Simple hookah gear ?'s

[Nathan Doty]

Howdy, story time because I'm doing this instead of work like I should . My son is 10 and has been insanely jealous of my daughter who can scuba with me. 2 more years is apparently an eternity for 10 year olds. I've let him swim around me breathing off my primary after a beach dive and he's had fun breathing under water but it's obviously a pretty short tether and me on my knees spinning in a circle gets a little old.

My wife and daughter went on a week long trip for her birthday and I needed something to do with him and decided taking him SNUBA would be fun for him. At the time(several months ago) I found a place in tampa (other side of the state but reasonable drive) that did it for about $90 a person. Expensive for what you get IMO, but he should have fun.

So fast forward to trip time and I can't find the tampa place anywhere, assuming they went under. But I found I could go to the keys (longer trip than I want, but ok) and do it. But it turned into a thousand dollar trip for the 2 of us with "UP TO 20 minutes underwater". F that. Option 2 was deland, 8 hours each way but more reasonable in cost. 16 hour drive for 20 minutes of essentially snorkeling... So I took him to legoland instead and he had fun.

So, tanks I've got, gear I collect, and I can pick up air hose and a 2nd stage pretty easy to get him by for a bit at a few snorkel spots and let him 'scuba' with me. My question (fiiiinaly) is just the 1st stage. Am I looking for anything different in it since it will be at surface and the 2nd will be down 5-10 feet?

 

[herman]

Snuba doesn't allow the user to go below the surface. It is basically a scuba BC/reg and a pony tank but the BC is filled with foam so it acted as a buoy and prevented the user from going under. IOW, snorkeling with a reg in his mouth instead of a snorkel. If you are allowing your child to go 5-10 ft deep on a (long??) hose, he is already at a depth where he can do serious lung damage if he breath holds and surfaces...not a good idea IMO and if you are going that far, might as well just get him a scuba setup and dive very shallow.
If it were me and I was intent on doing this, I would just get a little longer octo hose, a 5ft would be good and both of you "dive" together on the surface. That way he is using real scuba gear but with the limited hose, can't submerge without dragging you along....and I would add a snorkel vest (inflated) to him.....his very on BC.....which prevents him form leaving the surface.
To answer your reg question, any reg will work. An old Scubastar would be prefect, it's tiny and functional. Biggest problem is getting it serviced unless you do it yourself. Otherwise, a Scubapro MK-2 would do nicely. The older ones are cheap and still use the same service kits so getting it serviced is not a problem..

 

[Rob9876]

At 10 years old he is old enough to take the OW Scuba class, which might actually be better than the risks associated with snuba. Of course, only you can determine if he is ready for that.

 

[ScubaBunga]

Both my boys were certified at 10. The youngest will be 12 this week and is scheduled for his AOW next month. As an intro - many LDS's have "seal team" classes/events. Kids as young as 8 get full scuba gear in the pool and do different types of "dives". It's a very nice pre-OW setting. They learn the mask clearing and a few other things with the gear in a very confined environment. Both my boys enjoyed the classes even after they were OW certified.

 

[Bob DBF]

Snuba doesn't allow the user to go below the surface.

The units I've seen are similar to a hookah rig, using a tank rather than a compressor. And SNUBA is a registered trademark.

SNUBA® | Maui Snorkeling Adventures and SNUBA


The big draw is that, like hookah, there is no certification, although I don't know how an individual would get a fill unless they also had a compressor. At that point a real hookah would be preferable.


Bob

 

[Sam Miller III]

With encouragement and proper training recreational diving can be a life long activity ...
an excerpt from NAUI sources about son Sam IV who has been diving since a very young child

"~~~~~In the next generation, Samuel Miller IV, was a diver almost from birth. Having first mastered bathtub diving as a toddler-the regulator had a long hose and the cylinder was on the bathroom floor-he graduated to the family pool at age 4 using a MSA cylinder with homemade backpack. At 5 years old, he was in the Pacific Ocean. "Not too deep and not far from shore, but he was underwater, and in his own mind, he was a diver," said his father. Miller IV had a lot of encouragement from his family and also from family friends who were diving luminaries themselves. The photo shows "Sammy Miller" on his sixth birthday getting ready for a dive with Dr. Charlie Brown, NAUI's medical adviser, with whom Miller IV dived many times. Brown was interested in learning how a young child adapted to diving.
By the time he reached his lOth birthday, Miller IV had logged more than 100 open-water dives, and that year, he completed the Los Angeles County and NAUI Scuba Diver courses, although he was too young to be certified. During the summer of his 12th birthday, he was accepted and successfully completed a 40-hour US Divers equipment repair course. At age 18, he became the youngest person listed in Who's Who of Scuba Diving. In SoCal diving circles, Miller IV was considered a top hunter and freediving spearfisher. When he turned 18, he was accepted for provisional membership in the Long Beach Neptunes Spearfishing Club, and then into full membership. In his spare time, Miller IV designed, fabricated and sold custom-built teakwood spearguns. His guns had a custom-length balance bar measured to the user's arm length and a handle that was shaped from a mold of the owner's gloved hand in the shooting position. During college, he served on weekends as a deckhand on the dive charter boat Golden Doubloon.
DIVING WORLD I DEPARTMENTS
In 1991, Miller IV became a NAUI Instructor (NAUI 13227) and taught scuba at one of the Southern California dive shops. He won a scholarship to the Catalina Chamber course, completed their internship and became a qualified chamber technician. While waiting to enter medical school, he began technical mixed gas diving with his friend Jeff Bozanic, making deep technical dives on a regular basis off the California coast. After completing medical school in Pomona, California, and an emergency room residency in Kingman, Arizona, he won a fellowship in hyperbaric diving medicine at University of San Diego Medical Center. At the end of the fellowship in 2008, he accepted a position at Marion Regional Medical Center in Santa Maria, California, where he is currently their director of ER/Hyperbaric Medicine. "

and that the way it wuzzz in the dazzz of our dives

SDM 111

 

[АлександрД]

not for childs, but as a joke (as answer to topic title)
DO NOT TRY THIS! (Just on your own risk)
Форум ребризер-дайверов • Просмотр темы - Качдайвинг и всё что онному потребно .

Simplest hookah!

 

[Nathan Doty]

Everywhere I've been here limits age to 12+ for ow. One of the shops will do 11, but limits you to 20'. And unless they have an entire class of kids they won't do it since they don't want depth limit older students on their checkout. So it basically never happens.

And I love my son, but he i isn't mature enough to go more than a few feet. When I was looking at the snuba places the websites showed light weight belts, no vests and everyone submerged.

 

[JackD342]

Just where is "here" that "everyone" turns down prospective divers of a certain age?!?

An option would be to contact a shop in the keys that will do the course since that is already on your radar. He could do most of the academics ahead of time via PADI eLearning or some other brand of online course, so that just the pool and Open Water remains when traveling for a few days.

And if he isn't mature enough for it yet, you and the missus know best and that is a wise decision.

BUT... if he isn't mature enough for you to trust him past your 5-10 foot SNUBA goal, why is it that you do trust him to not do a compressed air breath hold ascent from that shallow depth and inflict some real damage on himself in the process? That risk is very real, do not dismiss it by thinking "what could possibly happen in 10 feet of water."

And if you are not aware, the rules for 10-11 year olds (at least the PADI guidelines) is that they can't dive past 40 feet, and must be buddied with either a parent of a dive professional.

 

[Nathan Doty]

Just where is "here" that "everyone" turns down prospective divers of a certain age?!?

An option would be to contact a shop in the keys that will do the course since that is already on your radar. He could do most of the academics ahead of time via PADI eLearning or some other brand of online course, so that just the pool and Open Water remains when traveling for a few days.

And if he isn't mature enough for it yet, you and the missus know best and that is a wise decision.

BUT... if he isn't mature enough for you to trust him past your 5-10 foot SNUBA goal, why is it that you do trust him to not do a compressed air breath hold ascent from that shallow depth and inflict some real damage on himself in the process? That risk is very real, do not dismiss it by thinking "what could possibly happen in 10 feet of water."

And if you are not aware, the rules for 10-11 year olds (at least the PADI guidelines) is that they can't dive past 40 feet, and must be buddied with either a parent of a dive professional.

We're in the space coast part of florida, 4 or 5 dive shops neafby, the keys start about 4 hours south of us. That's to the 1st one so it's not a quick jaunt.

As for why in trust him at 5 feet but not 40, pretty much the same reason I trust him to drive in a gocart, but not in my twin turbo bmw....

He's not going to panic at shallower dives than we already play, but he might at 40 feet. When I taught rock climbing I didn't teach you 2 knots and then expect you to follow me me up a 3 pitch 5.11. We started indoors, moved onto 5.6 60 foot climbs. if I was your fto it wasn't a couple afternoons training now go break up a barfight. Skydiving, we started at 3k and moved towards 10 as your training progresses. Etc etc. I've had dangerous hobbies for my entire life