SCUBA-Transport Honda CRV ?

[Bubblesong]

I have been watching thread about The Chairman as he builds his SCUBA Van. I don't have a van.
Has anyone fixed up their Honda CRV cargo area, or any small SUV hatchback, for carrying SCUBA GEAR? I have four divers, so I can't take out seats. Wondering if there is some efficient way to approach this and willing to build, but don't want to reinvent if there is already someone with good ideas.

 

[eelnoraa]

CRV cargo area is actually quite roomy, plus the relatively squarish profile, it actually fits lot of scuba gears. I have used it for 4 drysuit divers with 4 set of doubles (ranging from HP100 to LP85) and 4 X-tables, and all corresponding gears for a day of diving. The cargo area is fill to the top with small amount of soft gears on the back seats too. But 4 people are comfortably seated. My only complain would be lack of power with that much stuff. In term of usefulness of space, CRV is even better than 4runner and GLK.

 

[tbone1004]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE evaluate the payload capacity of your vehicle before you do something like that. It should be on your door sticker.
Quick forum search said CR-V is listed at a GVWR of up to 4700lbs depending on model. The vehicle will weigh up to 3600 depending on if it's 4wd etc, but minimum is 3450 ish. Gives you a max payload of 1250lbs.

Unsure of the size of divers you have going in there, but call it 700lbs of that is going to be taken up by the four people.
If you're doing two dives a day with al80's, another 320 of that is taken up by the tanks, up to 400lbs depending on the size tank you have. An average of 50lbs of misc gear/diver is another 200lbs.

1300lbs right there. If anyone is on the larger side, I.e. I'm 270, my main dive buddy is 250, our wives are quite tall but around 140 ish each, so that 700 just became 800, you bring a cooler, etc, you are now in violation of your MFG payload capacities and could be in deep trouble if you have an accident.

This is all assuming no modifications to the vehicle, and nothing else is inside of it other than you and your dive gear. Everything that goes into that vehicle that was not there when it left the factory counts against that number

No one ever seems to care about that number, and it is highly unlikely to bite you in the a$$ because no insurer is going to go out and weigh everything in the vehicle, but you have to be aware that you are violating the limits of your vehicle when you load it down with that much gear and accept that if you are in an accident, that you may not be covered since you violated the weight capacity of that vehicle. No different than towing trailers that are heavier than your vehicle is rated to tow.

 

[kelemvor]

I don't have a CRV or SUV for that matter. I've used my Honda odyssey minivan extensively for diveing road trips. One important lesson is to remember that your stuff is likely to be very wet after a dive. I started out using a tarp in the rear area of my van (surrounded by cheap blankets from harbor freight). This helps keep all the water from making your interior carpeting get super stinky! Things were so much nicer when my local DIY carwash had a rug shampoo machine...

Also, a pseudo shop vac like this one can go a LONG way to solving this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001O6RA6Q

Wet/dry, reasonable power, not powered by the engine from an F-16 like most shop vac's.. I love it.

I just got, but haven't used yet, a large tub for storing our wet bags. Solves the wet problem, but greatly exacerbates physical space problems. I will find out this weekend if it was a good idea or not.

A roof box, if you can afford it (they're super expensive) will likely solve any storage problem you think you've got. Just don't put tanks in it, keep them inside.

Where there's a will, there's a way. I've got a dive buddy who does dive trips in a FIAT. If she can do dive trips in a FIAT with 2 or more, you can do 4 in a CRV for sure.

 

[Bubblesong]

@tbone1004 you have brought up a memory of my (late) Dad transporting heavy load in a weak car, bent his axel. I am doing the math and people are 665 for four, and if a friend hops in, it would be 800+.
That leaves 400 for gear which basically means I should just plan around renting tanks at the location, if more than two divers.
I have some research to do.

 

[tbone1004]

@tbone1004 you have brought up a memory of my (late) Dad transporting heavy load in a weak car, bent his axel. I am doing the math and people are 665 for four, and if a friend hops in, it would be 800+.
That leaves 400 for gear which basically means I should just plan around renting tanks at the location, if more than two divers.
I have some research to do.

a small utility trailer may be the answer to that. You can get some pretty small ones that will stay under your 1500lb towing limit and at 1500lbs, that'll only take about 250lbs of your payload capacity. An open cargo trailer, motorcycle trailer, snowmobile trailer, etc. should be able to work for that with no issues.

that math though is a huge part of why I built my dive trailer and while it sucks to have my mpg's drop immediately to about 11 when I tow it, it handles much better than a fully loaded vehicle, and frankly, outside of full size pickups, nothing out there has any payload capacity significantly over 1500lbs. For the diving I do, the bare minimum we have is roughly 250lbs/diver. Pair of big steel tanks, 1 deco bottle, tools, and all the misc gear we have. That can easily approach 600lbs/diver for the bigger cave dives that we do and there is no vehicle out there short of a 3/4 pickup or 3/4ton van that can handle more than 2 divers when you are carrying that amount of weight. Very annoying

 

[TrimixToo]

I have been watching thread about The Chairman as he builds his SCUBA Van. I don't have a van.
Has anyone fixed up their Honda CRV cargo area, or any small SUV hatchback, for carrying SCUBA GEAR? I have four divers, so I can't take out seats. Wondering if there is some efficient way to approach this and willing to build, but don't want to reinvent if there is already someone with good ideas.

It depends.

I just sold my CR-V and got a Pilot so that I have more room, and more (especially towing) capacity for gear. Loaded for admittedly deep dives, with a large pair of doubles, three planned deco gases, two contingency deco gases, the rest of the gear, a non-diving passenger, and such, the CR-V was really marginal. The Pilot will swallow all that whole. Towing the smallest trailer I could find from NYS to NC was an adventure, and I asked a friend to bring several tanks back to get the weight down. The Pilot will tow 5000#.

On the other hand, for two recreational divers, a day's 2-dive outing should not be a challenge for a CR-V at all. With some forethought it is not hard to load it efficiently. When the rear seats are folded up, the strikers provide strong points for lashing down tanks to prevent them from becoming missiles if there is an accident. It will hold a lot of stuff for two recreational divers, no sweat, as-is. Packing in milk crates can be really helpful, too.

John

 

[The Chairman]

Remember, if you're carrying a large load... 4 divers... you can't also tow a large load. These capacities, are determined by the limits of your drive train, your suspension and your braking capacity. While you might lighten the load off the suspension, your engine, transmission and braking system still have to cope with propelling and stopping all that mass. Inertia's a biotch.

 

[victorzamora]

My wife had a CR-V that we loaded down well beyond the legal limit for many a dive trip. TBone has been in it when the suspension was bottomed down onto its bump stops.....and we drove it 7hrs to cave country that way. I most certainly don't recommend it, and I actually feel very bad for treating my wife's car that way.

It can absolutely handle the weight, though, if you pack light and smart. TBone and I packed for a long weekend in cave country with big steels, stages, and far too much gear. Four divers, packed light, and a short drive with tanks would be fine. As for Tbone's math: If you have 1300lbs of payload, 700lbs of people. That's 600lbs remaining for gear. With recreational gear, that should be plenty of room to spare as long as you pack light. 8xAL80s still leaves you ~280lbs of gear/food/ice remaining.

The small utility trailer isn't a bad idea, and is something I've toyed with-even having purchased an F150 specifically for diving. TBone has a large trailer we've started work on for a serious diving vehicle. We've done one trip on iteration1 and it's a major upgrade from what we've done in the past. MPGs suffer tremendously, and though it's worth it on large trips-I've considered a utility trailer for smaller trips.

 

[Marie13]

I have a Focus sedan. Good thing it's just me. However, a dive buddy is carpooling with me for the 8 hour drive from Chicago to Alpena, MI for our Lake Huron diving trip this summer. We're fortunate I'm not taking my tanks (I'm renting so I don't have to schlep them!), which will give us a lot more room in the trunk. Car will be packed to the gills!

I've been thinking about getting a small SUV when this car is paid off in two years, but I really like getting 34 mpg with the Focus. I'll probably just keep it. I know someone who dives doubles and dry suit from his Prius.