Who dives their own boat?

[c-how]

We dive off ours as well; a 28foot center console with twin 150s. Plenty of power even when full of gear. As I am new to this I am not fully set up; plan to get collasping tank racks and a tank holder that fits in my fish box. I have a swim platform on my boat which makes it rather easy to get back on board. I found it is best to leave someone on board as well.

 

[TSandM]

We bought a 21 foot Winner (originally built as a fishing boat) this spring. It has a 175 hp Johnson outboard, and has a lot of get up and go. We were going to put tank racks in it, but bungieing tanks to the rail has so far worked very well and given us a lot of flexibility for placing tanks to best balance the boat. We were also going to install a ladder (and may, in the future) but for now, doffing gear in the water and pulling it on board is working fine. We dive Puget Sound, so our water is almost always fairly flat (and when it isn't, we aren't tempted to take the boat out) so rough water reentry is not a consideration for us.

We have, so far, always left someone on the boat. Sometimes it's two up, two down, and one time, we left a non-diver on board. I have several friends who dive off unattended, anchored boats in the Sound, but I haven't been that brave yet. Some sites are so close to shore that you could easily swim there, in the event of a slipped anchor.

 

[Skull]

21 ft cuddy used with a lockable cabin. Lock all your valuables during the dive ...including your ignition keys, wallet, cell phone, etc... I dive solo every chance I get ...if she breaks free of the anchor oh well it only cost 10G's. I seldom dive > 2 miles offshore...usually can ride the surf to the sand. Transom ladder with a 20' triple clip tag line for hangin gear in rough seas. Felony stupid not to have a tag line. External trim switch on the OB to ride the motor up in case of an emergency. GPS, Fish finder, VFH radio, first aid kit , O2 bottle or at the very least 32% Nitrox-preferably a bottle of 36%, feeling queezy ...suck on some 36% ... flares, floatation devices, towels, lots of fresh H2O.... dive flags both alpha and diver down, gaff, charts, dive maps, ...many pictures of Cindy Crawford ...just in case I die ...I want everyone to think I was having relations with her regularly ...bless you president Clinton


Facts are do you really trust anyone to actually know how to start your rig and then save your sorry butt ...if you answer yes you obviously haven't thought the situation though ... have you???? Everyone diving with you is a failure in life ... otherwise why else have they chosen to tag along with you ... this is my quintessential philosophy in life! Start from this vantage point and all else is a routine exercise in basic self preservation. Trust no one but your spg/computer,compass and boat console gauges.

 

[Insert Catchy name]

Damn Skull.

Little harsh.

Funny, but harsh just the same.

Joe

 

[LI Diver]

I have:



Yes, I dive from them, no, we don't always leave somebody on anchor watch. The BW is easy to get back on because I put a single pole dive ladder on it--works good for normal people.


N

Nice rig Nem, What brand is the ladder?

 

[b1draper]

I dive from my boat all the time. It's a 2007 20' Century 2001SV Center Console. It's got a telescoping ladder on the back. Most of my off shore dives are actually for the boats I've owned. The boat is pretty easy to get in and out of. We always have a person on deck that can opperate the boat and radio.

I actually have my boat for sale. I'm asking 25K for it. There's currently 25 hours on it and it's just over 1 year old. I'm selling it so my wife can stay home with our 3 month old daughter.

 

[Roadtrip]

Bought a wonderful dive boat last year for my part of the world. She is a 245 C-Hawk that has a full transom, flare bow and very deep vee. Powered with a brand new suzuki 250 four stroke. I dive the coast of North Carolina, so usually have a 3 -4 foot head sea going out and off shore it can blow up quickly. Boat was designed for commercial fisherman in the mid atlantic waters.

Make sure you have the dead-rise and bow configuration for the waters you will navigate. Adding roll control, high speed faring block and through hull transducer will give you the bottom imaging you require.

Cheers
Roadtrip

 

[Skull]

Damn Skull.

Little harsh.

Funny, but harsh just the same.

Joe

Well its a dry topic so someone has to be entertaining ...

Point is you are fully responsible for everything that happens on your boat ... think it through completely and assume all your divers are clueless as to how your rig operates , especially after you brief them on the procedures and protocols of your boat. It truly is the best place to start. Remember this is recreational diving and boating ...its not like you got a Navy SeAL team on board! If your divers are tech guys really make sure you got all the safety, entry and exiting strategies down tight... with that much gear on you boat it will get beat to death ... in which case think about a solid used rig.

 

[Nemrod]

Nice rig Nem, What brand is the ladder?

Thanks, the ladder is a commonly available Garlick. The bracket is from Garlick also. It has proven to be very sturdy. It needs a secure base and fortunately the little platform on the Whaler could support a Hummer so all in all it is rock solid. I got the ladder for virtually nothing on closeout but the darn L bracket, well, it was pricey. There are several similar ladders and brackets I see in catalogs. I like the single pole type because you can go up and down it with fins on. Nice in seas to be able to get on the ladder and pull the fins off.

I always run out a 100 to 150 foot tag line behind the boat with a dive flag float on it and maybe some old ski rope floaties to keep the line at the surface. It is a tag line in case for some reason we surface down current I have a 100 to 150 feet of line to shoot for.

Since it is just me and my wife 96% of the time our boat does not get beat up. I put DriDek down on the floor to protect the deck from tanks, the Roll Control brackets securely carry all the tanks we need along the gunwales, I put our dive rigs in a plastic bin that goes up front to keep it all contained. I also have an inflatable bouy I sometimes connect the anchor line to and then use a 30 foot line to hook to the bouy. That way I can disconnect and return to anchor if need be.

The best thing I have is the Humminbird side scan sonar, it is very useful sometimes, other times I just use the down looking sonar. We of course have a VHF and a second handheld VHF, all of the usual safety items. Navionics charts loaded to the Humminbird GPS are useful and I also run a second little Magellon handheld GPS. I use it as much as the main chartplotter because if I see something I can just punch the mark button on it and then use both GPS to work around the area of interest scanning with either the down looking sonar or sidescan sonar until we figure out where to best drop anchor or move on. It is those big "blips" that appear on the sidescan to the sides of the boat in open water that are unnerving, I figure they represent something with sharp teeth, sometimes it is just best to turn it off .

Anchors, I am not happy with any of them. The problem with little boats is storage and 300 feet of rode up front and 100 feet spare rode in back and two anchors take up a lot of room and it is just all a big headache.

Rubber boats are nice because dropping a tank on them they just bounce, now I am always yelling at my wife to stop dropping the tanks on the gunwales. Arrrggghhhh.

N

 

[Skull]

Anchors ...now that is an entirely different topic ... line everywhere in the anchor hold in the cab for a drop line, in the OB well ... I fight pulling anchors all the time .. and on a small boat after a tough dive the last thing you want is to free an anchor from Kelp, Rocks/reefs, and other obstructions. I once dropped my anchor through a cut-out on a local wreck (I was the only boat on site and the mooring buoys were gone due to winter storms) ... talk about a lucky shot. Nothing like purging your stomach while pulling an anchor in rough seas... yea get a boat ..its a blast ... ha ha ha