What No Cylinders?!

Surface Supply Diving Systems.
In Oz it’s called a Hookah.

As far as kit reviews go this has to be one of the more unusual, it is without doubt a great piece of kit, but it certainly has its limits, but more of that later.

Last week as I was about to go sailing I noticed a larger than normal snorkelling SMB at the rear of a large cabin cruiser and personally thinking the guy must be mad with all the sightings of Bull Sharks in the marina but the Aussies are fairly crazy. It was then I realised that the SMB was buzzing and on further investigation I soon noticed a tube running from the SMB underwater. By this time I am very intrigued and wait until the guy comes up which took another half an hour.

Back on dry land I am confronted with a diver all kitted up with a few exceptions, No Cylinder or BCD.

Welcome to the Hookah, are you ready for this, a 12volt car battery powered compressor that floats about on a SMB complete with diver down below flag, an air reservoir, rated for one diver to a depth of 12metres or get this two divers to 6metres. Average dive time per charge 90minutes.

This I have got to try.

Right having made arrangements to meet up with my new diving friend Chris, I duly arrived at the marina and spend 20 minutes familiarising myself the Hookah. So what do we have, a compressor unit, 12v battery, a modified snorkelling SMB, flag, coupling m/f to a bright yellow hose, air reservoir, and another hose to a Dive Harness that then connects to your Regulator.

Once all the relevant parts are put together we are ready to go.

It does seem very strange getting ready and not having a bulky jacket and heavy cylinder on your back, all that’s needed is enough weight to counteract your wetsuit and its fins on and jump in, this feels very odd, ok switch the unit on regulator in give it a minute to charge the system and down you go, right we are off, this feels so weird as we are on the same system we have a maximum depth of 6 metres but as the marina is only 3.5metres this is not a problem. After the initial weirdness it does become very easy to use, the supplied regulator is not what you would call high tech but it delivers the goods without any problem. The harness fitted comfortably and I had no problems at all with the whole set up. Prior to submerging it was agreed that we would stay down for around 30minutes, but because of the limited visibility and the thought of the Bull Sharks lurking in the murky water we came up after 20 minutes.

Impressions:

Without doubt it’s a very clever piece of equipment, the whole thing is well made, easy to assemble, basically idiot proof, and there are no exams and certifications to take so it’s buy one and go. The model that we were using would be a must if I was a boat owner. Consider a fouled prop, jump over the stern with the Hookah system and bobs your uncle, also if using this system from a boat it can easily be connected to the 12 volt system on board taking out the problems with batteries and recharging. And just the fact you can get over the side and clean the bottom without the high cost of removing the boat that would easily pay for the unit.

As a fun package this unit would be ideal in a sheltered bay just tooling around under the surface with the ability to go down as far as 12 metres, it certainly has its advantages over normal diving kit.

Diving with the Hookah I found very easy but we were only on short hoses but I can foresee that being a problem if going deeper.

The company Powerdive also does various options, ranging from deck mounted electric units up to there top of the range 5.5hp Honda petrol engine which will allow a diver access to 45metres or two divers up to 30metres.

The basic model which I was using cost $2995.00 including taxes and rise to just under $5000.00 for the larger versions.

Thoughts:

As a diver who gets into a system of putting gear together, checking things in particular the safety back ups, I found that part of the Hookah a little disconcerting. I bet there is not one of you who have not thought what if the battery just dies or in the more extreme when at 45metres the petrol runs out.

Its the safety aspect that I felt very uncomfortable with, if the reg stops working you are completely buggered, ok go like hell for the surface as you will have no DCI to worry about, but its one of those niggles that sticks at the back of your mind. I also found the long air hose a bit of a worry as it can easily get snagged on something.
We are taught that diving alone is a crazy thing to do and in general I would personally go along with that sentiment, with this equipment you can be on the bottom on your own within hours of you buying it, sounds like madness to me, but go into most diving school shops and they will be happy to sell you a bundle of equipment and not worry whether you are a diver or not. So it works both ways.

When I first saw this equipment I was so excited about it, but now having used it I will stick to conventional diving with all the paraphernalia, as a quick fix method for boat owners and the like it’s a great piece of kit, but the larger capacity models I personally do not feel comfortable with.

My thanks to Chris for his time and equipment, the equipment used was the Power Snorkel from Powerdive.com. I have asked Powerdive to give me more information on the safety side of things but as yet they have not got back to me after a week of calls and emails. Maybe more to follow.

Safe Diving.