And so it begins. Panic in the California dive boat industry

[MaxBottomtime]

Before the cause of the Conception fire has even been determined, the first of probably many more dive boats has instituted new rules. Eric Bowman, owner of the Peace says there will be no charging stations available between 8:00 pm and 6:00 am. Divers with scooters, cameras, or rechargeable lights may have to skip any night dives or the morning dive after a night dive. They will also stop allowing anyone to board the boat the night before.

This may be safer or at least give divers a safer feeling, but I'm concerned that dive boats making similar changes will be losing customers. If that happens, prices will have to go up or boats will stop diving operations. We have already lost several dive boats in Southern California in the past decade. I'd hate to see that trend continue at a faster rate.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Will all follow the required CG regulations of a watchman always on duty?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Eric said they will hire an additional crewman to have a 24 hour watch.

Our current new policies:

1. No one is allowed to charge any batteries or electronic devices overnight (during the hours of 8pm-6am). This includes, but is not limited to batteries, electronic devices, laptops, cell phones, lights, cameras and photography equipment. Our charging station will be turned off between the hours of 8pm and 6am. Make sure all batteries and devices are charged prior to boarding the boat and put into airplane mode when not in use. We have other outlets on the boat in the galley and these can be used between the hours of 6am-8pm as long as they are unplugged during the night time hours, but the outlets in the bunkroom are not to be used to charge any device at any time whatsoever. The only acceptable use of an outlet in the bunkroom is for medical devices, such as CPAP machines.

2. We have made a big change to our boarding procedures and are no longer allowing any passengers on board prior to 8pm for trips that depart between 9pm - 5am and for the trips that depart at 7am on boarding will be at 6am. We know that in the past we have allowed people to board the boat early and to sleep on board, but due to the recent events we have decided that this is a necessary change for safety. This means if a passenger shows up earlier than the 8pm or 6am boarding time the galley doors will be locked until our crew member is there to open up the boat and help the passengers sign in and get settled. A crew member or “roving patrol” will be on deck or in the galley at all times while at dock, anchored or underway. We have hired a additional crew member to help at the dock so hopefully all passengers will feel safe and comfortable.

 

[cerich]

Before the cause of the Conception fire has even been determined, the first of probably many more dive boats has instituted new rules. Eric Bowman, owner of the Peace says there will be no charging stations available between 8:00 pm and 6:00 am. Divers with scooters, cameras, or rechargeable lights may have to skip any night dives or the morning dive after a night dive. They will also stop allowing anyone to board the boat the night before.

This may be safer or at least give divers a safer feeling, but I'm concerned that dive boats making similar changes will be losing customers. If that happens, prices will have to go up or boats will stop diving operations. We have already lost several dive boats in Southern California in the past decade. I'd hate to see that trend continue at a faster rate.

Your headline is misleading, it's not panic to put in place prudent procedures.

As far as not allowing anyone on board the night before, they never should have with crew and a watchperson on rounds. FULL STOP. It's illegal and not safe.

As far as having to hire an additional crew for a 24 hour watchman now, does that mean they haven't had one?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Allowing divers to spend the night on the boat was a big draw for visiting divers.

 

[DavidFL]

Doesn't seem like panic to me. And while doing this may indeed lose customers, NOT doing something like this is also likely to keep customers away.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Your headline is misleading, it's not panic to put in place prudent procedures.

I believe these procedures are being put in place based on speculation.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Eric said they will hire an additional crewman to have a 24 hour watch.

But this was already required by Coast Guard regulations.

So they should say "Our new policies include complying with Coast Guard regulations and .... " what is listed above.

 

[cerich]

Allowing divers to spend the night on the boat was a big draw for visiting divers.

it was ILLEGAL and putting divers at risk.

Same as not having a watchman 24 hrs at sea, anchor or alongside.

Is saving a few bucks REALLY worth having people die?

I'm sorry, I truly want to see the dive boats do well and stay in business but saying the sky is falling if they follow the law and put some restrictions on charging batteries just seems..selfish to me.

If it is indeed (and now with your post and the NTSB initial report) "standard" practice for the California dive boats to allow customers to sleep aboard with no crew or awake watch, or the crew all sleeps at once at anchor then we shouldn't be mad if they change it, we should be MAD AS HELL THAT THAT IS WHAT IS HAPPENING!

 

[drrich2]

I don't like those charging hours. A number of people probably do their camera battery charging at the end of the day, after their dives, once they've got the camera case rinsed and the camera out to download pics from onto a computer. I suppose bringing an extra battery and charging it then swapping every day may become the norm.

Boarding the night before may let people avoid paying for a hotel, keeping costs down. If some customers didn't want to take advantage of the offer, more power to them, but now it's no longer a choice.

I hope at least some boats will devise a charging station that amounts to a steel trunk enclosing the chargers such that, when shut, even if a lithium battery-based fire broke out, it'd be contained.

Richard.