Low cost diving equipment for the maintenance of the boat in the water.
Greetings sailors,
In today’s post we are going to see some of the revisions and maintenance tasks of the living work that can be carried out with the boat in the water, submerging ourselves, and that will allow us to save a few euros in crane lifts and descents and at the same time they will allow us to lengthen the times between strandings, reducing the time between reviews.
For this we are going to make a comparison of the various means that we can use to breathe underwater and be able to do these maintenance tasks in the most comfortable way possible. We will compare several mini scuba bottles of the type of brands such as SMACO or SCORKL with a system of diving with a tube and compressor of the hookah type.
This post is not intended to be an exhaustive guide or a diving manual, diving techniques involve a series of risks for which we are not responsible or the use of the information we show here, and our recommendation will always be that you use this type of equipment you do a diving course with a certified instructor.
Motivation
The strandings of my boat always give me a certain uneasiness. Not only the economic cost of it, but the management of the process itself, taking the boat to the pit, having it taken by the crane, keeping it out of the water and all the unavailability time that this generates. And, above all, of course, the cost, that all these operations cost a lot: What if the elevation, that if the settlement, that if the pressure cleaning, that if the new elevation, the placing in the water, the time of stay , the rental of the crib, the rate of waste generated. Come on, it’s all money. And that’s counting that you do the maintenance yourself afterwards.
But there are many tasks, common when stranding, that can be easily tackled with the boat in the water and diving, which will allow us to increase the time between strandings and save us a good few euros, while we do more frequent inspections. Those tasks could be some of the following:
Cleaning of the live work, with a sponge or scourer, and thus keep dirt and incrustations at bay, increasing the life of the boat in the water.
Inspection and replacement of sacrificial anodes, which can easily be done from within the water.
Cleaning the propeller, which is probably the first place where fouling begins on a boat.
Check propeller shaft clearances and rudder blades.
Cleaning the slide and water intake intakes for the engine, bathrooms, etc.
And of course: Fortune repairs such as cutting a net wound around the propeller, or inspecting the daggerboard after running aground or plugging a waterway from the outside, etc.
And to be able to carry out all these operations, what we need is a certain amount of time. Time spent under water while we carry out these operations, and for what, the ideal is, to be able to breathe underwater.
Equipment
In order to breathe underwater, you can use autonomous diving equipment .. If we have it, the proper training and loaded scuba bottles .. well that’s it .. But this is usually quite cumbersome and expensive.
We are going to see three equipment to be able to dive that will have in common being relatively inexpensive, allowing us to breathe underwater, being easily transportable in any boat and most importantly, that we can use them with total autonomy, without depending on third parties. as diving clubs so we will have the freedom to use it at any time or emergency without prior planning.
The gear
Half-liter scuba mini-tank with regulator.
One of the simplest and most advertised options on Aliexpress. Almost always sold in a kit that includes a manual pump so that it can be inflated anywhere.
Its advantages: highly portable, suitable for an emergency and can be loaded with the pump anywhere without electricity.
Its drawbacks: charging it requires 25 minutes to hit the pump, and you barely get 4 minutes of air under water.
You can buy it in any of the following links:
✅ On Amazon (€ 229) https://amzn.to/3f8y8Y3
✅ On AliExpress (€ 160) https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_997HV6
One liter tank with electric compressor to charge it.
This option is much more comfortable to use and already allows about 8 minutes of air under the water, which allows many more tasks, including going down to unscrew the anchor not too deep. Almost mandatory to fill it with a high pressure electric pump like the ones we propose, although these pumps require your care. The best option for diverse tasks anywhere.
Its advantages: More time underwater, works just as well as any normal diving equipment, you can see the remaining air indication, comfortable to wear, little bulky.
Its drawbacks: Very difficult to fill with a manual pump, the automatic pump requires electricity, the filling is very noisy, the electric pump requires maintenance and care.
You can get everything you need in the following links:
🔵 One liter bottle with regulator:
✅ On Amazon (€ 259) https://amzn.to/3j3cNQK
✅ On AliExpress (€ 155) from Spain https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9ystiy
🔵 12V / 220V compressor to fill bottles effortlessly:
✅ On Amazon (€ 299) https://amzn.to/2WABw7x
✅ On AliExpress (~ € 195) https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AV5wba
🔵 Additional air filters for the compressor:
✅ On Amazon (€ 36) https://amzn.to/2V0tt3q
✅ On AliExpress (€ 26) https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AB7fHi
12v compressor with a very long tube and regulator
This is already a bit more of an invention, it is a long tube with a second stage of a diving regulator and a low pressure compressor, but clean, that does not use oils. Normally fish tank aerators that work with diaphragms. It can be bought ready-made in multiple versions, but the cheapest thing is to do it yourself, simply buying a 12V compressor, a regulator, some filters, and you can add an air reserve as I do in the video.
Its advantages: It works with the boat’s own battery, the time you can use it will be limited only by your strength, perfect for cleaning the living work, the compressor is very reliable.
Its disadvantages: It is only suitable for diving next to the boat, the depth at which you can work does not exceed two meters, it is advisable to add an anti-humidity filter in the tube, moving with the tube is more cumbersome than with a bottle of a liter.
You have links to everything you need to make or buy it below:
🔵 To make the long-tube respirator:
✅ MPQ-906 compressor (€ 125) https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Ae92Bw
✅ Regulator (€ 15) https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_AMfziG
✅ Water decanter filter (€ 3) https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_APAPzE
✅ 25m transparent hose (€ 8) https://www.bricomart.es/manguera-aquapress-cristal-o10mmx25m-10460156.html
🔵 Some ready-made compressor with a long tube to breathe:
✅ On AliExpress (~ € 330) https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_ASmYxK
✅ Standalone version with battery floating behind you https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_9iDwDO
Conclusions
The truth is that the only thing that I would not buy again is the half-liter bottle with the manual pump .. Well, I would only buy it for emergencies .. I am much happier with the one liter, and especially with the compressor and tube. These last two things would surely be what you would always carry on the boat, the bottle for emergency repairs and the compressor with the tube for routine maintenance.
