From cruiser Paul in Marathon 11/2002:
We got SCUBA-certified and bought the equipment. Once we
bought a hookah, we found we always used the hookah and
never used the SCUBA equipment (BC's and tanks).
Keene Engineering's "Introduction to Hookah Diving"
Yandina's "How to make your own diving setup"
Sarana's "Make a hookah"
AMDS hookah components
From SSSA article by Robert Rossier in Sept/Oct 1997 issue of "Alert Diver" magazine:
- Hoses are slightly buoyant, to avoid entanglement.
Good to use food-grade hoses with opaque sheathing to avoid growth on insides.
- Very important: avoid engine exhaust entering air intake.
- Air comes out of compressor at high temperature, so must be cooled.
Also, compressor gets very hot, so handle carefully after using it.
- Air is supplied at different/lower pressure than normal SCUBA setup, so
a special regulator is required.
- Since both/all divers are using same air supply, no point to each diver having
an "octopus" for sharing tank. But if compressor quits, all divers will have no
air very suddenly. Must carry emergency supplies (pony bottles).
- Some advantages of SSSA: fuel tank may give up to 3-hour air supply, more
than a SCUBA tank; buddies are tethered to compressor, so they can't get separated;
less equipment to store and haul; easier to enter/exit the water.
- Some disadvantages of SSSA: floating compressor vulnerable to rough surface conditions;
higher risk of tangling hoses on obstacles.
- Some traditional SCUBA organizations (such as NAUI) offer SSSA courses (they
may call it "recreational hookah"). They may offer it as an additional specialty on
top of a normal SCUBA certification.
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From Rick on Cruising World message board:
A friend owns an Airline hookah rig I use regularly.
It's nice but my complaint is it's quite a
heavy and awkward piece of equipment to tote around.
I like it when the diving will be an all-day
event but it's a bit much to mess with for just a
quick trip over the side. Without fail, it must
be rinsed after EVERY use in salt water. Other than
that it requires the normal amount of
maintenance (oil changes, etc) as any other engine.
The rest is pretty much keeping everything
clean and corrosion-free. In all but storm conditions
it simply won't get flooded with water,
capsize, sink or any other bad stuff. It's pretty robust
and very reliable. My complaint is the
bulky clumsiness (and the engine noise for those remaining topside).
I have no direct experience with the Brownie Third Lung but,
just looking at them, they seem
pretty similar. A Honda engine is the biggest part, they are
much more durable than a Briggs and
Stratton and they both use them. It's hard to say if there
is a meaningful difference in the
compressors. To my eye the Airline looks a bit more robust,
but Brownies are more common so parts
may be easier to find.
If they are already SCUBA divers, there's another possibility:
for a quick trip over the side I have
a Brownie Yacht Tender, really just a long hose (60', though
I'd recommend the longest hose you
can get) that hooks to a regular SCUBA tank.
For scrubbing the bottom, checking the prop or
un-sticking an anchor it's great. The tank stays
in the storage rack below and the hose just leads
outside. It sets up in about 2 minutes. I use it diving
sometimes too, though a day of diving
makes it more worth donning all the scuba gear. There's
really no maintenance and if needed it can
be put away without rinsing until it's convienient.
I do, of course, have to mess with getting
tanks refilled but, for me, that's something I'd be
doing anyway. If you don't dive or aren't near
a refilling station, choosing the the compressor type
may be more reasonable. The cost is an issue,
too. The gasoline-powered ones are, what, $2500 at least.
A Yacht Tender is about $250 on eBay and
the difference would buy a lot of air tanks.
I see the choice as what you want the hassle to be:
lugging around SCUBA tanks to be refilled or
lugging around a pretty hefty hunk of machinery when diving.
I SCUBA dive anyway so the Yacht
Tender is my choice.
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From JeanneP on Cruising World message board:
For diving on the boat to do work and maintenance, however,
we use a homemade hooka built from a
12V truck tire inflator (relatively high pressure,
rather low volume), a collecting tank, and hose
and regulators.
...
We bought the truck tire pump in Australia from
Bumpa to Bumpa (?) - didn't cost much, maybe about
$15-$25 US. The bottles Peter found in Indonesia - he
originally wanted to use a new propane bottle
to accumulate the air, but that was expensive, and these
bottles were rated for a higher pressure
than we needed. We found these in one of those
everything-stores (a little food, a little
hardware, a couple t-shirts, etc), had no idea what
they were for, but they looked as if they'd
do the job, so Peter bought them. I think that the
Vetus pressure accumulator thingy (for your
pressure fresh-water system) would work, but that
was horribly expensive compared to these bottles
- they're quite small, the reason there are two of them.
The hoses (40') and regulators are standard SCUBA gear - you
do not want air forced into your lungs.
Because the tire inflator is high pressure but low volume,
this is okay for cleaning the bottom of
your boat, but if you exert yourself too much you're going
to breathe faster than this little pump
can produce. On the other hand, it's really sturdy,
already has a cigarette lighter plug, and
ours, built in 1996/7 hasn't missed a beat yet.
I might add that the reason that Peter built this was
because I got sick of using our dinghy air
pump to pump air to him while he cleaned the bottom of
the boat - it was easier (for him) than
setting up the hookah or any other option. Also: Peter's
had to dive on our rudder and prop in the
middle of the ocean several times to free our prop from
chunks of fish nets or other line, and
having this setup, which is ready to go in five minutes,
makes it quick and leaves me free to keep
watch in case anything went wrong (nothing did, Phew!).
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From Rick on Cruising World message board:
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You know, for about the same price
as a brand-new hookah setup you could get a compressor
to refill scuba tanks. An ultra-hardcore
diving friend has one on his boat and they work well,
though they introduce their own hassles, too.
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From Cap'n Jack on Cruising World message board:
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We use ours for bottom cleaning mostly.
It's a home-assembled rig with an electric 2 HP oilless
compressor and tank, a 'T' into two 100'
hoses and two hookah regulators (also can be used for just
one if desired). Total cost: about
$390. We run it from shorepower while dockside, or generator
or inverter when away from the dock.
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From Rick Koenig on Cruising World message board:
I have a little experience with diving. (Navy salvage diver,
though that was -ahem- a few years
ago.) I'd consider the surface-supplied air as
a good alternative for the casual diver, provided
you get basic instruction in diving. You don't need
to be certified as a diver for the smaller
floating units, most of which I believe go only to 30-40 feet,
about 1 atmosphere. You can't get
in a lot of trouble at that depth [unless you hold your breath while
ascending, or panic, or ...]. Not requiring certification
is a plus for the occasional dive
over the side for fun or to do some hull work.
It's fun at that depth; the light is usually not
that great when you're much deeper anyway.
(Depends on where you are, of course.)
I think one of these systems would have been great
to have during the 6 months of cruising I did
recently. Here's the thing as I see it: if I'm over
the side with tanks (or surface-supplied air)
and I get a little tangled up, it's a minor annoyance.
If I'm snorkeling and holding my breath and
get tangled, it's a Problem. I am pretty well trained,
though not as experienced as some here,
certainly not recent, and I think about that every time
I snorkel down. "Rule 1 - Do NOT get
tangled in anything ..." I had a line around my prop
once and it took two of us an hour of
up-and-down diving to clear it. With a surface-supplied system
I bet I could have done it myself
in 5 minutes.
For those taking longer hoses (someone mentioned 100')
you really need to be certified. At those
depths you need the same training and experience as any
other diver. In fact, I would not want to
go more than 40' with anything unless my quals were
up to date and I had recent experience. Just
not worth the risk.
Finally, not to appear critical of anyone's personal
preferences or skills, I would recommend
against "homemade" systems for the casual or novice user.
They just seem to be a risk not worth
taking. That is especially true for someone who might
read this post and think, "Hey, I can put
together my own dive system on a shoestring budget
and go down to 75 feet !!" Somebody doing that
needs a check-up from the neck-up.
Just my observations. Your mileage may vary.
I've been known to be wrong before.
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AirLine by J. Sink
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