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Scuba Forum / Scuba Equipment / July 2004Need 5 to 15 Minutes of Air for Emergency Boat Repair
First time poster - non diver - please forgive ignorance Went fishing in Gulf of Mexico in a 40 ft. boat yesterday and ran into a little problem. Got some rope around the prop and had to go under to cut it out. The one member of the crew who was dive qualified and had gear, moved recently and of course took all his gear so we had no scuba gear on the boat, not even a mask. Well we eventually got it cut out but don't want to have to do it that way again. We will have at least a mask, fins and weight belt for our next trip but I was wondering about some very small "tanks" that contained air and a regulator that I saw some tourists using on a vacation TV show. I think they were flashlight sized and had CO2 scrubbers and allowed someone to stay under for 5 to 15 minutes. I don't really remember. Is there such a thing or am I remembering a James Bond movie? What is the name and cost of these things and where could I read about them? Most importantly, are they safe? We would never use them any deeper than the bottom of the boat.... 2 or 3 ft down to propellers or 5 ft to bottom of the hull, so say 10 feet at the deepest.... just long enough to work under the boat in an emergency. No one on the boat is dive qualified. Thoughts? THANKS!  SignatureLes Stewart Beaumont, TX > First time poster - non diver - please forgive ignorance > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > What is the name and cost of these things and where could I read > about them? The Bond item was two CO2 cartridges on a mouthpiece and didn't work. Don't feel bad at least one government agent was fooled. A modern rebreather is expensive, requires a lot of preperation and training. It is both overkill and can kill you. An older oxygen rebreather would be less expensive, require less preperation and offers perhaps the best way to commit suicide known. Look into buying or building a hookah unit. Take an intro to SCUBA session and you will know all you need about diving with one. You will also have more knowledge that probably 95% of the thousands of gold miners who have used such devices in the range you mention for many, many years here in Northern California. I know of no deaths from them. You might also buy a dog, a newfundland. Pick up a copy of Farley Mowatt's "The boat that wouldn't sink." to find the answer. In my not humble opinion, your best approach is to get scuba qualified first. Then you will be in a better position to decide what is safe and what is not safe. There are several choices appropriate to your situation, at least in so far as equipment is concerned. > First time poster - non diver - please forgive ignorance > [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > > THANKS! The best thing is to get a Spare-Air unit, a small cylinder that will let you 'dive' for about 15 minutes. A mouth-pice is attached to this small unit and is normally used as a backup unit to reach the surface. Have a look at www.spareair.com regards, .Nico > First time poster - non diver - please forgive ignorance > [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > > THANKS! forget it..... I would not recommend using this or a similar device for this purpose yes it seems like a good idea, but I think the potential for disaster outweighs any possible benefit.... go spend a few hundred dollars or pounds or euro and get a basic familiarisation course in scuba... you never know you might actually enjoy it!!! then get a cheap (second hand) BC and a small pony bottle (suggest 3l) at least then you have some basic skills and a little (well lot really) bit more air to play with, you can control your buoyancy, and your not holding the thing in your mouth the set-up wont take up a lot of room in your cabin...and wont be expensive think about it..... cheers Paddy > The best thing is to get a Spare-Air unit, a small cylinder that will let > you 'dive' for about 15 minutes. [quoted text clipped - 43 lines] > > > > THANKS! > The best thing is to get a Spare-Air unit, a small cylinder that will let > you 'dive' for about 15 minutes. WHAT?!? 85 litres (assuming it's even at max pressure)? Even on the surface, are you seriously trying to say that a totally untrained diver is going to have an air consumption of less than 6 litres / minute??? Divide your estimate by 10! And that's not to mention what a pain it would be to fill if you didn't have a normal cylinder to fill it from! Alun Harford >The best thing is to get a Spare-Air unit, a small cylinder that will let >you 'dive' for about 15 minutes. >A mouth-pice is attached to this small unit and is normally used as a backup >unit to reach the surface. > >Have a look at www.spareair.com A spare air at depths less than 10ft might last an experienced diver 5 or 6 minutes with a light to nonexistent workload. That's 2.7cf at 1.3atm = a sac round .4 or so. Fixing a boat problem, with an inexperienced diver and any amount of ocean swell (if not at dock) and figure on at best half that time. A hookah setup would make more sense, a certified diver much more so, though it's not exactly recreational diving. SignatureJason O'Rourke www.jor.com Hello ! Well, over here in Germany these gadgets are called "Spare Death"... 8(( I would recommend to be qualified as a scuba diver and then get a BCD/regulator/small tank. HTH Jörg > The best thing is to get a Spare-Air unit, a small cylinder that will let > you 'dive' for about 15 minutes. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > regards, Couple weeks ago I read a story about a certified diver who died trying to do what you are wanting to do. He had a half full scuba tank and all his gear and training, but he became entangled and could not free himself or signal anyone on board. Excrement occurs, and there is no substitute for training gear and planning. Jump in the water with no training, a weight belt and spare air? May as well jump in front of a speeding bus. At least that's faster. > First time poster - non diver - please forgive ignorance > [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] > > THANKS! Thanks all for the good advice. That's what I came here for. Les Stewart Beaumont, TX > First time poster - non diver - please forgive ignorance > > Went fishing in Gulf of Mexico in a 40 ft. boat yesterday and ran into a > little problem. Got some rope around the prop and had to go under to cut it > out. Thanks all for the good advice. That's what I came here for. Les Stewart Beaumont, TX > First time poster - non diver - please forgive ignorance |
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