DIY snuba

[hoobascooba]

just need a really long hose, right?


good idea? bad idea?

what do you think?

[marchand]

my question is, why?

How deep would you be planing on going, are you gonna have someone on the surface to feed out hose. What happens when the hose gets ripped out of your mouth? how are you going to monitor your air supply? What advantages are there? What happens when there is a problem with your air supply, or you have a reg failure?

Just some things to think about.

[WAHMof2]

I got an idea, you could wear a scuba rig as a backup!

[DevilDiver]

Water pressure will make the hose collapse. Snuba works because the air is pumped and it equalizes the pressure.

Don't tell your freinds.... It's fun to watch!

[Crimediver]

I say "Why not?"
I made my own rig since I was doing a lot of river drift diving from a kayak. I was pulling my kayak along with a line as I drifted down stream.I decided I may as well leave my tank on the kayak so i took an old umbilical hose and put fittings on it to attach to a first and second stage.
I use about a sixty foot hose attached to a first stage that stays on my tank in the tank well of a sit-on-top kayak. I have a dive flag on the kayak. My state law forbids vessels coming within 75 feet from a dive flag so having a 60 foot hose gives me a margin of safety. Most of my diving is under 25 feet.
Be aware that your intermediate pressure of your first stage is non-adjustable. If you were to go deep you would see a pressure loss of 14.7 psi every 33 feet is sea water or 34 feet in fresh water that is delivered to your second stage. You need to use a second stage that works well in a wide range of intermediate pressures. If I was using a first stage set at 140 psi intermediate pressure and went down 34 feet in the river, I would only be getting air at my second stage at aroung 125 psi. Another 34 feet in depth and my second stage would be getting air at around 110 psi. You get the picture. An adjustable second stage allows the diver to tweak his second stage in situations like this and is recommended. I use a Conshelf 14 for a lot of this shallow diving and it breathes fine deep or shallow. A hose would have to get pretty darn deep (like hundreds of feet) to collapse. In diving surface supplied air the dive tender can monitor the divers depth via a pneumofathometer hose and tell how deep he is. The tender adjusts his air pressure at the diving manifold, either increasing or decreasing air pressure being sent to the diver. I tether the umbilical to the harness I wear with a quick disconnect and have a small pony setup for bailing if needed.

[anvil]

Hey crimediver, it sounds like you have a really good setup. Brownies third lung also do a kit for kayak diving. I import them and hookah units into the Pacific. An adaptor fits the 1st stage port and quick release fittings for the hoses and a tow belt. Your normal reg fits on the supplied whip with the QRS fittings and off you go.You do need to be aware of contents versus bottom time etc, but with a pony risk is minamised. I do most of my diving on a hose up to 90ft deep. I have only had 1 air failure. The secret is to prepare for it.Check their sit out at browniedive.com

[Crimediver]

I have seen the Brownie before. My set up is very similar except my harness is a Miller type commercial soft backplate with a 14 cf pony. The hose is tethered to it with a quick release snap. I believe the Brownie has the pony mounted horizontally across the small of the diver's back. Vey nice rig to dive and you never have to figure out where your boat is. Very minimal drag.

[anvil]

Yes, I love hose diving, just get your weight right and off you go. I use a catch bag with a built in float bag for the scallops,No drag and I get get in holes that a tank would stop me.And with the splitter connector I know exactly where my kids are if the vis is low.