cooper river dive light?

[gwbh]

If I was going to dive in the Cooper River for fossils, what type of light should I have?

 

[dkktsunami]

Welcome to Scuba Board. I have not dived the Cooper but I can guess that a light will be of little use as it will not penetrate the silt. This is probably a "black water" dive relying more on feel than vision. Someone with experience in the river will likely give you a better answer.

 

[mheaster]

I have used both a canister HID and a handheld UK Light Canon HID and I prefer my Light Canon. It is not as focused and provides a wider beam and enough light to illuminate the area in front of your face within arm's length which is the best you can hope for at Cooper River.

I have heard that UK is no longer making an HID Light Canon in favor of the newer LED Version Canon? I have no experience with the LED but may investigate it.

A quick search on Ebay reveals many people are still selling HID version.

Just my Opinion . . . .

 

[Mud&Rox]

I dive the cooper usually 4 tanks in 2 weekends a month year around.....its my second home. my first dive was with a 10w hid from Dive Rite.....worked but not well enough....then we started making our own lights from scratch using 3 cree's per mag light head...these light push right around 900 lumens each....now I dive with 3 of the homemade lights all wired to one old Dive Rite wreak can....when we dive the cooper its like day time lol. here are a few pics on my set-up:

to answer your question the more light you have the better off you are...a simple 10w will work and yes you will still find fossils BUT more light more teeth!!...and the best advice I can give ya is get the lights out of your hand!! you will need one hand to spike in and the other to collect

 

[Mud&Rox]

if you need any other help as far as the river goes feel free to post up! I LOVE me some Cooper talk

 

[dkktsunami]

I learned something new, as I usually do when reading the board .....thanks.

 

[herbdb]

We dove the Cooper last summer. The operator had rental canister lights for those who wanted them. I just used my regular dive lights. They worked fine, just take lots of batteries. We did four hours a day.

The water is dark, but you will be able to see a small patch in front of the light. Take something to anchor yourself to the bottom. I drilled holes in the ends of long screwdrivers and attached them to the BCDs. A collection bag, very thin mesh and some cheap construction type kneepads will be all you need.

You should make sure everyone is comfortable and capable of solo diving. You will be alone, there is really no way to stay with a buddy.

Its a lot of fun, enjoy.

 

[Lee Taylor]

I like Cooper river and fossil hunting threads also, just like Mud&Rox

There are a lot of new lights on the market and I am not aware of the latest and the greatest but I can share what I have used to dive the Cooper well over 100 times over a 15yr period.

What I typically switch on as I am leaving the boat is one of these:

Underwater Kinetics Sunlight SL4 eLED Dive Light

They are quite bright for their small size and the 4 batteries have a good duration. The batteries are easy to replace.

When I get to the bottom I switch to an old Dive Rite canister HID (high intensity discharge) I purchased 10 years back.

My dive pal Phil has been on the bottom of the Cooper 1000's of times and built his own light rig. He straps an enclosed motorcycle battery to his lower back. He purchased a bulb and arranged a head gear using the inner workings of a welding mask and a Zebco 22 fishing reel cover.

The Cooper river is tannic acid stained from decaying leaves. It is not as dark as dkktsunami speculates. (I typically dive the Durham Creek, Pimlico, Strawberry landing, Mepkin Abby, Red Bank, French Quarter areas) The rivers do get darker the closer they get to the ocean and we do have some that are pitch black like dkktsunami says.

There have been Saturday afternoons I have spent on the bottom of the Cooper, in the 15 to 20 foot range, where the sunlight had penetrated all the way to the bottom and the viz would haze out at about 6 feet. That is the exception. The viz in the Cooper usually ranges from 2 feet to 3 feet with a light. On occasion it will be zero to 3 inches. On these occasions, I bail out.

ps: Thanks for posting the photos Mud. Check out this rig a dive pal of mine (AeroMike) recently fabricated.

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A shot of the light handle and I like how the lights "snap" into it but I think I may add a velcro strap for added stability.

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Here is a shot of the helmet, I drilled a hole and then used a washer on the inside and a lockable nut so I do not have to worry about it getting loose over time. One thing I have to mention, Loc-Line is used to either deliver air or some sort of cooling liquid while drilling, milling, etc. so the inside is hollow. I used a countersink washer, I just inverted it and it worked perfect.

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VIOLA~! here is my ugly mug, and I have already been diving with this helmet and I like it, I just cannot wait to try this setup out~!

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[Mud&Rox]

the viz this time of year is the best its gonna get! damn near 20' now and only 54 degrees

 

[gwbh]

thanks for the many responses. So my best option is to make a helmet mounted light system... I almost want to say I would pay one of you to build me something, I'm not so good at engineering.