set aside for washing cars. 1 tub for neoprene, 1 for the rest. I keep the baby shampoo and even sink-the-stink in the car. I've also put hooks and lines into some nearby trees for hanging gear. Just letting the gear drip for 5 minutes makes it a lot lighter to carry up to the condo. 15 minutes is long enough to give everything (except the bathing suit that I'm still wearing) a thorough dunk, shampoo, and rinse.

Organize, inspect, and pack your gear as soon as it's dry. That way it's ready instantly when you decide to go diving, eliminating that hour you take to get out of the house. I even defog my mask before packing it -- defog seems to work better that way too.

I'd probably die of heatstroke if I took 30 minutes to get into the water. Packing your gear the same way each time, preferably in a last-in, first-out sequence minimizes time spent shuffling through stuff looking for what you want.

 

[String]

Interesting one. Assuming decent tide times

05.30am wake up
06.00am depart for dive are. Travel time approx 2hrs
0800am Get air fills then drive to boat (30 mins)
0830am Prepare boat and dive gear, load boat, launch boat. (1hr)
0930 - 1530. On boat doing 2 dives whilst covering for other shift of divers and travel to/from sites
1530pm - get back, get boat out of water, wash down kit and boat, secure boat (1hr)
1630pm - Shower, food, drink (90 mins)
1800pm - Leave for home (2hr drive)
2000pm - Arrive home. Wash kit in bath... 30 mins
2030pm - Dive "day" finishes.

Thats pretty much the weekend schedule for a dive trip. Usually get 2 dives in of 30-50 minutes, sometimes only one if lots of people, shuttling,tech problems or bad tides.

As for costs. Diving per day to cover boat fuel and expenses £15 ($30). Fuel cost for round trip (115 miles each way)...£22 ($44usd). Air £4 ($8usd). Food and drink usually £10 ($20usd)

So in total an average dive day for me lasts about 16 hours and costs me about £51 ($100usd).

By far the biggest expense for the day is the petrol used getting to/from the site. In the UK we have very very high petrol and diesel prices. Currently its about 91p/litre (roughly $6.54 USD per US gallon)for diesel and my car does roughly 45-50 miles per UK gallon (37-44 miles per US gallon) which is pretty good.

 

[matt_unique]

....
I'd probably die of heatstroke if I took 30 minutes to get into the water. Packing your gear the same way each time, preferably in a last-in, first-out sequence minimizes time spent shuffling through stuff looking for what you want.

The 30 minutes is the time from shutting the boat off to descending down the anchor/mooring line. Hook/mooring set, music turned on, wiz over the side, setup, suit up, roll into the water, swim to the bow of the boat, catch your breath, then vent the air to descend. I would pass out if I were 30 min in my drysuit prior to getting wet too!

I use a tub in the basement in the winter and a hose outdoors in the summer. I pick up each piece of gear and hose it, regs all connected to tanks, rinse drysuit, turn it inside out, etc.

It would be nice to live closer to the ocean. I envy these guys with a 10 minute drive to the coast.

--Matt