How do you transport your gear? Car/truck/C-130?

[chuck34gboro]

I appreciate all the reponses. I think they the idea of owning a pickup truck is just gonna be a better bet. The occasional trip may not be much on a car but I was hoping to do 2-3 weekends a month this summer.

 

[fire_diver]

Another good point for the truck is I don't have to worry about a bunch of wet dive gear dripping all over my nice clean interior.

 

[Rascally Rabbit]

When I started divng I owned a Toyota Tacoma with the 4 cylinder engine it was great as a dive vehicle. Plenty of room under a bed cover for all the gear. My now wife dives also and the Tacoma would still accomidate the extra gear for a second diver but .... Now the MRS must have a camp setup with a popup shelter for shade. We now need chairs too. You can see where this is going. The good side is I convined her we could use a boat to dive from and to trailer that I had to upgrade to a full size Nissan Titan.
On the other end of the spectrum my wife drives a Nissan Murrano. It has good ground clearance, a V6 engine and all wheel drive. When the back seats are folded down it has some serious storage space. Near as much as the small bed of the Tacoma.
Even in the pickup you may want to consider large rubbermaid storage tubs for your wet gear.

 

[chuck34gboro]

I'd rather have the Murano. It'd look nice next to my Nismo Z in my garage.

But I'm sure the cost will be more than the tacoma I could buy from the in-laws.

 

[irishsquid]

F-150.

 

[jar546]

When traveling to and from with just my gear I take my car for longer trips. Otherwise I take the pickup truck with my custom made tank rack made from 2x4's and plywood.

 

[scubajim 1]

I have a Chevy S-10 but tend to use my BMW Z4M most of the time. I can fit 2 steele 100s, full dive kit, O2 and EFR "jump" kit, Cameras and flags, and my DPV if needed.
I think you can pretty much dive well and easily from any vehicle... or maybe I'm just odd.

 

[fjpatrum]

Am I the only person on the planet who doesn't give a damn about using the back seat for gear? 8 tanks will fit in that trunk/boot and I suspect you'll be able to get some, if not all, of your gear in there as well. I can fit 4 tanks side by side (laying down) in my trunk and if I stack them, I can easily get up to 12 in there. I would still have a little room for gear. I drive an Accord Crosstour. In my old Accord sedan I could git probably 6 tanks plus gear in my trunk.

If your back seat isn't taken up with people, drop some towels or tarps on the seat and dump the rest of your gear there.

 

[fjpatrum]

If you are going to want to put in 8 tanks, gear, and divers, you are going to need more than a car. You will exceed the payload of just about any car very quickly. By exceeding the payload capacity you are pushing the limits of the engine and transmission. I drive a Silverado 1500 that I have the payload to carry enough gear for as many divers as I can seat.(which is legally 3)

Modern vehicles of the size described are designed for carrying 4 adult passengers and cargo. The 8 tanks is roughly the equivalent weight of 2 adult male passengers and there are two divers, (presumably not huge people that far exceed the "average" 200 pound weight used for these calculations. The rest of the dive equipment is the "cargo" and 2 divers are the rest of things.

Is it recommended for every day? No, but I suspect these types of loads are not routine.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

I've seen the inside of a Rogue, the little sister to the Murano. The seats don't fold down perfectly flat. The back bumper is flat with the inside of the car, unlike the Honda Fit, but the slight angle of the folded down seats makes it harder to stack tanks.

The Honda Fit has 6' of cargo space, wide enough for 6 scuba tanks. It's as big as the bed of my old Ford Ranger which had the shorter, 6' bed.

Compare gas mileage as well. The Rogue gets upper 20's but the Murano gets less than that, she's just a little bigger in every dimension. The Fit gets a solid 35 combined highway and city, fully loaded with dive gear. I don't know about overloading...she handles about the same fully loaded or empty, even if the acceleration is a wee bit slower I've put over 30k miles on this car, and she had almost 80k when I bought her used, with no issues at all aside from regular oil changes and tire rotation.

I hate sounding like a broken record, but when I was looking into cars, the Fit beat every other car on the market, hands down: more useful cargo space, more cargo space, and better gas mileage. So please, load up and go to dealerships to check out cars and test drive them loaded with your gear, the Rogue is a very nice vehicle, I've dove out of some real nice Toyota trucks, some Fords are great too, but don't ignore the Fit. The Element is another great choice, it's bigger and more water resistant naturally, but gets worse gas mileage.