Hookah questions, electric any good?

[highflier]

Well I would think liability would lead them to have better QC but maybe I am wrong. Still leaning towards the tank system. Mainly cause it will be easier to maintain. Plus easy to make a float for it, Could even just use a old BCD.

Fastbottoms, i was not trying to discard your feedback, I have seen may items that look the same and have different quality levels. Maybe this is not one of those cases.

 

[fstbttms]

I make my living using a hookah. I have built many during my 22 years in the hull cleaning business. I am very familiar with the compressors used in both comercially-available and DIY units. So when I tell you that Hookamax are using the very cheapest POS compressors available, you can take that to the bank.

 

[highflier]

Fastbottoms
In that case my use is for shallow water lobster hunting, I am on a budget, what do you recommend?

 

[fstbttms]

Fastbottoms
In that case my use is for shallow water lobster hunting, I am on a budget, what do you recommend?

I recommend you buy a Thomas or Gast compressor. Sorry, but they are not cheap.

Don't get me wrong- you will be able to safely dive if you buy a Hookamax or some other low-end hookah. But your money is probably not buying reliability and durability.

 

[seascaper]

Right, not to "bump" per se, but rather I'm going to hijack this thread entirely:

I've got 4500 cultured staghorn corals to plant to 10~20' depth in Montego Bay (Jamaica) and I own 15 tanks and a 17' 1968 Montauk (Boston Whaler) with a new-ish Yamaha 60Hp four-banger. I have one great guy that works with me and I need to bring on another proper blood-knuckes coral guy (girl, actually), possibly two. Three divers doing 3(?) tanks each will eat 9 tanks/day, and it tends to be a two-day turnaround to get fills done. Thus hiring the extra people that I need puts me into an annoying logistical bottleneck...
... plus limited space on my little boat.

I don't want to buy a bigger boat, nor rent for that matter.
I don't want to buy nor own more tanks (>$200 each once they arrive), nor a 3000PSI compressor of my own ($3~$8K), nor to hire & oversee a compressor-watcher-person.
... and suddenly a 4-line hookah makes a lot of sense.

Recommendations? Something work-horsey that will last through a reasonably continuous 40~60days slogging.

I'm a little entrepreneurial start-up and money's very much an issue, but so is time & headache & maintenance & down-time & having & trusting the same machine for another 10++ years.
I am Googling Thomas & Gast, appreciating that FastBottom's advice is by now maybe a little dated. Also Brownie/Third-Lung.

I'm Ok spending a few bob on a second (3'd?) battery for di'WeeWhaler, as necessary and/or to keep from having to keep the engine running. I might ask advice on how to wire battery #2 (&3) as we get there.

Thanks-thanks,

Dr.Droid, Ph.D.

 

[Russjstewart]

I know this is an old thread, but I am intrigued as to what highflier ended up doing. My other question relates to filtration,never having used a hookah, is filtration required, and do any of the 12 v systems have filtration

Cheers

 

[tbone1004]

@seascaper you may want to contact Brownie's directly. Tell them what you're doing and what you need and see if they'd be willing to throw you a bone on one of their units. Customer return, rebuilt unit, etc. that they'd sell at a steep discount.
What I'm not sure of is what the legal risk for you of either using a system outside the manufacturers recommendations, i.e. 4 divers, and/or making a DIY system.

If you go with an electric hookah you are pretty much guaranteed to require at least 2 extra batteries. The big brownies electric compressor pulls about 35amps to run. Odds are the starting battery on your boat is only about 30-40ah and you need most of that to start the boat. A single large size deep cycle battery will run it for about 2 hours and you will need to make sure that the boat is connected to shore power so it will recharge overnight.

 

[seascaper]

Thanks TBone.
My experience of companies (like Browne) is that they are inundated with do-gooders (like me) asking for discounts. Smaller operators (like me), and private operators in particular (like me) are that much easier to ignore. I'll give it a try, though.

Plug-in on the dock is pretty straightforward. Or I charge the batteries at home...
Considering that we're looking at taking the house off-grid anyways, this might be a straightforward side-step, to get "a couple extra" batteries to disconnect & carry for work days... thinking out loud at this point. Would need a whole lot of sunshine... and let's see what the accountant & the tax-man say about numbers & import duties for any/all of this.

 

[tbone1004]

@seascaper those batteries are ~100lbs each, you'll want to mount them to the boat semi-permanently and charge.

If you don't want to go with Brownies, then you'll want to do some real research prior to purchasing. If the hookah is going to live on the boat, which you'll want it to, then it needs to be fully sealed so you can hose it down to prevent corrosion and finding a 12vdc or 24vdc compressor that is sealed and of large enough capacity will be quite difficult.

 

[kelemvor]

Right, not to "bump" per se, but rather I'm going to hijack this thread entirely:

I've got 4500 cultured staghorn corals to plant to 10~20' depth in Montego Bay (Jamaica) and I own 15 tanks and a 17' 1968 Montauk (Boston Whaler) with a new-ish Yamaha 60Hp four-banger. I have one great guy that works with me and I need to bring on another proper blood-knuckes coral guy (girl, actually), possibly two. Three divers doing 3(?) tanks each will eat 9 tanks/day, and it tends to be a two-day turnaround to get fills done. Thus hiring the extra people that I need puts me into an annoying logistical bottleneck...
... plus limited space on my little boat.

I don't want to buy a bigger boat, nor rent for that matter.
I don't want to buy nor own more tanks (>$200 each once they arrive), nor a 3000PSI compressor of my own ($3~$8K), nor to hire & oversee a compressor-watcher-person.
... and suddenly a 4-line hookah makes a lot of sense.

Recommendations? Something work-horsey that will last through a reasonably continuous 40~60days slogging.

I'm a little entrepreneurial start-up and money's very much an issue, but so is time & headache & maintenance & down-time & having & trusting the same machine for another 10++ years.
I am Googling Thomas & Gast, appreciating that FastBottom's advice is by now maybe a little dated. Also Brownie/Third-Lung.

I'm Ok spending a few bob on a second (3'd?) battery for di'WeeWhaler, as necessary and/or to keep from having to keep the engine running. I might ask advice on how to wire battery #2 (&3) as we get there.

Thanks-thanks,

Dr.Droid, Ph.D.

Sounds like a good use case for oxygen rebreathers.