Pump for dry suit

[danvolker]

On some of the cooler wrecks and unique structure based reef dives of Palm Beach ( like Hole in the Wall) , the only reliable way to do the dive is with a Hot Drop. So you and your hot dropping buddy, need to be stepping off the platform, and the moment you hit the water, you are swimming head down at full cruising pace. If you can go down at 100 feet per minute or faster, you have a great chance of being EXACTLY where you want to be when you reach bottom.
Those that jump in, deflate bc or wing, and gradually get the air out of their drysuit, get blown probably 200 to 400 feet off of the intended mark, before they even begin to functionally descend.

Once you have done hot drops, and experienced how nice it is to land exactly where you want to, in a challenging area, you start to enjoy doing hot drops all the time
For GUE's, it means BOTH have to like the same speed hot drop, and the prechecks all have to be done at the surface. You do the bubble check after initial eye contact as you both begin swimming down.

Those that don't like the idea of doing hot drops, no problem..there just will be some sites your landing on will be very "hit or miss"...

 

[TSandM]

Honestly, I think I know what the BEST answer to the "hot drops" is:

Costs a little more than the OP's pump, though . . .

 

[Akimbo]

Honestly, I think I know what the BEST answer to the "hot drops" is…

If by "hot drops" you mean splashing the diver while the boat is underway passing over a sonar or GPS target, scooters can make it worse in high currents and low viz. You need to hit the water head first and swim down fast to increase your chances of hitting a target. Even when the objective is deep, I will often make the jump on a single (less lateral drift and faster descent than doubles) to stand a better chance of hitting it. Whoever is slower follows the other’s bubbles. Bottom time consists of a go/no-go ID and sending up a buoy — maybe 3 minutes including descent at 120-160 FPM. It isn’t so critical in high viz.

Obviously, this is an advanced technique and you want to do a lot of them in shallow water before progressing deeper.​

 

[danvolker]

Thanks Dan V for the idea. I bought a Pittsburg transfer pump from Harbor Freight for $4 bucks on sale. It's made of plastic, 9" long from end to end and 1-1/2" in dia . I cut an old inflator hose in half and hooked it up to the inlet of the pump ( same O.D) 20 fast pumps and I'm vacuum sealed. The crotch and armpits are sealed in on deck, no more short frog kicks. I also used the hose it came with to vacuum out my wing
through the inflator hose. I have used it about 10 dives so far so good.

BOB L

I might make the same set up you are describing.....for others in this thread, sure you can such the air out of your wing--but the air in the wing/bc is funky/unpleasant to breath in.....of course this never stopped us from doing it before....the drysuit thing was a major problem..most drysuit divers no matter how good they were, looked like ducks on the surface, while we were already half way down, and had the bottom structure in sight....
If any of you dont get this, I can either take you on one of these dives, which you will like a lot with the hot drop, and not without ...or, I could shoot a video of a typical hot drop dive site with a few drysuit ducks missing the dive with their failure to be 10 feet down in the first second Each second is a HUGE big deal, with the surface drift involved.

 

[danvolker]

If by "hot drops" you mean splashing the diver while the boat is underway passing over a sonar or GPS target, scooters can make it worse in high currents and low viz. You need to hit the water head first and swim down fast to increase your chances of hitting a target. Even when the objective is deep, I will often make the jump on a single (less lateral drift and faster descent than doubles) to stand a better chance of hitting it. Whoever is slower follows the other’s bubbles. Bottom time consists of a go/no-go ID and sending up a buoy — maybe 3 minutes including descent at 120-160 FPM. It isn’t so critical in high viz.

Obviously, this is an advanced technique and you want to do a lot of them in shallow water before progressing deeper.​

Boat would still be going 4 mph or so while coasting, props at idle or off, with scooter in your lap at platform if sitting, you face in to the water, and are trigger "on" as soon as buddy looks at you with ready u/w.
We have 100 foot vis on good days, 35 foot vis on bad days, so no problem there.
For really deep, the scooter hot drop is way better, as in 200 to 300 foot deep structures....for less than 100 feet, just swimming head down, and being fully negative from the instant of hitting water is all you need.

 

[Akimbo]

Boat would still be going 4 mph or so while coasting, props at idle or off, with scooter in your lap at platform if sitting, you face in to the water, and are trigger "on" as soon as buddy looks at you with ready u/w...

Wow, I never tried hitting a target at 4 MPH. The skipper always slowed to a crawl and often backed-down a little before giving the signal. In the end, as long as you hit the water rapidly descending it doesn't matter how you get there. Even descending at 120 FPM you aren't going to miss by much, even in a 2 knot current. Man, wouldn't an affordable acoustic triangulation system integrated with GPS be cool. We can splash a diver within a few feet anywhere in the world and are no better off than Cousteau in the 1940s once we get underwater.

 

[danvolker]

Wow, I never tried hitting a target at 4 MPH. The skipper always slowed to a crawl and often backed-down a little before giving the signal. In the end, as long as you hit the water rapidly descending it doesn't matter how you get there. Even descending at 120 FPM you aren't going to miss by much, even in a 2 knot current. Man, wouldn't an affordable acoustic triangulation system integrated with GPS be cool. We can splash a diver within a few feet anywhere in the world and are no better off than Cousteau in the 1940s once we get underwater.

What might not be making sense is where the boat is relative to the bottom structure you want to hit.....On the night of the Jewfish spawning last october, where we got some never before seen footage of jewfish actually spawning, the current was ripping at about 3.5 or more mph, and the drop was a wreck called the Zion. The diveboat is going upcurrent, against the flow, the captain watching for marks....the captain knows how fast each of us can hot drop ( or we would not be on this dive)..the captain estimates maybe 100 feet up current from structure ( his job to figure distance not mine), and when I hit the water, the bottom is almost not moving below me, if the boat is still coasting fast enough....I will hit my desired drop mark easily like this every time.
This has been SOP for advanced divers in Palm Beach for over 20 years....just remember WE in Palm Beach were the ones that first created Drift Diving...Frank Hammett was towing a milk jug behind him in the 50's with the boat following.....He was certainly the first drift operator, and certainly the first hot dropper....most of his drops were hot drops, unless someone made the mistake of booking students with him 5 or 6 decades later you would imagine we have it down to quite a science..
The

 

[Aqua-Andy]

Wow what I thought was a thread on something silly turned out to be very informative. I thought I descended fast, I guess not. I can't imagine dropping that fast as I don't think I can equalize fast enough.

 

[Kern]

Roll the air out of the wing prior to set up to avoid the funk. Burp the suit a few times to remove the air. Hit the water & descend head first. Fin as powerfully as required, accept as much squeeze as needed.

As some around here say, if you can't cope with current, join a knitting club.

 

[formula1mb@aol.com]

Here's a good video of hot dropping in Florida I've seen before. Looks fun but little scary, maybe something to try after a couple more years of experience

Hot drop the RBJ (video) - Page 2 - Rebreather World