Hookah DIY Lesson

[sailorboy1]

well maybe just pull in the anchor chain and get closer

[LeeV]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

well maybe just pull in the anchor chain and get closer

Hehehe! This made me smile!

[jkleins]

I have to second (or third) the use of a simple dive tank. They are easy to fill. We keep ours secured in a locker and all I have to do is pull out the hose and hook up the regulator and I can go over the side for anything (repair, cleaning, whatever). It is quick and you don’t need to set up the compressor, etc. We have used it to quickly untangle a net off prop and change zincs.
We get a lot of time out of them. I do the stuff at the waterline within arms reach with the snorkel and only use the air down below so I only need a fill a couple times a year or so. We have been pleased with the setup for many years.

Jim

[mikereed100]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

I have a small portable battery powered air compressor on board already and I plan to test this one first. It uses the same batteries as all my cordless tools. It is rated at 1.0 cfm @ 90 psi and 1.4 @ 40 psi. I understand this is on the low side. I'll see if I can control my breathing. I only need it do go to about 6 ft to clean my 4 ft draft catamaran.

I put together a similar system for my cat, but no longer use it for cleaning the bottom. Instead, I found that the narrow (and shallow) hulls of the cat allowed me to clean the bottom using a snorkel by sticking a dent puller onto the hull at the waterline to use as a brace. I find that I can do most of the hull from the surface and, by briefly ducking my head underwater, I can reach the center-line of the hull, even at the widest point. Move the dent puller a couple feet down the hull and repeat.

I have used the hookah a couple of times to free a fouled anchor, but no longer bother with it for hull cleaning.

[LeeV]

Great point about the unction tool. I used it on our tri all the time; one of the best things I ever purchased: https://www.myboatlife.com/2012/12/s...-cleaning.html

[a64pilot]

If you have a way to get it filled an aluminum 40cu Ft tank used goes for about $100. I’m not a fan of aluminum but for a pony tank or a deco tank aluminum is fine.
A 40 is lightweight around 16 lbs with valve I think and you can literally stick it under your arm if you like.

Just don’t pay the high price of these special little pony bottle dive kits. Everything you already have for SCUBA will work, or buy used.
For this kind of diving I don’t think a BC is necessary, as a kid we never dove with a BC, just towards the end of the Dive we would pick up a rock to stay close to neutral. Of course we dove in a T-shirt and cut off jeans too.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

If you have a way to get it filled an aluminum 40cu Ft tank used goes for about $100.

but the air compressor I brought yesterday cost me $110. I have a hard enough time finding places to fill my propane tanks, not going to add air tank to the list.

Each their own.

[a64pilot]

I know I have a Hooka for the same reason, but I’m not trying to get to something 200’ away either.
My hose is I think 60’, but I’m not sure, but even at only 60’ it’s a pain to roll up and store and I have too much excess hose floating around in the water tangling up etc. be better if I had less hose.
200’ would be insane, you would need I think to have several sections that coupled together.
You reach a point on anything where it’s no longer viable and best to go to something else, so if you want to dive on your anchor 200’ away, I think your better off with a pony bottle and SCUBA.
Although I think for most that a Hooka is better for hull cleaning, unless your stay in the same place that has tank refills available and you have a way to transport the tanks, someone that already has SCUBA equipment and lives in a Marina for instance and has a car in the parking lot, then they can just get a long hose and not have to bother with the tank on their back, but can of course SCUBA with only a hose change

[jkleins]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

but the air compressor I brought yesterday cost me $110. I have a hard enough time finding places to fill my propane tanks, not going to add air tank to the list.



Each their own.

Scuba tanks are much easier to get filled then propane :-)

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by jkleins

Scuba tanks are much easier to get filled then propane :-)

I can get gas bottles filled at most marinas, garages, camping and hardware stores and swap"n"go bottles at most garages, hardware and larger convenience stores.

Scuba tanks get filed where? Dive store?
Choice of but a few near me, all requiring a lot of effort to get to.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by jkleins

Scuba tanks are much easier to get filled then propane :-)

Not in my world. Often you can leave a propane tank at a marina etc and the local gas place will pick up and drop off the next day, sometimes it’s only one day a week, but Scuba you have take to the shop, and shops depending on where you are are few and far between.

Way back in the day before Scuba became popular you could sometime get the local fire station to fill your tanks, if you knew them and were on good terms with them, but they were about the only source of breathing compressed air there was. This was when I was a baby and my Parents were diving in the 50’s and early 60’s.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Not in my world. Often you can leave a propane tank at a marina etc and the local gas place will pick up and drop off the next day, sometimes it’s only one day a week, but Scuba you have take to the shop, and shops depending on where you are are few and far between.

Way back in the day before Scuba became popular you could sometime get the local fire station to fill your tanks, if you knew them and were on good terms with them, but they were about the only source of breathing compressed air there was. This was when I was a baby and my Parents were diving in the 50’s and early 60’s.

you could get your own scuba compressor . But kind of defeated the purpose doesn't it :-):-):-):-)

[a64pilot]

I’ve got one, it’s in storage as other than having a dock box made to attach to my deck, I don’t have a place to put it.
It’s a Bauer jr.

[sailorboy1]

Got everything I thought needed and sure enough I need a fitting I didn't expect in order to connect the hose to the tank

So that's a car rental next week to go find one.

The barnacles are LOVING my expense Seahawk paint on the side of the boat that normally has the Sun on it.

[Davy J]

Maybe it's been mentioned earlier in the thread, but if not, make sure you also pick up one of these:



Lowes or Home depot carry them in the bath section. Makes hanging on to the boat easier.