Hauling gear w/ inflatable?

[Hostage]

I am a scuba diver and a boater. I have heard of horror stories of people banging up boats when diving off of them.

I was wondering if I should get an inflatable and tow it behind the boat w/ the the tanks, BCD, and weights already to go. We would inflate the BCDs as a precaution and tie them down. I was thinking of an inflatable w/ some hole to put the gear in. Other than loosing something or having tanks bang against each other, does anyone have any reason why this isn't a good idea?

Regards,

Hostage

 

[OldNSalty]

That actually sounds like an interesting solution provided that the dingy is big enough for the divers to suit up and get in/out of the water...of course, i guess they could suit up in the water...

 

[Hostage]

The tow boat is a 19ft Cuddy w/ a 4.3L Merc (190hp). I am OCD about the care of the boat so I really don't want things to get banged up. When I was in Belize they just tossed your gear in the water and you put it on. They would keep soft gear such as wetsuits, fins, goggles, and etc in the boat.

 

[t-mac]

It's not a bad idea. While I wouldn't necessarily trust everyone else to dive from my boat without beating it up, my wife and I do it without any trouble at all. You probably realize this, but if you prefer donning your gear on the boat, an inflatable dinghy is awkward. When we do it, like your folks in Belize, we usually toss our gear in the drink, jump in and put it on in the water. Same thing in reverse when we come back -- pulling yourself up over the side of the dinghy is difficult, to say the least, with a scuba unit on your back.

 

[Peter_C]

I can think of a lot of reasons not to use a towed inflatable boat.

Cost $$$ A decent inflatable isn't going to be cheap.

Towing, you can't drive nearly as fast when towing. Plus short interval swells could cause a big problem, even breaking a line. Which leads to another problem. Line! Broken tow ropes are dangerous, and could seriously injure someone from snap back. Line likes to get wrapped in the prop possibly leaving you offshore dead in the water. Towing also is a pain in the butt every time you come near a dock or tight quarters. We used to rent a houseboat every year so I am very familiar with towing boats often multiples at a time.

The dingy could break. The smaller the dingy the more common it is to find an air floor. The floor could puncture. Aluminum decks could be hard on the dive gear.

Flipping the dingy. What if you are looking forward dealing with rough seas and the dingy gets to surfing the wake right as a double up is formed? If you don't know what a double up is then you probably don't know what a triple up is. Think BIG, and could easily flip a small boat. Now you are still moving forward at a high rate of speed towing a boat upside down. I would imagine lines holding gear breaking.

Storage of said dingy? Theft? Blowing it up every time you want to use it? <Royal pain.

Instead setting the boat you have now up for diving would be one of the best ways. Using the boat as a boat may be hard for you since it is your baby. I get it, but myself have always taken the approach my toys, and vehicles are to be used. Scratches, dings, and dents happen. Staying calm when your buddy knocks a chunk of gel coat out is important.

Install a folding rack system, and getting a routine down would make diving off your boat possible. Taking the bumps along the way is going to be part of diving off the boat.

 

[Hostage]

Thanks for the pointers so far. Though I am thinking of only doing 1 dive and bringing only 4 people, so 4 tanks + weight and that is it. I have heard of people nailing a windshield w/ a tank, taking out lights, and cracking the gelcoat. I do water sports and have a bit of experience towing someone behind the boat. I am looking at this being a tank instead of two people on a tube. The weight will be about the same, though no people.

Maybe something like this: FUEL GO CART 2 RIDER TUBE FT3072 - iboats

Put two tanks strapped together in each hole, then secure it to the tube through the handles. I don't have to have a RIB or a dinghy.

Worst case they could always strap their fins to the BC and use skis.

-Hostage

 

[Peter_C]

What type of rope would you use? Break strength?

We had an incident at Lake Berryessa where a kid lost his eye from a tubing rope breaking. That happened on a lake, now imagine in the ocean with short interval wind chop, and swells...There is a reason the deck is cleared on tug boats when the tow cable is connected. Mastercraft has a net across the boat to protect the driver and passenger on their ski jump boats.

Here is stupid in action. DUH!
[video=youtube;Q66SywiNiWI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q66SywiNiWI[/video]

 

[t-mac]

What type of rope would you use? Break strength?

We had an incident at Lake Berryessa where a kid lost his eye from a tubing rope breaking. That happened on a lake, now imagine in the ocean with short interval wind chop, and swells...There is a reason the deck is cleared on tug boats when the tow cable is connected. Mastercraft has a net across the boat to protect the driver and passenger on their ski jump boats.

Here is stupid in action. DUH!
[video=youtube;Q66SywiNiWI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q66SywiNiWI[/video]

Um, this is not a rope problem. This is pure user error. Though your point is taken. What a moron!

 

[Hostage]

I am a 6 hour dive from the Ocean also I don't go out on the lakes when there is to much chop. Though what those guys did was stupid. When I tow people I slowly let the tube rope out till it is taught, then accelerate. That guy went balls to the walls and put a lot more force on that rope than was necessary.