⌛ Dive Sled

I was wondering if there are any divers who might be interested in hookah diving (not hooker diving even though that could be fun too LOL). When I lived in Florida I dived practically every weekend weather permitting. Then one day in 2001 a dive buddy asked me if I'd like to try hookah diving and I said sure. He had one of those brownie surface supplied air compressors. After that I was sold on hookah diving. I really liked the ability to dive in your skivvies with nothing by a mask and fins and a regulator in your mouth rather than all the usual diving hardware. My only objection was the need to have a costly air compressor supply. The Brownies system cost well over $2,200 then. I put on my thinking cap and came up with the idea of the Dive Sled.

I created the Dive Sled back in the states in 2002. Basically the dive sled is designed to float 3 scuba tanks on the surface. It also has a dive flag and pole holder to signal diver down. When I dive I have anywhere from 50 to 100 foot flexible pvc air hose attached to one of the tanks. When that air runs out I move it over to the 2nd tank and so on. Using this system I have spent well over 4 hours of practically continuous diving. Except for the minute or so to switch over from one tank to the next. You move it along using a clip-on line attached to you waist on your back side.

To get to the point: I am planning on building a Dive Sled here and wanted to know if there was any interest in it by fellow divers. I already have a company working on making it and I have another company helping me with the air hose elements.

The dive sled would be absolutely perfect for the Philippines especially off the beach in the sanctuaries.

 

Why not connect the 3 tanks so you wont have to surface to change tank?

 

Sea Breath

HI, Phi-Diver,
can you post a pic of your dive sled?
You should never go deeper then 20 feet with things like that.
The picture here is the so called 'seabreath' with a 12V compressor-unit on it. and good for two 'divers'. I tried it a couple of times and it is a great thing to bring people under the surface (15ft/5 met) to show them a bit of the underwaterworl. My expierience was that you are very limited in moving. My buddys (mostly non-divers who just want to try it) were fantastic in wrapping the hose around the feet... hehe. But they all liked the expierience.
This Seabreath is not too heavy and as a retailer you can get it for around US$ 1.200 including long hoses and 2 regulators, what is a quite ok price.

cheers

Rhoody

But whenever The Dane and me manage to dive together your Idea is great. we just need one tank with air, one with San Miguel, and for me a third one with 'Marlboro Light".....:D :p :D

 

San Mig and Marlboro lights

Thanks for the suggestion Dane. Can do only if you carry the 120lbs of tank weight and put them on the sled LOL

Anyway, you are all welcome to join me once I get the sled finished. I have plenty of hose and can create lengths of 50, 100 and 150 feet. Never had any problems diving over 75 feet very comfortable and the hose floats so no entanglement problems either. And believe it or not the sled glided on the surface with relatively any pulling effort or intereference with the enjoyment of the dive.

I also forgot to mention that the sled will also feature a large cooler box (screwed down to the sled) which can hold and keep cold beers, soda, fruit...you get the picture and of course Rhoody's Marlboro Lights with waterproof lighter of course. You can hang onto the sled in between dives so there is no sacrificing here LOL

Old copy of a photo of my first dive sled

View attachment 1375

 

HI phil-diver,
I am on for the waterproof lighter and a UW-smoking supply.... hehe
thanks for the Pic,
like I said everybody had a good time trying it, I just found out that non and new certified divers having their fins and arms everywhere and are very good in entangeling and/or loosing body-control... hehe.
If you go that deep how do you handle your air-supply, you have also a HP-hose going down with a Gauge
cheers

Rhoody

 

For experienced divers Only

No guages. For the most part you will know when to surface when the air gets a little harder to breathe. There will still be plenty in the hose itself to ensure a safe passage to the surface. Without question anything past 60 feet and you are should be a very experienced diver.

After 4000 plus dives and many to depths of over 100 feet where many wrecks in the Miami area tended to be I can only recall two times in my diving life when I found myself in a serious problem situation. Once I was down 140 feet on a great wreck hunting Grouper and my entire first stage froze. I went to take my next breadth and there was none to be had and that is probably the worst postion to be in having expelled your lungs to get the next breadth of air and there is none to be had. (not knowing my whole reg froze) I naturally tried my octo and the same result. Wholly crap I said to myself, my dive buddies are to far away to get to in time so I'm dead. Also, there was no way I would have been able to make an emergency accent to the surface and not have passed out since my lungs were already empty. Fortunately, I remembered I had a pony and lived to tell the tale.

The second time is when I was chasing a fish and he went into a bunch of rock formations and I literally got stuck. I mean really stuck. I had my arms at my sides as I tend to do when I dive and I got wedged in between two huge rocks and had no clearance on any side. At first I was laughing about it thinking how funny this must look. Then I made an attempt to get out and nothing. I was really stuck. After about 15 minutes I somehow figured out how to get loose by getting out of my BC and wiggling out of the opening

Moral of the story... I would bet big money that most novice divers caught in the same situation I just described would have died from panicking. The moral of the story in any bad situation is DON'T PANIC!!

Diving with a 100 foot hose attached to a tank on the surface without an air guage of course poses risks. However, if you are experienced and breathe properly there should be no problem whatsoever that you can't get out of if you keep your head and wits about you. And, if you are still paranoid, then carry a spare air on you.

BTW, if anyone has any life and death diving experiences would be pretty cool to hear bout them.

 

It looks be fun for non skilled divers and mayby I will try it for only one time.
I Want my freedom with diving and that is what I will miss with this thing.

Greetings J.Diver

 

Phi-Diver, I never experienced this way of diving.
I can imagine that it is a good proposition for very specific dive purposes where you hate to carry the bulky tank(s) on your back.
I am an UW-filmer and have to carry even a lot more material.
However, if I anyhow have to carry all those dive sled things to the dive spot (being not less bulky and heavy as the 'normal' solution) then I don't see real advantages for my situation.
For me it should be anyway a "No" in case I have to surface to change to another tank and can't see my air-pressure. I should end each dive before I reach my reserve (which I can't see, but could notice if I'm carefull enough, but then it's already far less than the 50 bar !!).
If you did make dives till 4 hours in total, you must have been certainly not that deep.
I won't have to tell you what will happen if you make a dive till 100 feet using all the air from your 3 tanks (going up to change tanks and immediately going down again). I guess that the dive of 4 hours was made in shallow water. But I'm curious enough to follow your trhead.

 

Dive Sled

You make very good points. I generally had the sled on my boat in Florida and so it was easy. Most all of us don't have that advantage here. You would have to lug the sled to the beach, along with your tanks and cameras and I'm tired already LOL

As for my diving depth it was generally around 60 foot max and I used it mostly for lobstering, some hunting but for the most partl general sightseeing. I'd always in season carry a lobster bag and snare. I also hunt so in the colder water winter months when big fish are out it gave me the ability to spot a fish, and then leave my hose to do the fish in total quiet and then back to the air hose. At that time I could hold my breadth for 2 1/2 minutes and without question hunting without cumbersome dive equipment is obviously bettter for quietly (without air bubbles) sneaking up on fish. I would assume that photography would be easier as well without all the stuff either. PLEASE NO MORALITY LECTURES ON SPEARFISHING. TO EACH THEIR OWN.

Nevertheless your point is well taken regarding drawbacks here but think of it this way. You go out to a santuary and spend 3 hours in the water doing your photography. You come up for a chew on some candy a swig of fresh water, etc.. and then back down again. You might get shots you never would have gotten becasue you would never be able to get to that part of the santuary and the overall flexibility it gives you and not forgetting the pleasure of what you came here to do DIVE!!! so it takes an other 20 minute to get set up. Big deal.

Oh btw, it is an excellent way to scout out new dive areas. You can have a pump boat follow and you can just swim. There is a great chance you will find something totally new that hasn't been blown up or poisened to death. Yo ucan have it all to yourself. Remember most fishing here is done on the surface and mostly guess work so the under world is still very virgin territory.

Anyway enough. I look at the sled as another tool in my divers arsenal that I have found good use for for certain applications.

 

I hope you will indulge me a bit. While I've made a fair number of dives I don't consider myself an "advanced" diver by any means.
In the matter of SCUBA vs. Hookah, is the reason you can dive for extended periods of time with Hookah because the air at the surface is at one atmosphere and thereby does not force nitrogen into your tissues in the same manner a SCUBA tank at two or three atmospheres would?