water scooter design

[sal]

I am a design student at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. I am designing a product for divers, and input from real divers would help me immensely. Can I ask you a few questions? It should only take about 5 minutes.

When you go scuba diving, what do you do to navigate?

Do you ever get confused about what you are looking at when you are diving?

Have you ever hired a diving guide to take you to a certain spot to dive?

What was good or bad about the guide you hired?

Have you ever used an underwater scooter?

If so, which kind was good or bad about it?

What kind of handles did it have? What is difficult about it? Did it make you hurt
anywhere after a while? Where?

What is the best time of the day to dive if you want to see wildlife?

I am designing an underwater scooter for the Great Barrier Reef which is capable of following an underwater route via GPS. This route would take the diver on a tour of spots in the Great Barrier Reef. Regardless of the problem of GPS under water,what do you think about this idea in theory? Specifically along the lines of your own experiences, do you have any suggestions?

 

[BigTuna]

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=127300

 

[diveroflove]

Gps Does Not Work Underwater

 

[will_tekkie]

it is true. Read about it at:

http://www.underwater-gps.com/3uwgps/ugps1.html

 

[neophyte]

I am a design student at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. I am designing a product for divers, and input from real divers would help me immensely. Can I ask you a few questions? It should only take about 5 minutes.

----------When you go scuba diving, what do you do to navigate?

I use a wrist mounted Suunto SK7, orienting myself pretty much the same as I would on land. I also try to be aware enough of my surroundings to get help from visual cues such as plants, rock formations, depth/slopes, and sand patterns caused by the action of currents and waves, although these aren't always as accurate and can change relatively quickly. Current direction can help too, although that can also change pretty quicly.

---------Do you ever get confused about what you are looking at when you are diving?

Absolutley, there's an awful lot to pay attention to and, unlike on land, it's possible to hang and/or travel in pretty much any direction.

---------Have you ever hired a diving guide to take you to a certain spot to dive?

Sure, in Bora Bora I went out with a local dive-op that brought us right to the spot mantas rays were known to frequent. We saw 11, so it was more than worth it.

---------What was good or bad about the guide you hired?

The only bad thing was that the DM got rather annoyed at how quickly I sucked through my gas. I can't really blame him though, I signalled him when I was halfway through, as per his request, and he literally did a double take when his bottom timer told him it had only been six minutes. I spent most of the dive breathing Nitrox through his octopus so that we didn't have to thumb the dive for all the other paying customers.

---------Have you ever used an underwater scooter?

I've used two, on shore dives in Hawaii.

---------If so, which kind was good or bad about it?

One time the scooter was an Apollo and there was nothing to complain about at all. You could set the props to three different angles, with a resulting tradeoff between speed and run time. The trigger was a small button on one handle.

The other was a Sea-Doo, and it wasnt quite as nice because the trigger was a bar on each handle, and both had to be held down in order to keep the scooter running. There was no real advantage, since a runaway was no more likely with only one button to let go of, and a definite disadvantage since letting go with one hand to check my gauges resulted in the scooter shutting off, and more finning effort afterwards to catch up with my buddies again. Also, keeping the bar pressed tight to the handle with my palm left my hands slightly more cramped after the hour or so dive than did depressing the button on the Apollo with my thumb.

They were both an awful lot of fun though and let me see a whole lot more and make much better use of my air than I would've been able to otherwise.

---------What kind of handles did it have? What is difficult about it? Did it make you
---------hurt anywhere after a while? Where?

I think I answered most of those questions above.

---------What is the best time of the day to dive if you want to see wildlife?

As far as my knowledge and experience, that really depends on what sorts of wildlife you're hoping to see. I seem to've seen the greatest variety at twilight/dusk while the "shift change" between diurnal and nocturnal animals occured and they were all heading out or in. I imagine dawn would be the same, but I've yet to dive at that time of day. I've also never been any closer to the Great Barrier Reef than I was in Bora Bora.

---------I am designing an underwater scooter for the Great Barrier Reef which is
---------capable of following an underwater route via GPS. This route would take the
---------diver on a tour of spots in the Great Barrier Reef. Regardless of the problem
---------of GPS under water,what do you think about this idea in theory? Specifically
---------along the lines of your own experiences, do you have any suggestions?

Ignoring the problems with GPS for the moment, I think the idea sounds great otherwise. Those automated museum tours are great. Maybe a soundtrack/description could be recorde onto and MP3 player in an underwater case to go along with it. That might be an unsafe disraction though, just an idea. If I can be of any more assistance feel free to send me a PM. I only live about 20 minutes away from Pasadena and dive pretty much every weekend, so if you want to get together or try to come along for a dive sometime, maybe talk to other divers, we could probably work something out. I'm always happy to support innovation. Good luck.

Adam