Pool size for OWD training - what's adequate?

[KOMPRESSOR]

Figure I'd have a training pool built for PADI OWD classes, it will be expensive. As of now we rent hours in a local pool. But it's only available early in the morning on saturdays and sundays. It works for now, and it's a heck of a pool! The deep end is 60x80 feet, and 15 ft deep all over! -Besides unlimited room in the shallow end. But it costs all in all 120$ pr hour, and it's a 20 min. drive each way from my centre.

So when my landlord offer me a share in a new building, it can be within reach to have our own pool built in wall to wall with our dive shop. Now for size of pools, what's acceptable for small groups of OWD divers? It will be classes of up to 8 students, but we'll split the groups and have perhaps 2-4 students in the water at the time.

Any well founded suggestions anyone?

(Mods, feel free to move this thread to any more appropriate forum. I looked, but couldn't find any better place than this.)

From our classes at the community pool

 

[letsgodiving]

I would think a 40X20 pool with 12+ feet of depth would be perfect. I have seen classes in a small area(10X10) of a six foot deep pool

 

[sberanek]

holy crap! That pool you have access too is soooo much better than the one we used at the YMCA. Our "deep" end was only 10' and could barely accomodate the six of us (4 students, 2 instructors) in the same area. I think the pool was maybe 60'X20', but I'm not sure. It was also gross and the vis was so bad you couldn't see the deep end from the shallow, but they sure made up for it with chlorine! After my no mask swim I had red eyes for about 2 days. blech!

Granted, once the U of I gets done with their pool renovations, the classes will be back in an olympic size pool.

--Shannon

 

[nereas]

I have seen big pools and small pools at scuba stores. Yes, the big ones are very, very expensive to build and to maintain.

I believe that small and deep is better than big. Most pools are around 3 meters deep, at the deep end, but that is not deep enough for many scuba drills.

I vote for 5 meters deep, by 12 meters wide, by 5 meters across, as a nice small scuba oriented pool. Whether you put a shallow ledge in it on the near side is up to you. It is more realistic if there is not, but for some agency drills, you need a shallow side to it, such as when the students first put on their regulators and then breathe with their faces in the water, etc.

I came up with 12 meters wide by taking 2 meters for each of 6 students. That is the smallest size that I can invision. For a class of 8, you would want 16 meters wide however.

In my experience, 8 is a big class for 1 instructor together with a single teaching assistant. 6 is an easier group, and 4 is a piece of cake. Although with a class of 4, you normally only cover your costs of teaching. With 6 you can earn a little, and with 8 you can earn a living at it, if you teach this size of group often.

I am sure you know all about teaching, and that I do not need to tell you. However class size relates to pool size, which is what you have asked about.

 

[boulderjohn]

The pool in our shop works very well. It is about 50' X 25' (my estimate). It has a shallow end that is just deep enough (about 4.5') to get everyone under water kneeling for the shallow skills and perhaps 15 long (wide?)--just enough so that the instructor demonstrating skills is about the right distance from the students along the wall. We have a square drop off to the deep end, which gives you maximum deep end area and maximum shallow area without losing space to the slope. The deep end is 12', which is enough.

We have connections in the floor of the deep end so we can snap ascent lines into place.

We keep it at 87º so that we can stay in a long time with light wet suits without freezing. We can use shorties to make it easier for them to get in and out of them. (You can't believe how much class time can be wasted with wet suits until you see the difference!)

 

[nereas]

holy crap! That pool you have access to is soooo much better than the one we used at the YMCA. Our "deep" end was only 10' and could barely accomodate the six of us (4 students, 2 instructors) in the same area. I think the pool was maybe 60'X20', but I'm not sure. It was also gross and the vis was so bad you couldn't see the deep end from the shallow, but they sure made up for it with chlorine! After my no mask swim I had red eyes for about 2 days. blech!

Granted, once the U of I gets done with their pool renovations, the classes will be back in an olympic size pool.

--Shannon

An olympic sized pool is nice, but also overkill in terms of size for scuba. And the building cost, and maintenance cost, make it infeasible for scuba alone.

Many big pools do not have very deep ends either. If they are fitted for high-diving, then yes, they would. But most of the time, then are not deep enough for scuba.

 

[nereas]

The pool in our shop works very well. It is about 50' X 25' (my estimate). It has a shallow end that is just deep enough (about 4.5') to get everyone under water kneeling for the shallow skills and perhaps 15 long (wide?)--just enough so that the instructor demonstrating skills is about the right distance from the students along the wall. We have a square drop off to the deep end, which gives you maximum deep end area and maximum shallow area without losing space to the slope. The deep end is 12', which is enough.

We have connections in the floor of the deep end so we can snap ascent lines into place.

We keep it at 87º so that we can stay in a long time with light wet suits without freezing. We can use shorties to make it easier for them to get in and out of them. (You can't believe how much class time can be wasted with wet suits until you see the difference!)

12 ft (4 meters) is BARELY deep enough, and certainly less than ideal.

 

[CompuDude]

Yeah, 40x20 sounds about right. I'd go for 14' deep at a minimum, if possible. Bigger is always better, of course, but much smaller than that size and it will be tough to swim around the pool while practicing compass work, etc.

 

[sberanek]

Since the U of I owns the big pool the cost isn't that much of a factor for the dive shop. It definately would be a factor if the dive shop was building and operating the pool... it is a massive pool. It has a high dive, so the deep end is deep (not sure how much). It's dimensions are olympic size, but it's been modified so it's not just for laps.

If you wanted a big pool you could always then rent out space to other people/groups to help pay for it.

--Shannon

 

[freediver]

Ideally? It would be 50 - 75 feet in length and 2/3rd's of this in width with a deep end minimum depth of 12 feet. The shallow end would be at 4 feet and gradually slope to 5 feet. An L-shaped pool would be nice. If there were a concern of maintenance expense, a pool this size would allow a multitude of activities to increase revenue while at the same time exposing these other aquatic enthusiasts to scuba. I would choose a sanitizer other than Chlorine and surge gutters are superior to skimmers.