Your dream dive-deck set up?

[DebbyDiver]

I'm seeing LOTS of great ideas on this thread.

After a recent week on the Nekton Pilot, I'd say that a few more grab rails, more space between tanks to get into your kit without elbowing your neighbor, and two really easy and deep dive ladders with well-spaced steps would be my first wishes.

The other thing would be to have the after-dive snacks available outdoors. You had to dry off to go in to get fruit or a brownie or whatever. I would have appreciated their placing them on a tray outside the salon.

 

[Doc]

Roatan Man... am liking you way of thinking, but Robint... there is no excuse for speedos on my dive deck....

But what is there room for?

Are you just fantasizing here?

I don't see any new liveabaords being built in the near future.

Maybe you are retrofitting an existing ship... possibly one from the Bay Islands?

(With Utila in your SB name, and your profile shows a Grenada location... I know one is moving, I know there would still be a "spare" liveabaord in the Bay Islands, you have to wonder what this is really all about!) C'mon- what's up here, really?
BTW~ had a marvelous time there in 1983

What are the physical dimensional limits of this project?

Or are we all just smoking our socks?

 

[parrotheaddiver]

But what is there room for?

Are you just fantasizing here?

I don't see any new liveabaords being built in the near future.

Maybe you are retrofitting an existing ship... possibly one from the Bay Islands?

(With Utila in your SB name, and your profile shows a Grenada location... I know one is moving, I know there would still be a "spare" liveabaord in the Bay Islands, you have to wonder what this is really all about!) C'mon- what's up here, really?
BTW~ had a marvelous time there in 1983

What are the physical dimensional limits of this project?


Or are we all just smoking our socks?

Simon has just brought the PH WindDancer to the Cocos and he will refitting it to accomodate the diving there....nice pics on facebook of the ship going through the locks at the Panama Canal last week...I believe they are moving the Utila Aggressor to Grenada and a new boat is to be brought into Utila...as I understand it

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cr...ter-hughes-wind-dancer-when-did-happen-2.html

 

[Manuel Sam]

A couple of comments regarding some of the fine feedback (genuine or humorous) posted so far:

- cameras crashing against each other in the rinse tank: this suggestion may not be easy to do on a liveaboard given the limited real estate, but at KBR in Lembeh (land-based), each camera gets put into an individual plastic basket in the rinse tank, thus creating a barrier between one camera and the other. The cameras are also held in these baskets while on the dive boats. KBR's rinse tanks are fairly large in area (maybe 6 x 4 ft) and rather shallow (maybe a foot or so of water).

- wetsuit rinse tank: if you are not a pee-er, would you put your wetsuit into the same water that was used to soak/rinse someone's pee-ed wetsuit? A hose (with either fresh or saltwater)would probably do the job.

 

[DebbyDiver]

wetsuit rinse tank: if you are not a pee-er, would you put your wetsuit into the same water that was used to soak/rinse someone's pee-ed wetsuit? A hose (with either fresh or saltwater)would probably do the job.

EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Definitely a hose!!!! But more than one so that there wouldn't be such a long wait.

 

[SailNaked]

I do not know if this is a good idea, but I would like to see a semi- submersible swim platform, so that it does not come out of the water in waves and you can swim onto it then take off your fins and stand up. maybe 2-3ft below the surface. catching a stair mid wave is fun, but better to be safe.

 

[Utila Simon]

Hi Roatanman,

Parrothead diver is right on the money, I wasnt trying to be mysterious, just wanted to keep the thread on dive decks, not the destination...

Some great ideas here and I will try to incorporate what I can, there will be plenty of fresh water, both in rinse tanks and in hoses and showers for you non-pee'ers out there, and deodorized soapy water for those slack-bladdered amongst you!

Keep those ideas coming.... now, am off to talk to my new boss tomorrow about swedish divemasters...

Simon

 

[fdog]

Clone the BA III dive deck. There's very little I'd change...refreshingly spacious, worked nicely for several hard-core photographers and a fleet of scooters.

If I could wish for something, it would be a walk-in wet gear storage room, hooked up to a de-humidifier system so that the relative humidity was zero.


All the best, James

 

[diversteve]

Round all the sharp corners on the benches, railings etc. Including the dive ladder. If there's a bolt available to impale yourself on anywhere on a boat I've been on, I've done it.

Some more foolproof method of handing expensive video/camera gear down to a diver in the water during big seas. I don't know what that is though. Maybe a couple of well secured clipped off lines just off the entry point. So you could lower your camera into the water first then jump and retrieve it.

One thing that seemed to work well on the Nekton was that they had a camera/rinse area upstairs but also two 1/2 barrels on either side of the stairs for temporary storage between dives.

A low-pressure air hose at the camera station to dry stuff. If it could be sheltered from the elements that would be better also.

A safe place to put breakables - like expensive prescription (sun)glasses or the watch you forgot to remove in your room - somewhere in your personal gear storage area on the divedeck.

Some accommodation for BC's with two tank straps - most Zeagle's have them. (among others) Several doubles-optional stations.

I like the warm towels...especially in winter.

 

[RJP]

The one thing I always have an issue with (but don't know of a solution) is that the brackets that hold the tanks in place should be somehow adjustable so they can accommodate BC's with two straps on the tank. I always get it so that the bracket is flush with one of the straps and I have to adjust the height of my tank.