Flexible Dive vehicle for doubles

[Dr. Lecter]

I got a budget tacoma - whatever the 2 door/tiny engine flavor is - and have found it a great improvement for ease of hauling/donning doubles. Just assemble everything at home, toss it in the truck, drive to site, don rig on tailgate, dive, walk back, set rig down on tailgate and remove. Much nicer than trying to balance it on a lower trunk sill, and when you get home you can hose everything off without taking it out of the bed.

Word of warning: securing tanks on a slippery truck bed can be tricky, so either rig up a rail mounted tank rack to hold them verically, or stuff something rubber under the tanks to keep them from flying around (jets, rubber mats, whatever). Single tanks are more likely to fly around, so I tend to let deco bottles ride up front.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I went from an Envoy to a RAV4 and love it. I need to put load levelers on the rear at some point for when I am hauling gear for two people that can include two sets of doubles and 4 or more singles. But last trip to Gilboa from PA with a full load for two divers was no trouble at all. And I got just over 28 mpg. Not bad for a 2007. 4 cylinder model. I looked at the FJ's, Pilot, CRV's, etc but the RAV was more in my budget. There are times though when I wish I had a truck. Not just for diving but for hauling lumber, building supplies, and such. I'm not sure how long this vehicle will last cause it's damn hard to kill a Toyota. That's why they are the favorite vehicle of terrorist and renegade militias all over the world. But I saw a picture of a Tacoma with a 105mm recoil-less rifle mounted on it! That's what I'm looking for next. With a crew cab.

 

[3D diver]

One advantage of a pickup is not having the gear in the passenger compartment with you. This could be important in a collision, eh? If you chose a vehicle where you end up sharing space with the gear, please take the time to secure it.

 

[claymore]

I picked one of these up. They have a little more room to put gear.
http://www.keter.com/products/folding-work-table/

 

[R80]

I went from an Envoy to a RAV4 and love it. I need to put load levelers on the rear at some point for when I am hauling gear for two people that can include two sets of doubles and 4 or more singles. But last trip to Gilboa from PA with a full load for two divers was no trouble at all. And I got just over 28 mpg. Not bad for a 2007. 4 cylinder model. I looked at the FJ's, Pilot, CRV's, etc but the RAV was more in my budget. There are times though when I wish I had a truck. Not just for diving but for hauling lumber, building supplies, and such. I'm not sure how long this vehicle will last cause it's damn hard to kill a Toyota. That's why they are the favorite vehicle of terrorist and renegade militias all over the world. But I saw a picture of a Tacoma with a 105mm recoil-less rifle mounted on it! That's what I'm looking for next. With a crew cab.

I'll second the reliability of Toyotas. Everyone I know dives from truck tailgates and I don't think I've ever seen a diver working from a van. That being said, it seems like they actually have the potential to be amazing dive vehicles. No well in the trunk, AWD possible, space to sleep if you take out the seats. Put on the Drysuit in running A/C (Thermals for 2 hrs @ 40F is brutal in the summertime), Oddly, I haven't found many references to them as dive vehicles, and other posts I found here on SB start with a prohibition against minivans. Since I've never seen someone dive from one I wasn't sure if that was aesthetic or what. Heck, I'll admit to not being a fan of modern SUVs stylistically.

Since I'm in the market for a new (or new to me) vehicle and my application calls for suiting up 2 tech divers comfotably and easily I figured it would be best to ask the wide open question.

 

[AfterDark]

One advantage of a pickup is not having the gear in the passenger compartment with you. This could be important in a collision, eh? If you chose a vehicle where you end up sharing space with the gear, please take the time to secure it.

On that note tank position is critical, always position the valves so that in a rear end collision the tanks will be propelled away from your car and at the A-hole that hit you.

 

[R80]

One advantage of a pickup is not having the gear in the passenger compartment with you. This could be important in a collision, eh? If you chose a vehicle where you end up sharing space with the gear, please take the time to secure it.

Fair enough! I've also been warned that gear tends to get funky when you've been out for a week...

---------- Post added September 23rd, 2013 at 07:39 PM ----------

I picked one of these up. They have a little more room to put gear.
http://www.keter.com/products/folding-work-table/

Very nice, looks much harder to knock/bump over than the X-table I dove from.

 

[3D diver]

I'll second the reliability of Toyotas. Everyone I know dives from truck tailgates and I don't think I've ever seen a diver working from a van. That being said, it seems like they actually have the potential to be amazing dive vehicles. No well in the trunk, AWD possible, space to sleep if you take out the seats. Put on the Drysuit in running A/C (Thermals for 2 hrs @ 40F is brutal in the summertime), Oddly, I haven't found many references to them as dive vehicles, and other posts I found here on SB start with a prohibition against minivans. Since I've never seen someone dive from one I wasn't sure if that was aesthetic or what. Heck, I'll admit to not being a fan of modern SUVs stylistically.

Since I'm in the market for a new (or new to me) vehicle and my application calls for suiting up 2 tech divers comfotably and easily I figured it would be best to ask the wide open question.

I recently used my Chevy Astro Van for diving. With the rear seat removed there was lots of room for diver's and gear. The Astro has a couple of tie downs (including the removed seat attach points) that were useful for securing gear. I have a hand-tied cargo net I used as a final cover---during the 180 mile round trip from home to Monterey I only heard one tank clank. I still missed my truck's tailgate & need to fine tune the tank tie-down setup, but it's workable.

 

[Superlyte27]

Ok... I've put a bit of thought into this... Here goes...
I used a GMC Yukon for years. It's awesome. I can put about 12 sets of doubles in it and 5 divers. If it's raining the lift gate will shield me from the rain. Also, I don't have to worry about someone stealing cave lights or computers out of it while I'm inside eating lunch at a restaurant. The downside is... gas mileage kind of sucked around 20mpg. I recently sold the Yukon (It had 240k miles) and got a steal on an Expedition. It holds tons of gear, is very nice (quite honestly too nice to put 12 sets of doubles in, but it'll hold the gear. It has all the advantages of the Yukon, but worse gas mileage. So, my other vehicle (If I'm not teaching) is a Jetta TDI (Diesel). It gets over 40mpg and when you drive as much as I do, that's a real bonus. I can easily put 2 sets of doubles in it, a rebreather, a scooter, stage/bailout bottles, drysuit, etc. etc. etc., without issue. It's NOT the wagon.

However, my next vehicle will either be a Jetta TDI wagon because I can jam a bunch of gear and get 50'ish mpg, or a Chevy Avalanche. The new avalanches have all the benefits of a truck, but have a cover that you can lock, or it opens up to inside of the cab, it's water tight and if you wanted, you could put an air mattress in it and sleep in it. It's also about 20mpg.

I think my next two vehicles will be a Jetta Wagon TDI for personal diving and either a new Yukon or Avalanche for when I'm teaching.

 

[Yank]

I would tend to agree that a minivan generally doesn't have a high enough tailgate, but also they aren't level at the back turning gearing up into a balancing act (well, the ones I am familiar with)

However, I wouldn't base a vehicle decision based on putting on my doubles, but rather if I bought a vehicle where it didn't work well, I would just carry a portable table such as this one:

Husky X-Workhorse Workbench-17185155 at The Home Depot

+1 for work bench. I have one and it works ok. SUV is ok too.