ArcticDiver
Contributor
In all the discussion there has been no mention of THE single most important feature of a dive boat: Ease of getting back on the boat.
I've dived(dove?) off boats from 20' - >100'. They have had all kinds of features for comfort and seaworthyness. But nothing constrains the usefulness of a dive boat more than the mechanisim of getting back on the boat.
If the boat is easy to get back onto you can dive in much more difficult surface conditions than not. If the boat is easy to get back onto the chances of diver injury are much less.
Example: On Oahu not long ago I was diving off a 20' boat with a miniscule ladder. It might as well not been there. Sea conditions were, as a boat owner and diver, what I would call extreme. The guy just in front of me was pitched onto the deck; landing on his butt and causing a serious injury. If that ladder had been longer and of a different type that would not have happened.
You said you wanted a boat with diving being its main but not only purpose. So focus on what is a good dive boat first. Then drag the rest along.
I've dived(dove?) off boats from 20' - >100'. They have had all kinds of features for comfort and seaworthyness. But nothing constrains the usefulness of a dive boat more than the mechanisim of getting back on the boat.
If the boat is easy to get back onto you can dive in much more difficult surface conditions than not. If the boat is easy to get back onto the chances of diver injury are much less.
Example: On Oahu not long ago I was diving off a 20' boat with a miniscule ladder. It might as well not been there. Sea conditions were, as a boat owner and diver, what I would call extreme. The guy just in front of me was pitched onto the deck; landing on his butt and causing a serious injury. If that ladder had been longer and of a different type that would not have happened.
You said you wanted a boat with diving being its main but not only purpose. So focus on what is a good dive boat first. Then drag the rest along.