Inflatable boat for diving the Great Lakes?

[davetowz]

Also, the numbers in Kohls books are sometime a wee bit off. You would likely spend your whole trip looking at mud bottom while looking for the wrecks.

 

[rhwestfall]

Lake Erie - New York region: Osprey Charters

 

[flots am]

Hello everyone: This seems the best forum to ask a question like this so here I go ...

I have been reading Chris Kohls books on Great Lakes shipwrecks. A lot of his wrecks are not served by commercial charter boats and you would need a private boat to dive them. I was thinking how feasible and practical it would be to buy an inflatable boat with a drop-behind motor and dive from it. Keep in mind that I have zero experience in driving a boat so I do not know what kind of a learning curve / maintenance commitment is needed. If anyone could also enlighten me on the range of these boats that would be great! How far off of a dive site can be accessed by it etc.

If anyone has any other suggestions lets hear em!

CS

My suggestion is that you buy or buy a seat on a really, big, really heavy boat. A commercial fishing boat or tug boat would be ideal.

I've never seen water that would go from "Nice canoing weather" to "Holy sh** we're all going to die!" any faster than Ontario or Huron.

flots.

edit: This is exactly the reason they're so full of wrecks.

 

[Katch]

I doubt if I'd take mine far enough offshore without losing sight of land. I have an 11ft AB Inflatable - my first boat. It was only $400 (took about $500 fixing it up including the trailer) without the motor. Another $800 for a steal of a 20hp 2-stroke. I've gone diving a few times in the Potomac and a few lakes. I'll probably take it out in the ocean around Morehead City or OBX this summer. It is fine for 2 divers, but a 3rd person to stay onboard would be a tight fit.
As a newbie, I am very cautious. Aside from the handheld GPS (with uploaded marine maps), I have 2 cell phones in a pelican case, 2 marine radios (one being the Nautilus Lifeline) and a satellite phone.

For the price, I'm glad I bought it - good practice for a newbie. It is also nice and small so I can tow it just about anywhere with my Jeep. I'd love to get a twin engine/center console RIB for further offshore trips, but this will work for now.



Take a couple (free) online boating courses at Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water [BOATUS.ORG].

 

[Keith.M]

My suggestion is that you buy or buy a seat on a really, big, really heavy boat. A commercial fishing boat or tug boat would be ideal.

I've never seen water that would go from "Nice canoing weather" to "Holy sh** we're all going to die!" any faster than Ontario or Huron.

flots.

edit: This is exactly the reason they're so full of wrecks.

Flots, I sure laughed when I read that. Even having never been diving on the great lakes, a truer statement could not have been made.

 

[rhwestfall]

I doubt if I'd take mine far enough offshore without losing sight of land. I have an 11ft AB Inflatable - my first boat. It was only $400 (took about $500 fixing it up including the trailer) without the motor. Another $800 for a steal of a 20hp 2-stroke. I've gone diving a few times in the Potomac and a few lakes. I'll probably take it out in the ocean around Morehead City or OBX this summer. It is fine for 2 divers, but a 3rd person to stay onboard would be a tight fit.
As a newbie, I am very cautious. Aside from the handheld GPS (with uploaded marine maps), I have 2 cell phones in a pelican case, 2 marine radios (one being the Nautilus Lifeline) and a satellite phone.

For the price, I'm glad I bought it - good practice for a newbie. It is also nice and small so I can tow it just about anywhere with my Jeep. I'd love to get a twin engine/center console RIB for further offshore trips, but this will work for now.

View attachment 203570

Take a couple (free) online boating courses at Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water [BOATUS.ORG].

you would not likely make it out of the Inner Harbor with that... If you have been on the Great Lakes, you should not use the ocean as a benchmark...

 

[flots am]

Flots, I sure laughed when I read that. Even having never been diving on the great lakes, a truer statement could not have been made.

I was on the boat from Duck's Dive and on the way out to the site, it's sunny and I'm sitting on this really heavy steel boat with fully covered hatches and real metal doors, sitting way above the water, listening to it chug chug chug out to the dive site and was thinking "Wow, this guy must be a moron paying for fuel to run this thing, just to go diving. He should get something lighter and cheaper to run."

When we surfaced from the dive, it was really nasty and windy and the waves were huge.

We got back on the boat and I though "Wow, this guy is a genius!" as we sat safely inside, as the waves splashed over the deck, over the covered hatches, and back out the drain slots, but the boat didn't care, and went "chug chug chug" back to the dock.

Now, I'd no more go out on one of the Great Lakes in a little boat than I'd enter a demolition derby in a motorcycle.

Even up on Huron, when it got nasty, the Joseph Simon, which is no lightweight boat, was none too large.

flots.

---------- Post added February 23rd, 2015 at 10:29 PM ----------

View attachment 203570

Sorry. That's not even big enough to safely get out to your boat.

flots.

 

[rhwestfall]