Pumpkin Carving

[crpntr133]

Wow...those rules are tough...

I just did my first. The rules stipulated that the pumpkin must be gutted before entering the water, paterns may be drawn on the pumpkin before entering, additional weights may be placed inside the pumpkin to counteract bouyancy, and pumpkin carving tools may be used. No carving above water (aside from opening and gutting).

Still, I did find that U/W pumpkin carving is one place were it does pay off to have a machete of a dive knife...

Being able to cut the top out of it makes life a bit easier and gutting it makes it even easier (less bouyant) . So with those two issue out of the way the fun is gone and getting it down isn't an issue.

If it is a small pumpkin, add 10# to the bc and dive. Half the fun is getting it down, just be careful that you don't over load your BC.

 

[Whatgoesdown]

I recommend taking a fair bit of extra weight with you and a reel. Tie line to pumpkin and descend, find something on the bottom (like a concrete block, anchor or mooring line), try to hold on and reel the line in while your buddy pushes down from on top. Tie the line off when you get the pumpkin down and it will probably be foating upside down so plan your first cut. Once you have hollowed it out it is nowhere near as buoyant and a 2lb weight block put inside helps to keep it down while you carve. Cprntr133 is right, don't take a big pumpkin, it'll be hell to sink and may implode on the way down (don't tell the other participants though)! I'll let you decide what to carve though!

 

[DI_Guy]

We have ours next Wednesday, the rules are pretty well the same except we are allowed to open the top of the pumpkin and stuff in a 10 lb weight. I bring a coping saw, an ice cream scoop, a drywall cutter, and various other small blades. I use a underwater marker to draw the sketch on the pumpkin.

Note: Do NOT use electric Jigsaw underwater ;-)

 

[gangrel441]

These rules pretty much take the fun out of it.

I was going to tie about 30# to mine but I was told later that this was against the rules. A pumpkin carving tool makes things a lot easier and you don't have to worry about cutting yourself.

I am guessing that gutting the pumpkin before entering the water was suggested by the quarry. Other folks doing training that day, didn't want to screw up the vis any worse than it already was. Weights in the pumpkin might be a woosie rule, but I wouldn't want a bunch of divers in a quarry carrying 6-8 lbs more than they usually carry, especially since most of them are probably overweighted to begin with. An overweighted pumpkin is easy to ditch.

I did think it was strange to let us draw the paterns first, but rules are rules...I think allowing carving tools is also a safety precaution, though dive knives were not disallowed.

 

[Wayward Son]

My club has similar rules. We must use dive knives, and bags are permitted. All pieces must be brought back, we get 20 minutes.

I placed 2nd last saturday in my 1st pumpkin dive, won a new mask & snorkel.

Weights in the bag aren't much good. You do want an extra weight loose. Once the top is off & the guts out, put this wt inside to help keep the pumpik down. What will help you the most is to be seriously overweighted yourself.

wt in the bag helps get it down. It does nothing for you once you take it out of the bag (or can't use one) & have to keep it down. You need the extra wt on you to take care of that, I didn't have enough but made do. I had a small one, a bit obe 8 inch diameter. 8 lbs was enough to sink in in fresh water. If the dive had been in the gulf as origionally planned I would not have had enough wt.

I managed mine in about 8 minutes & only used 500 PSI.

 

[Inspector#2]

Here is an idea from the 2nd place finisher in Idaho. If your on a buddy team one of you overweight (I had an extra 20# on a spare belt). The heavy guy is the sinker and as soon as the pumpkin is under cut the top off and thrown a 5-10# weight in it. Set on the bottom (I used a gravel bar) with heavy guy holding and the other cutting. MUST trust cutter with knife skills! Place pumpkin between legs with face side out so the artist can go to work. We used a blunt knife for scraping part of the design and a pointed knife for cutting where necessary. Once the face is done then you can waste time cleaning out the interior. This also keeps the fish out and the pumpkin guts from mucking up the area.
Good luck and have fun!

 

[Kaiser442]

I think I'd take a bunch of extra weights down in my BC and then stick them inside the pumpkin once I got the top cut off to keep it neutral/negative while you're trying to carve it.

 

[BubbLzGiRl]

Very Messy ,
Get a pumpking carving kit and drill at home a few small holes in the ends of the pieces and attach to a rubber band or twine and wear around wrist. Used an extra Bc weight sac for inside pumpkin. Be creative and used the stem as the nose for less carving, so get one with a nice stem. Scrape ur design into the skin first than carve
-Dianna
Good luck , its so fun.

 

[Rick Inman]

I keep thinking about it... and I just don't see the attraction.

Can someone explain why someone would want to do this? Rather than dive?

 

[MichaelBaranows]

Rick,
Why? to get people together. It brought people together that normally don't dive together.

It went great. Most people had pumpkins that were about the size of a grapefruit. But there were several larger than a basketball. Mine was about the size of a basket ball and took about 20# to sink. I had some parachute cord that made a like basket about the pumpkin and then hooked a 20# weight on the bottom. Went to the bottom and carved it up.