Solo scootering?

[Peter_C]

I have solo scootered before but do it at dive sites I am familiar with. Gas plan is very conservative with redundancy aka doubles, or shallow as in less than 50 foot depth (Figure with a 1st stage failure I have enough air to get myself to the surface with bubbles flying everywhere). We can surface directly from all of our dive sites.

My scooter tow cord wrapped around the handle one day, causing a run away and in stopping it with my hand I destroyed the clutch. Has an AUL clutch now. The rest of the dive was spent kicking around with my scooter clipped off. My g/f at the time in a wetsuit and single tanks could have easily left me in the dust, but although swimming slower I was able to manage a decent pace back to the beach. Point being I now know what it takes to bring my scooter back to the beach dead.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

I have solo scootered before but do it at dive sites I am familiar with. Gas plan is very conservative with redundancy aka doubles, or shallow as in less than 50 foot depth (Figure with a 1st stage failure I have enough air to get myself to the surface with bubbles flying everywhere). We can surface directly from all of our dive sites.

My scooter tow cord wrapped around the handle one day, causing a run away and in stopping it with my hand I destroyed the clutch. Has an AUL clutch now. The rest of the dive was spent kicking around with my scooter clipped off. My g/f at the time in a wetsuit and single tanks could have easily left me in the dust, but although swimming slower I was able to manage a decent pace back to the beach. Point being I now know what it takes to bring my scooter back to the beach dead.

Thanks Peter. The section I highlighted above was actually going to be my next question.

How hard is it to swim a "dead" scooter (assuming it is not flooded, just "dead")?? It seems like since they are fairly streamlined and relatively near-neutral(?) buoyancy, it would be possible to push or pull them at a slow steady pace.... but I'm only guessing.

Best wishes.

 

[Meng_Tze]

Thanks Peter. The section I highlighted above was actually going to be my next question.

How hard is it to swim a "dead" scooter (assuming it is not flooded, just "dead")?? It seems like since thay are fairly streamlined and relatively near-neutral(?) buoyancy, it would be possible to push or pull them at a slow steady pace.... but I'm only guessing.

Best wishes.

Neutral is somewhat relative. A dead scooter may in itself be neutral. A flooded scooter can be made neutral by using lift in your BC......If you have enough capacity, a flooded scooter will not make any difference over a 'just dead' one.

The real question is do you want to drag/push a scooter to return?

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Neutral is somewhat relative. A dead scooter may in itself be neutral. A flooded scooter can be made neutral by using lift in your BC......If you have enough capacity, a flooded scooter will not make any difference over a 'just dead' one.

The real question is do you want to drag/push a scooter to return?

Good points, thanks Meng_Tze.

Yeah, I guess leaving the scooter behind is not something you'd choose to do unless absolutely necessary, but if you were concerned about being too slow/encumbered to safely exit by swimming it back...

Best wishes.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Finding out how hard it is to tow a dead scooter is pretty easy to figure out, just do it. I have had a scooter completely flood and it became excessively heavy. I have 2 scooters and before you get any UW toy wet, it is important that you consider the item expendable and be psychologically prepared to ditch it (before it cause a problem big enough to kill you).

On another note, make sure you know how to deal with a scooter that is stuck "on".

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

...On another note, make sure you know how to deal with a scooter that is stuck "on"...

Remove primary reg from mouth, jam it and 7' long hose in prop?? :blinking:

Actually, I was reading the manual for the X-Scooter, and it says:

"The X-Scooter is equipped with an electronic clutch that allows you to simply grab the propeller without suffering injury. This will stop the propeller, allowing you to gain control of the scooter."

That surprised me a bit (I had visions of "pulling back a stump" if you tried that), but it does sound like a good safety feature for a runaway scooter. I wonder how many other brands allow that?

Best wishes.

 

[Peter_C]

The original clutch on my Mako only handled the hand in the prop once. It didn't hurt at all and no damage to my dry gloves. We often snag kelp in the prop. Since I have aluminum blades my friend calls my scooter the salad chopper. Now with an AUL clutch I do not worry about either putting my hand in the prop nor sucking kelp into it, which typically happens at the surface though.

Since my scooter is negative I tend to clip it off underneath me as a stage and it rides like a torpedo. Often people will put the tow cord through the front handle and use the clip to attach it to the butt d-ring. Here it will sit between the legs out of the way and in the slip stream.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

Yeah, I guess leaving the scooter behind is not something you'd choose to do unless absolutely necessary, but if you were concerned about being too slow/encumbered to safely exit by swimming it back...

Depends on the situation. I was testing a pawn shop acquisition once, so not really beyond normal range, and flooded with enough gas to make shore. I left it on the bottom and came back with another scooter in 45 minutes

On another note, make sure you know how to deal with a scooter that is stuck "on".

Well thats easy, just point it down when you are not using it. At a wreck you can point it into a deck corner, and then it makes a cool hum for when you are in the hull!

 

[Dive-aholic]

I wouldn't recommend putting a bare hand into a prop. I don't know specifically about X Scooters, but Silent Submersions and Makos have a bump switch. The knob in the center of the prop that you use to set your pitch can be bumped with the palm of your hand. This will drop the pitch back to 1. Most people can swim faster than a pitch 1 speed. At that pitch you have to push the scooter to move it with you. I know someone who caught a finger in a prop. He didn't lose the finger but he was in pain.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

The power applied by an conventional electric motor tends to increase with the resistance. In most cases that means it draws more and more amperage and applies more and more force until a fuse blows.

On a scooter, it is a bit different as the clutch allows slippage, but as noted above the original Mako clutch was only good for one shot and an AJ/AUL clutch is a much better investment that will increase reliability of the scooter. It is also almost a neccesity on a Mako with a rewound 1000 rpm motor.

Also as noted above, the pitch adjustment is in the hub of the prop on the Mako and if you press against the raised hub to slow it down relative to the prop rotation, it decreases the pitch. Out of three Makos we own with two different hub styles, two drop the pitch to an extremely slow "1" setting and one of them drops to a netural setting with no forward movement at all.

Assuming the scooter is near neutral and trims more or less level, towing it is not hard. In a near neutral or slightly positive coondition, you can run the tow cord through a nose mounted ring or handle and clip it to the Butt D-ring. I adjust the length of the cord to take out any excess slack. With back mounted tanks, this places the scooter behind the tanks and tends to reduce drag. It works very well if you are towing another scooter.

If the scooter is slightly negative or trims tail low it makes it difficult to swim with it above your legs, so then clipping it off in front of you works better.

If you leave a scooter in a cave or on an easy to locate object like a wreck, finding it to retrieve it is not a problem.

In OW, you'd either have to note the depth you left it at on a slope and terrain navigate back to it. If the bottom is flat, you can tie your reel off to it and then run the line in toward shore. 400' of line makes it more of a one dimensional problem - you just need the right distance from shore with the 400 ft tolerance and then offset right or left and swim parrallel to shore until you run across the line.

Another option if you have a secure tie off, a reel, a closed circuit lift bag, and a suitable location where a surfaced bag is not a problem and/or will not get run down until you can return with a boat, is to send the scooter up with the bag, and tie the line off on the bottom.