what makes liveaboard rebreather friendly

balboaexplorer

I'd like everybody to give me some feedback on what would make a liveaboard the friendliest liveaboard for rebreather diving.

All comments are greatly appreciated.

Thorwald

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Building the ultimate expedition yacht - a trawler to adventure yacht conversion

netmage

Different tiers of support really apply...

Bronze...
Allows rebreather diving.
Provides O2...
Allows customer leeway to bring everything....

Silver...
Provides Boosted O2...
Provides bailout bottles...
Provides Rebreather bottles...

Gold....
Provides Sorb...
Has spares, cells for maybe one type of unit...
Site specific - has He

Platinum....
Has spares, cells for many types of units...

balboaexplorer

Thanks Tim,

That was fast!

I think we'll go for somewhere between Silver and Gold.

And if we get really busy.....

mixedgas

I would be happy with "Bronze".......But, also included extended bottom times of 2+ hours.
Jeff

saveourseas

In order of (my version of) importance:

O2: preferably pure (99.99%)
CO2 Absorbent (sealed containers available for purchase at a reasonable profit) {Anybody who complains about the price should be immediately thrown overboard}
Rebreather tanks & bailout bottles
dual piston booster pump
dedicated work & storage area
Full Rebreather tool kit
Helium
disinfectant, fresh water rinse bucket & fresh water hose
Sorb fill area & clean-up towels
Last but not least, a listing of all the items you carry and Rebreather specific services you offer on your website.

I don't think attempting to carry spares is practical or expected, as there are so many units on the market, and so many bits and pieces to fail. If you carry the other items listed above, people will have space and weight available in their transport boxes to bring plenty of their own spares.

What you might want to consider is to have 1 or 2 Rebreather's (make of your choosing) available for classes, and also in case someone's Rebreather goes down and cannot be repaired with the parts or tools at hand. Look at the market and see which Rebreather make is most popular at the moment, and which works best for the type of diving you are promoting. Also, consider which Rebreather's require the least care and maintenance for your staff, and which offer the easiest access to spares and factory authorized maintenance in your part of the world.

Most importantly, having someone onboard who is knowledgeable about rebreathers and certified to safely decant/boost O2. I always worry about boats that let Rebreather divers pump their own O2. I have no interest in finding out the hard way that someone didn't know how to safely transfer or handle O2.

Lastly, the diving itself is generally different for OC and CC divers. OC divers will do four or five 1 hour dives per day on most warm water liveaboards. Most CC divers will prefer to do two or three 2 hour dives per day. So balancing that is usually tricky as people new to the sport usually want to move from spot to spot between dives for reasons which I have never been able to explain. {Like they have seen everything a site has to offer in 1 hour! Fecking tourists!}

Having more Liveaboards friendly to Rebreather divers is a great thing and will be great for the business of SCUBA diving in the long term.

silent running

Hi Thorwald, what has been written above is all well and good. But for me, as long as you can provide high grade O2, some smaller cylinders for BO and and are willing to accomodate CCR divers' longer dive times and our need to stay away from the bubble blowers, I would consider you CCR friendly. Wreck divers may not care about whether or not the OC divers come along on a particular dive, but anybody who is there for the animal life will.

As for having sorb, yes I would love not to have to bring it, but I'm used to doing so. If you could provide the fine mesh Sofnolime for under $200 I would buy it from you as along as you can be sure that it's been handled correctly-not left out in the hot sun or sitting next to a drum of fuel for months. And yes, having He would be nice for some dives. But these are not necessities for an animal loving diver like myself.

Thanks for asking and I hope to pay you a visit someday, -Andy

saveourseas

In some countries, it costs more to purchase and import (duties, etc)than $200. Also, I have had so many hassles & song and dance routines with security on one end and customs on the other, I would gladly pay $300 for a keg if the import costs were honestly laid out for me.
The last time I went thru Denpasar, they wanted a $10,000 bond for my equipment and $20 for the keg of sodasorb! Add to that hassle the $50 luggage surcharge and we are heading into $200 territory right there.

But, it does depend on which area in the world we are discussing.

kybrt

interesting project you have going there.

if you are going to have aviation support are you going to do a chamber of some sort? perhaps an inflatable?

second an enclosed deck to store te Rebreather when not diving is nice.

ill assume you have seen some the trawler conversions in places like scapa flow? makes me think about retirement and a second career.

good luck.

__________________
Marv


Fidelis Ad Mortem
www.diveboatkaren.com

Abbo

You know those check in questions on flights where they ask "has anyone given you anything to carry on"? I'm just waiting for the time when one of my kids says "yes, Daddy stuffed 10kg of sofnolime in my case and then had the gall to clear space and weight for it by chucking out my beachwear". Yes, logistics is a major PITA, so I insist on and will pay for ease of access to kitty litter and oxygen.

Like most rebreather divers, I treat comments like "please be back on the boat in 45 minutes" with maniacal laughter and, if you're lucky, the sight of a very hairy moonrise. It's nice when there isn't a fight about this.

I have no interest in answering the "wossat then?" questions or "mind if my little girl poses with you in a picture". By preference, I'd be on the boat in Rebreather Week, not on the 'I got all this shiny gear, but my C-card only arrived in the post last week' boat.

Yup, those teeny little tanks are big enough. No, I'd prefer not to do a check-out dive if its all the same to the dive crew.

The truth is that so many liveaboards don't allow rebreather divers and if you just permitted them and provided oxygen and scrubber, you'd be in the top half of the top decile. Everything else is pure icing.

silent running

Wow Matt, I have been through Denpasar 3 times and Jakarta once with the Prism in my carry on and sorb/cylinders in checked bags and never so much as raised an eybrow. I always had an MSDS to show for the hazmat issue and the fact that it's consumable and also for personal use should have taken care of any objections right there. But, a greedy official is hard to deal with. 15 trips overseas and not one problem so far, guess I'm lucky... -Andy