Hookah from an anchored boat... Hookah from a float-based device... Hoo can share their experience?

[PetePetePete]

Catchy title? LOL. My first post!

I'm considering going two different directions here.

We know we want to utilize surface based air (we travel remotely and do not want to be at the mercy of fill-ups)...

I'm bouncing between two options. I'm going to make the actual questions (if you don't want to read the rest) in bold...

The easy option is to just get a Brownies or comparable... obviously, this can be used as a tow-along and would offer us more area to cover. OTOH... I am not convinced, even with the on-board flag, that I am comfortable going all that far away from the boat! How far away from the boat do people with a tow-along venture?

The option that I *want* to do is to get a 120VAC compressor rig and run it from the boat's generator. This is far more economical, less to maintain, etc. However, I'm smart enough to know that I'm not going to tow a 12,000 boat... even if I was willing to not be on anchor. LOL. So that seems to limit us to a small area to explore unless you keep moving the boat (raise and lower anchor) -- and even that idea is poor, because you don't want to anchor on the reef, etc.! So... How many people use a boat-based/mounted surface air unit, and how far do they explore from the boat?

Any other ideas or thoughts?

Thanks!
Pete

 

[Angelo Farina]

I did use an hookah system only twice. The first time was for commercial diving. I and my wife were helping a group of commercial divers who won a contract for cleaning from mussels the pillars of gas platforms in the Adriatic sea. They had a large, old boat, some 22m long. The boat was anchored against the platform, a number of compressor and air tanks were on board. 6 hoses were feeding 6 divers simultaneously. Each diver had a quick-release attachment to the hose, allowing to resurface even if the hose was entangled in structures of the platform. Max depth was 10m, of course, so it was always possible to resurface directly, even after hours of work.
We spent some days working with them on that boat, sleeping aboard and eating mussels in every form (with pasta, in the oven, fried, etc.)
After a week it was enough: too hard work, the hose was continuously entangled, and sometimes the compressor did stall, causing the need of a quick ascent. And eating only mussels, despite they were excellent quality, became unbearable.
The second time we had to do a search in the Po river for the dead body of a child. Water visibility was zero, depth was minimal, and diving time was several hours. So we decided to use an hookah system from the boat following the diver. The main reason was that we did use a full-face mask equipped with an intercom system, and having a cable connecting with the boat made no difference having also the hose (actually, the intercom cable was INSIDE the hose, for minimal risk of entanglement). Actually I was the designer and manufacturer of this experimental "in the hose" intercom system.
It was working great. But the search was unsuccessful, and also in this case, after three days, we gave up.
Never used an hookah system for recreational diving, sorry.

 

[ofg-1]

How far do you get from the boat with a scuba tank? I have seen guys with a old air bouy a mile from their boat. Not sure I would go that far, all it takes is one yahoo with a jet ski to drown out your engine.

 

[Asteve]

We had a 37 foot sail boat. Tried the float but did not like it, just seem to get to much salt water on the unit. We ended up finding a way to mount it in the 10 foot inflatable dink 10hp outboard and we would pull the dink around so when we came up, the dink would be there. Being in the dink we could cover a large area to dive in. We used 50 foot hoses when diving from dink, when diving from the sail boat I could connect up to 150 feet of hose but normally only used 100 foot.
We were in Mexico west coast and air fills were hard to come by.

 

[PetePetePete]

Thanks guys! We're going to give a go with a boat-based rig. 100' hose.

Still deciding if we're going to do (2) 100' hoses, or a single 100' with a "T" and two 20' off the T...

 

[Asteve]

I would go with the two 100 foot hose( or four 50' ) but be sure you can connect them for a 200 foot hose if you ever need it.

 

[D_Fresh]

I think a bit more information is needed here.... Are you planning to live aboard and cruise around (hence the lack of access to fills), or....? Also, in what area will you be traveling/boating/diving?

Based on how I currently understand the situation, I'd suggest investing in a fill compressor and a few cylinders...

 

[PetePetePete]

We cruise, often from area to area that does not have fill services. Think -- going from remote location 1 > to remote location 2... etc.

I love the idea of a fill compressor, however we're only on a 32' power cat so space would prohibit it. (we already carry a lot).

 

[D_Fresh]

We cruise, often from area to area that does not have fill services. Think -- going from remote location 1 > to remote location 2... etc.

I love the idea of a fill compressor, however we're only on a 32' power cat so space would prohibit it. (we already carry a lot).

Very cool! I hope to eventually do the same in a 40~45' sailing cat. I've seen a number of smaller gasoline operated compressors which can store in an aft locker on the one the hulls or deck bridge.... I've seen folks run the intake tube up a halyard to keep it far away from any engine exhaust.... Food for thought

 

[PetePetePete]

Very cool! I hope to eventually do the same in a 40~45' sailing cat. I've seen a number of smaller gasoline operated compressors which can store in an aft locker on the one the hulls or deck bridge.... I've seen folks run the intake tube up a halyard to keep it far away from any engine exhaust.... Food for thought

Yeah... this is just a small 320EC WorldCat. No space, for certain. But it would be most awesome... perhaps the next boat will have space! They have refill pumps for around $3k which look reasonable... but just no space.