Hey ScubaFinder,Got a question for you...

[JoeSWFla]

You said on a post below that you dive from your PWC.Where do
you put your surface supplied air and your gear.Is there that much
room on those machines.Not really familiar with them,except by
seeing them at the ramp.I do know that they are quick to get where
they're going.You sure get a lot out of that machine.WTG.HH Joe

 

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[bucketofguts]

.................and another "?" for ya. what size hole can you dust with the jet nozzle in reverse if anchored well, and how deep will it blow. thanks in advance! b

 

[ScubaFinder]

Joe - You are correct, there isn't much room on these things. Mine is just a standard 3 seater SeaDoo GTS, it requires a bit of thought to make it a useful tool. For air, I just have an aluminum 80 strapped down into the channel where your feet go, tank on one side, towfish on the other. It rides about halfway back and leaves room for my feet while underway, and room behind it for me to climb back on after a dive. The towfish is about half full of lead, and balances the tank out nicely. The two of them together balance out the weight of the extra battery in the nose.

On my dive gear, I split the hose between my 1st and 2nd stage with a Brownies connector. This allows me to dive with a regular BC or a hookah hose attached to a tank using my regular equipment. I basically put my wetsuit, gloves, booties, and weight belt on before departing, then I just pull up, drop anchor, put on my mask, stick the reg in my mouth and jump off. One cool advantage is that I can pick up my anchor while on the bottom, and drag the SeaDoo to a new location.

B - It's not much of a hole digger in reverse, more like a tiny deflector plate. I wouldn't expect it to dig deep or at a large diameter. It would work for clearing shallow ramps though. I tested a system that used a 4" fire hose coming off the jet nozzle and connecting to an induction dredge. It was just a 4" PVC pipe about 5 feet long, open at both ends, with the water from the SeaDoo coming through a u-joint as it entered the open tube. It works, but not like I had hoped. If you intend to be safe, it requires another person on the SeaDoo to operate the throttle. You could clear small areas with it more efficiently than you could with a DPV, but I pretty much gave up on it as a digging tool. It does however make a good survey and exploration craft, if I can ever figure out how to safely add a magnetometer to it, it will be quite the tool. I put the little power panel up front so I can either tow a big loop from my Pulse 8X body, or get a Pulse 12 or small proton mag in the future....we'll see.

Here are a few more pics, I'll have to get some of it when I'm ready to head out so you can see all of it together.

Jason

 

[bucketofguts]

Thank you sir! if fuel costs keeps going up the size of the typical salvage boat may get a lot smaller. b

 

[JoeSWFla]

Thanks ScubaFinder,That's quite a rig.You get the most out of your craft.
I'm guessing that it means solo diving.I've entertained the idea of using
a small skiff for near shore diving,since that's all I have running now,
and that might mean solo diving.With the economy and gas prices as
they are,I don't see getting a bigger boat right away.Some good ideas
there.Might have to go the same basic route.Good luck and HH Joe

 

[ScubaFinder]

Yeah, it does mean a lot of solo diving, but I'm usually only in 15-20 feet of water. We'll use the SeaDoo as a skiff for running people back and forth to shore this year, and to scout interesting pockets in the reefs. I doubt I'll do a lot of solo diving from it once we get going, I don't like diving without a buddy if I don't have too. I plan to use it extensively this year for scouting the reefs and taking divers away from the blowers to explore. One of the beauties of GPS on board is that I can pull the SeaDoo directly above the artifact, and record a more accurate position of where things were found when reef-roaming. You can just barely see the GPS receiver on top of the pull-up handle in the third pic above.

 

[Leebo in SC]

Hey Scubafinder, how you been doing? I got your PM the other day. I have been trying to send a reply but your mailbox is full.

I like the jet ski set up.

Leebo

 

[ScubaFinder]

Been good Lee, good to see you around. You and the boys hittin' the beaches down here anytime soon?