Diving from Personal Boat??

I am new to diving. i will finish my certification for
scuba diving in May of 2009. I will have an opportunity
over the Summer to have many dives, both shore and boat
dives. My brother in law has a new 28 foot fishing and recreational
boat which he has built from scratch. He and i were wondering how many dives must you have under your belt before it is possible to dive from his boat?
I know I will be diving with a buddy and we are all First Aid and CPR certified.
Is there a certain criteria that we may need to dive from his boat. Sorry
for the newbie question at this forum. It seems advanced to me though.
Any help with this matter would be certainly appreciated. Thanks.

Sincerely,
ZodiakDiver / salub2007
MARK B

Of my first 100 or so dives, including training dives, only 1 was made from the beach and that was a night dive.

There is only upside to diving from a boat.

You still need to consider depth when you pick a place to anchor. You don't want to exceed your comfort level or your training recommendations. In other words, keep it shallow! Take it easy for a while and, by all means, consider AOW and Rescue. With only 2 divers, they should both be Rescue certified, in my view.

You will probably descend down the anchor line. This is a nice way to go. Much easier than a free descent in the middle of nowhere. And always better than swimming out from the beach! Although more costly, you may find a larger diameter anchor line is easier to ascend/descend.

Don't forget the Alpha flag for the boat and probably the Diver Below flag. Check your local laws regarding the Diver Below flag. Some locations want you to have a float on the surface with the flag and required you to maintain a position within some distance of the float. Yes, that might mean towing the float around behind you. It depends on the requirements imposed by local regulations. Ask around.

At some point you will want to have a SMB (Surface Marker Buoy) because you may surface a long way from the boat. This may be caused by current, poor navigation or getting low on air.

You are farther from medical help. Make sure the boat has a marine radio (or two) and be certain it (they) work.

Other than that, enjoy! Boat diving is a lot more fun than beach diving.

Richard

You might consider taking the PADI Boat specialty. At a minimum, read about it in the PADI "Adventures In Diving Manual".

Richard

Make sure someone in left on the boat looking out for you. If you get swept away in current, the boat pulls it's anchor loose, or you get lost it sure beats swimming in to shore.

Learn how to inspect that anchor so that it won't pull loose to begin with.

If your training lands you as a competent diver, there is no reason your first dive outside OW class can't be made of that boat. Just stay within your limits, comfort zone, and pay attention to what you are doing, you should be fine.

But again, make sure someone who can drive the boat is on deck watching for you. And have some good signaling devices.

Would people recommend having a DAN oxygen kit on the boat and the people on the boat trained in ints use?

Sure, if you have one, bring it along. But the lack of O2 would not stop me from diving on a private boat, only a commercial operation...

Just curious, that is one of the things that keeps my dive buddies (who are far more experienced than me) from diving on personal boats.

The only thing that kept me from diving off my own boat more was the lack of someone willing to sit there while I dove. And the fact that it was quite a haul to the nearest decent site for a little 18 foot boat and as a captain I was a sissy when going out in the ocean...

djtimmy77:

Just curious, that is one of the things that keeps my dive buddies (who are far more experienced than me) from diving on personal boats.

Click to expand...

99.9 % of my dives have been from my own or others personal boats without oxygen and I would be willing to bet that the charters I went on did not have oxygen either.

There are no legal requirements to dive off anything at all so of course you can dive. Take great care with site selection, tides, currents and make sure the guy on the boat knows how to operate the boat, contact the coastguard and give first aid.

Other than that, have fun. Wouldn't bother with the boat speciality- its a complete waste of time.