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A question for divers


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Before you all clamer on the band wagon. Have you read all the disclaimers? Getting to negative buoyancy (weight belt) to do prolonged work on your boat with a device that will give you at best about 5 minutes is risky. Freeing a fouled prop is one thing, going down with a hand primed breathing device is another when trying to scrape a hull. Get a proper oiless compressor, filter, a reservoir tank and (exspensive) dive hose and regulator. Better still, pay a diver to do it or get your dive ticket. We are not talking nitrogen narcosis but as the oxygen pressure level drops the chance of disorientation increases. There is no way to measure how much air you have left with this device. You are not down there to look at the fish but clean your hull and keel, as someone mentioned before the extra exertion will use a lot more air. Sorry guys but alarm bells are ringing with this other than using it as a gimmick to see how the anodes are doing or get the kids fishing line out of the prop.

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I need to clarify this. There are two issues.

We left the boat last October with a dirty bum. When we go back in April it will be worse. We will dry dock in Burgundy for antifouling but will have to sail 400km to get there, so I want to give her a scrub off first for speed, fuel economy etc. To do this I will stand on the bottom of the canal with the water at chest height and would like to bend over and put my head 20cm under the water so I can see under the chine at what I'm scrubbing. This is where in my original post I enquired about lengthening the pipe of a snorkel a few cms,one with a purge valve so exhaled co2 can be vented and not build up in the pipe. I do not wish to lengthen the pipe so that I can go deeper into the water but to have the top of the pipe higher to eliminate the possibility of ingesting any water that may slop down the pipe which, in the french canals, would be thd equavelent of sticking your head down a not very clean toilet and imbibing the contents.

Secondly. I would like the scorkl for removing odd bits of weed that get stuck on the prop, rudder etc. I do not want to dive with it. In most cases I can hang onto the boarding platform and reach under and rip the stuff off,having the occasional look under the water to see that I have it all. Again, this involves putting your head 20cm under the water. I regard the scorkl as a glorified Snorkel which by virtue of the fact that it will provide we with a few puffs of air which should be beneficial in the weed cleaning exercise.

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For the hull cleaning bit, why not just a broom with an elbow?

We have one, its mildly effective, but is ideal if you don't want to go into the canal water, and better than motoring 400 miles without having a go at cleaning the hull.

Has a buoyancy float on the head, and one or two elbows, I can't remember. Designed to stand on deck, push down underwater, and let the buoyancy push it back up the hull. Even better if you are standing on the canal bank.

 

Given some minor DIY skill, you could possibly make an elbow part, and tie a fender to a broom head for the buoyancy part.

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Bunnings. Buy a tool for sticking to glass windows with a handle. Get the one handed job. Brilliant

Now you just have to say that's a darned good idea!

Going to have a look in Bumblings later today.

KM,the little bottle that you leave on deck with 2-3 metres of hose to an el cheapo regulator would also be brilliant. I would need to buy it here as, apart from food and booze that sort of stuff is darned expensive over there. If I can find myself a deal then I will take a chance and buy. Would need to find out first if you can fly with an empty bottle. Concerning refilling I would say that although the french have more laws that the rest of the world combined but are pretty lax about enforcement so should be able to get it refilled.

How do you keep your pants up with dive weight in each pocket?

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It cost me $400 to set up a tank based system with a tank + 12m hose. Get 3 cleans to a fill. End up using the tank for 10minutes or so a time. You do end up puffing a bit of air through as it’s hard work scrubbing a hulk. The hose means no bcd or hard metal bits to get in the way or do damage.

 

I have found being weighted neutral at 2metres works best. Good for cleaning the bulb but positive on the hull so I float up and stick to the bottom.

 

Cheaper than a hookah unit.

 

You don’t need a dive ticket to clean a boat, just remember not to hold you breath and not much can go wrong.

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To do this I will stand on the bottom of the canal with the water at chest height and would like to bend over and put my head 20cm under the water so I can see under the chine at what I'm scrubbing.

 

Do you really want to have your head under water in french canals? I wouldn’t. They are running sewers or were a few years ago when I was last there. I’d have thought the viz is no more than a few inches anyway.

 

Do you know if other canal boat owners do this?

 

I’d use a stiff broom with a coke bottle taped to it to do a rough enough job until the haul out. It’d really ruin the summer experience to catch typhoid or something in there.

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I see people here and there swimming in the canals - mainly kids as well as the occasional canal boater.

I don't like to do it any more than I'd like swimming in Mission Bay but sometimes, with regard to weed wrapping itself around props and rudders, needs must.

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Put a loop of line in the end of the suction cup handle for your wrist to go through so you can't lose it and if you want to get fancy a  45 degree bend at the base makes the angle for your hand a bit better for use in various positions.

 

Make sure the air hose extension for the pony bottle is food grade breathing hose. 

 

I have flown with dive tanks internationally without issue as long as they are empty. You could even remove the valve if necessary.

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I really do need yo thank all you guys who have chipped in with advise on this cleaning/weed removal issue.

So with regard to a scrub off I will do this standing in chest deep water as best I can without dunking my head into the poo water.

For the occasional big of weed removal I plan on using a bottle and regulator a la KM, as well as my wetsuit nose and earplugs.

 

Not to sure about the pants now you mention it, judging but the usual goings on it probably involved a bit of random string pretending to be a belt :)

 

 

That's a disappointment. There I was thinking that you were able to keep your weighted shorts hoisted by virtue of being exceptionally well endowed fore and aft.
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I’m a sceptic of any assisted breathing techniques - after seeing some bad stuff. Hence I only trust my own lungs. Instead, do a course to learn how to hold your breathe properly and do it yourself. I used to free-dive using my own homemade techniques and could manage 8-10m on a good day in peak fitness. Then I did a course and today for example I happily got down to 20m out at the Poor Knights exploring the amazing sea life there.

 

A couple of weeks ago I replaced my shaft anode (removed old one and installed new one) in just 4 dives under the boat.

 

Once you build a base fitness and some knowledge of the right techniques you’ll be amazed who’s much scrubbing and hull maintenance you can do yourself - keeps you fit too!

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I’m a sceptic of any assisted breathing techniques - after seeing some bad stuff. Hence I only trust my own lungs. Instead, do a course to learn how to hold your breathe properly and do it yourself. I used to free-dive using my own homemade techniques and could manage 8-10m on a good day in peak fitness. Then I did a course and today for example I happily got down to 20m out at the Poor Knights exploring the amazing sea life there.

 

A couple of weeks ago I replaced my shaft anode (removed old one and installed new one) in just 4 dives under the boat.

 

Once you build a base fitness and some knowledge of the right techniques you’ll be amazed who’s much scrubbing and hull maintenance you can do yourself - keeps you fit too!

 

 

Kind of like being sceptical of assisted transport techniques such as using cars instead of walking or riding a bike  ;-) I'm a fan of freediving too but people can get into trouble and die doing that too. Both have a time and place.

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Kind of like being sceptical of assisted transport techniques such as using cars instead of walking or riding a bike ;-) I'm a fan of freediving too but people can get into trouble and die doing that too. Both have a time and place.

True but with freediving the only potential point of failure is your own judgement ie ignoring the warning signs that you learn your body tells you. With scuba you have the added risk of equipment failure which is largely outside your control.

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unless you are diving deep or are stupid (like holding your breath) then scuba is pretty safe especially if you have done you PADI training and follow it.  At 2m under your boat not much is going to happen that would not if you were free diving.

 

Scallop/cray diving at 10 to 20m for a short period is also relatively low risk.  Start going deeper, wrecks etc and the risk factors start to increase.  At 10m you are only the approx depth of your boat down.  If you have medical every year and you are judged okay by your doctor you are probably okay.  Dive in currents, by yourself, with idiots topside, without training and who knows.  

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I'm attracted to the scorkl because it is hand pumped even though it takes 12 minutes to load it up according to the blurb. Carrying an air cylinder to recharge a spare air type systen would appear in my case to be a bit self defeating.

I would be happy to do that in NZ, but French canal water? Perhaps not. .

After 12 min of pumping I suspect you will be "over it" I have used a Spare Air while cleaning a boat and it lasted about 5 min . The problem being that as soon as you start exerting yourself with cleaning you will dramatically increase your air consumption. The bottle in the Scorkel picture looks to be smaller than the Spare Air bottle I used.

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Or put a dive flag up which means to others go as fast as you can past...no matter what the distance!

You can also go as fast as you can if you are travelling through moored vessels or going over the top of the dive flag or diver. The flag should be well visible so the vessel has something to aim for otherwise they risk missing the diver or the boat with the topman.

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True but with freediving the only potential point of failure is your own judgement ie ignoring the warning signs that you learn your body tells you. With scuba you have the added risk of equipment failure which is largely outside your control.

Equipment failure and or its consequences are not outside your control if your equipment is well maintained and you are properly trained in established safe procedures such as diving with a buddy and using  an Octi and a spare dive computer. etc.

 

I have free dived and I like the simplicity of it I have immense respect for competent free divers, I also have a master SCUBA  ticket via PADI  but I'm no more stressed free diving than SCUBA diving, I understand the risks of both and take adequate precautions. Sometimes despite all this there are accidents both with free divers and SCUBA, nothing is totally risk free. 

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I freedive, but in the middle of winter I want to get in and get out as quick as possible, takes me 25 minutes with a tank, with breathing up etc it takes an hour with free diving.

 

Free diving is much more dangerous as you are working hard scrubbing a hull or doing other work under water = higher co2 build up = more chance of shallow water blackout when surfacing after scrubbing the bulb.

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