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why not dive without her... the arrangement sounds ridiculous.
Dozens of potential problems come to mind
Dozens of potential problems come to mind
Scuba-hookah combo
- Thread starter echodiver
- Start date
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echodiver
I read most of what's been posted here and have a few thoughts.
First what has been done to mitigate "the weight and hassle of the gear" ?
Going to a HP steel cylinder (assuming she is not) is #1 in my book. See an explanation here.
Second is exposure protection. Does she have a the right amount and does it fit? If getting in is a struggle then it's a fit or skills issue. You can evaluate fit and technique here. If she's over dressed then she'll be excessively burdened with lead and rubber.
Is she setting her gear up independently and do you work in sync as a buddy team through the process? Does her gear fit well?
I'm assuming regional shore dives here.... Are long hikes in gear needed? Consider using a wagon or cart to get gear closer to the entry. On ugly sites I often schlep my wife's gear down onto the beach so she can donn it there. It's not that hard for me but it's a big challenge for her sometimes.
Is she getting hot and bothered while setting up? Bring some bottles of tap water to break the heat. 1/2 L down the collar works wonders.
Does she really understand all of her experiment to the point of knowing why she needs it? is she lugging excess crap? Please don't take this as a put down. I have seen divers with stuff only because they were told to have it!
Is she picking the sites? I find that perks up my wife's interest. She has favorites and some not so favorites.
The suggestion to focus on boat diving is a good one if that fits the budget and region.
Does she have an ancillary reason to dive? Photography, bottle artifact searching, fish spotting, collecting sea glass or you name it!
As to your "Mr. Hookah" rig of course it can work. Just because something is not mainstream it doesn't mean it's wrong. There's a whole configuration movement based on wrapping a hose around your neck and they're doing fine.
You don't even want to think about how mixed gas diving got started. :shocked2: My wife and I will donate air to balance and optimize when she can't snag a larger cylinder. In your case I'd be thinking that pony should be a 40CF cylinder. If she can't manage that something needs to be reconsidered. Beyond that it will mean some non-standard planning but it sure beats loosing her as a dive buddy.
Finally this whole thing is like learning to dance. When we start we're clumsy and don't know how to handle the gear to the best advantage. With time we're slinging weight belts and handling it all with ease. I don't know where she is on that curve but if she's new to joining you she needs to realize that it all gets much, much easier with experience.
Pete
I read most of what's been posted here and have a few thoughts.
First what has been done to mitigate "the weight and hassle of the gear" ?
Going to a HP steel cylinder (assuming she is not) is #1 in my book. See an explanation here.
Second is exposure protection. Does she have a the right amount and does it fit? If getting in is a struggle then it's a fit or skills issue. You can evaluate fit and technique here. If she's over dressed then she'll be excessively burdened with lead and rubber.
Is she setting her gear up independently and do you work in sync as a buddy team through the process? Does her gear fit well?
I'm assuming regional shore dives here.... Are long hikes in gear needed? Consider using a wagon or cart to get gear closer to the entry. On ugly sites I often schlep my wife's gear down onto the beach so she can donn it there. It's not that hard for me but it's a big challenge for her sometimes.
Is she getting hot and bothered while setting up? Bring some bottles of tap water to break the heat. 1/2 L down the collar works wonders.
Does she really understand all of her experiment to the point of knowing why she needs it? is she lugging excess crap? Please don't take this as a put down. I have seen divers with stuff only because they were told to have it!
Is she picking the sites? I find that perks up my wife's interest. She has favorites and some not so favorites.
The suggestion to focus on boat diving is a good one if that fits the budget and region.
Does she have an ancillary reason to dive? Photography, bottle artifact searching, fish spotting, collecting sea glass or you name it!
As to your "Mr. Hookah" rig of course it can work. Just because something is not mainstream it doesn't mean it's wrong. There's a whole configuration movement based on wrapping a hose around your neck and they're doing fine.
You don't even want to think about how mixed gas diving got started. :shocked2: My wife and I will donate air to balance and optimize when she can't snag a larger cylinder. In your case I'd be thinking that pony should be a 40CF cylinder. If she can't manage that something needs to be reconsidered. Beyond that it will mean some non-standard planning but it sure beats loosing her as a dive buddy.Finally this whole thing is like learning to dance. When we start we're clumsy and don't know how to handle the gear to the best advantage. With time we're slinging weight belts and handling it all with ease. I don't know where she is on that curve but if she's new to joining you she needs to realize that it all gets much, much easier with experience.
Pete
Last edited:
thomjinx
Contributor
Gearing up/down in the water and a smaller tank are the safest, most practical solutions, IMHO.
I have a dive buddy in the Philippines who weighs about 90 lbs or less and is an above-the-knee amputee. She addresses her situation by donning and doffing her gear in the water. On a boat dive we just toss her over the side and hand her gear down to her. In the water she swims mermaid style and uses her hands a bit more than most divers. She is an excellent, graceful, very skillful diver and because of her small stature, a smaller tank provides plenty of air.
When getting out she will take her gear off in the water, and I or the boatmen will lift her gear up and then two of us will lift her out with one of us taking each of her hands.
For a shore dive, I carry her out to where it is deep enough for her to swim and then I go and get her gear for her.
She has a custom made wetsuit that tapers down to one ankle and really gives her a mermaid profile. We both love to see the double-takes she gets from divers from other boats when she goes toodling by.
Thomjinx
I have a dive buddy in the Philippines who weighs about 90 lbs or less and is an above-the-knee amputee. She addresses her situation by donning and doffing her gear in the water. On a boat dive we just toss her over the side and hand her gear down to her. In the water she swims mermaid style and uses her hands a bit more than most divers. She is an excellent, graceful, very skillful diver and because of her small stature, a smaller tank provides plenty of air.
When getting out she will take her gear off in the water, and I or the boatmen will lift her gear up and then two of us will lift her out with one of us taking each of her hands.
For a shore dive, I carry her out to where it is deep enough for her to swim and then I go and get her gear for her.
She has a custom made wetsuit that tapers down to one ankle and really gives her a mermaid profile. We both love to see the double-takes she gets from divers from other boats when she goes toodling by.
Thomjinx
spectrum: “what’s been done to mitigate weight/hassle?” most everything we can think of except the steel tank idea. She dives a backplate/wing with an integrated inflator/safe-second. We’re warm-water divers, so her exposure protection is just a Lycra skin or at most a shorty. On longer shore hikes, I carry the gear. We both pick the sites. “Ancillary reason to dive?” No, we just enjoy reef diving – critters and coral. A 40cf for a pony? I was thinking more like 19-20cf based on her relatively low air consumption and this thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/tanks-valves-bands/144006-pony-bottle-size.html.
Please let me know why you feel she needs 40? The intent of the pony is just for emergency OOA and safe ascent from our normal dive depths of 40-80 feet or so.
Many have suggested steel tanks. I don’t think dive operators normally rent steel tanks, do they? Maybe I’m wrong. Bonaire is one of our favorite locations. We normally head out for the day with four tanks to support two dives. So we have to fly four tanks with us on the plane, right? Even with that idea, it’s still at best an incremental change in her situation. My hope was for a “sea change” (pardon the pun) in what she deals with. In other words, yes, we add a 25 foot low pressure hose but the vast majority of her rig disappears - no backplate/wing/harness/STA, no BC inflator/safe 2nd, no pressure gauge w/HP hose, no 1st stage, 80 cf main tank replaced by 19cf pony, and no need for buoyancy control.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not hell-bent on doing this, and am taking every comment in this thread seriously – except maybe Lee Taylor’s “dive without her" :depressed:
thomjinx: Congrats to your Philippines buddy!
Please let me know why you feel she needs 40? The intent of the pony is just for emergency OOA and safe ascent from our normal dive depths of 40-80 feet or so.
Many have suggested steel tanks. I don’t think dive operators normally rent steel tanks, do they? Maybe I’m wrong. Bonaire is one of our favorite locations. We normally head out for the day with four tanks to support two dives. So we have to fly four tanks with us on the plane, right? Even with that idea, it’s still at best an incremental change in her situation. My hope was for a “sea change” (pardon the pun) in what she deals with. In other words, yes, we add a 25 foot low pressure hose but the vast majority of her rig disappears - no backplate/wing/harness/STA, no BC inflator/safe 2nd, no pressure gauge w/HP hose, no 1st stage, 80 cf main tank replaced by 19cf pony, and no need for buoyancy control.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not hell-bent on doing this, and am taking every comment in this thread seriously – except maybe Lee Taylor’s “dive without her" :depressed:
thomjinx: Congrats to your Philippines buddy!
Echo, I'm coming back to this thread because of the weekly thread reminders... I have some issue with the idea that even if you do this your wife won't need bouyancy control. She will most certainly need bouyancy control, though it will definitely be simpler.
I also wonder how well she'll stay at depth if you don't add at least a little bit of weights to her. With the added weights you almost guarantee she's going to need at least some sort of minimalist BC unless she just drops her weights every time you ascend.
Just a couple more things to consider...
Thanks for the follow-up!
Regarding weights: Yes, she would use the same weights she uses when snorkeling to make her approx neutrally bouyant.
Regarding bouyancy control: No, other than making herself approx neutrally bouyant at the start of the dive, she will not need any further buoyancy adjustments. This is for warm water diving only (no thick wetsuits that change bouyancy during a dive) and since she is not carrying a tank that changes bouyancy, she doesn't need to adjust bouyancy. She can reach and remain at depth at any depth. Same concept as standard hookah-diving - no BCD needed. To descend, she just fins downwards. To head back up, she fins upward - at a safe rate of course.
I'm still too new to really think of the big picture for all the various configurations... Neutral bouyancy makes sense. Certainly makes it a lot easier to consider the other options if you can maintain neutral from the start.
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