Nitrox on BC Ferries

[MarkH]

I think we should march on Ottawa and demand an end to diver discrimination. Maybe we could have a "diver pride" parade. You can take firearms, gasoline, propane and industrial oxygen on ferries, but not Nitrox? Maybe you could disguise your tanks as boxes of ammo. I could tell people that I mountain bike, snowboard or play rugby (although actually I don't. - Sounds like exercise) and they would say "that's nice". When people find out I dive, they often look at me strangely and say: "Wow. Isn't that dangerous?". I remember filling out life-insurance/disability forms for a company that used to do the military's extra coverage and they asked you to declare if you took part in "car racing, parachuting or scubadiving". I'm always paranoid that people with this attitude towards diving are going to introduce restrictive government regulations (like in Quebec)to keep us safe from ourselves. I'm going to have to forge a PADI Advanced Diver card and drag a blow-up doll dressed in dive gear as a "buddy", so I don't get arrested when I go diving. I guess this is starting to get off topic, but I've had a cold and haven't been in the water for awhile so I'm getting all jumpy and paranoid.

 

[GlazierB]

I actually walk on to the Victoria ferry and the Sunshine Coast ferry quite often with my doubles in tow. I have to notify the cashier to that I have the tanks and she sends someone down with a piece of paper that *I* actually fill in. They want my tank size in Liters and to be honest I have no idea how many Liters there are in a set of 119's (Sure someone will tell me now) ... Ask if they are Full or Empty but never a question of the content of the tanks... Usually the biggest hassle is the walk from the cashier to down bellow on the car deck.

My Father worked for years on the Sunshine Coast route (Sechelt to Vancouver) and according to him... Numerous times he knew of people transporting large tanks (Bank style) to and from the Mainland without problem. They only asked that the tanks be handled much like propane tanks and be shut off and the sticker applied saying as such.

So maybe I have been lucky or someone just got the wrong person on the wrong day. ... Maybe this has changed I dunno. The last time I walked my gear over two ferries to Sechelt was less than a month ago...

 

[Hyper-limits]

Oh well, I will take the Nitrox mixing machine and bring pure O2 with me when I travel to the Mainland.

Pretty funny that O2 is OK, but Nitrox is not. Must be the name, "Nitrox" sound very scary.

Cheers

Al

 

[jeckyll]

Another reason not to have those big ugly stickers ... like there needed to be one.

 

[TheWetRookie]

I am having trouble with one of the fields for the BC ferry dangerous goods form and would like some help. For the Gross/Net Mass, what are they looking for? The total amount of air or...?

All the fileds are...

Class --- Sub Class/Compat Group --- UN# ---- Packing Group --- Flash point ---


Marine Pollutant --- QTY(in Metric) Gross/Net Mass


Here is the actual form for those who want it.
http://www.bcferries.com/files/PDFs/BCF-DGIS_Appendix-C.pdf

 

[MarkH]

I am having trouble with one of the fields for the BC ferry dangerous goods form and would like some help. For the Gross/Net Mass, what are they looking for? The total amount of air or...?

All the fileds are...

Class --- Sub Class/Compat Group --- UN# ---- Packing Group --- Flash point ---


Marine Pollutant --- QTY(in Metric) Gross/Net Mass


Here is the actual form for those who want it.
http://www.bcferries.com/files/PDFs/BCF-DGIS_Appendix-C.pdf

I'd say the gross mass would be the weight of the full cylinder. The net mass would be the weight of the "dangerous goods" (or air) inside the tank.

 

[wedivebc]

I am having trouble with one of the fields for the BC ferry dangerous goods form and would like some help. For the Gross/Net Mass, what are they looking for? The total amount of air or...?

All the fileds are...

Class --- Sub Class/Compat Group --- UN# ---- Packing Group --- Flash point ---


Marine Pollutant --- QTY(in Metric) Gross/Net Mass


Here is the actual form for those who want it.
http://www.bcferries.com/files/PDFs/BCF-DGIS_Appendix-C.pdf

The UN# is 1072 for oxygen. I suggest you use that instead of calling it nitrox because it is illegal to transport nitrox over water according to Transport Caqnada Marine Safety.
http://www.utdallas.edu/research/cleanroom/safety/msds/documents/O2_MSDS.pdf

 

[TheWetRookie]

Thanks guys. I did though talk to BC ferries today and for the "Gross/Net Mass" the are looking for the "water equivalent" in liters of what a tank will hold. So if a tank holds 20L of water and you have 10 of them, you enter 200L.

I was told by another person a while back that a standard 80cft tank holds about 11L.

 

[MarkH]

Thanks guys. I did though talk to BC ferries today and for the "Gross/Net Mass" the are looking for the "water equivalent" in liters of what a tank will hold. So if a tank holds 20L of water and you have 10 of them, you enter 200L.

I was told by another person a while back that a standard 80cft tank holds about 11L.

That's weird that they would call liters "mass" when it's really volume.

 

[Lightning Fish]

That's weird that they would call liters "mass" when it's really volume.

Yes. But it is weird to begin with that they are scared of nitrox and not 100% oxygen. Oooohh, I've got nitrox 22 with me.

Bill.