South Florida Rebreather Friendly Dive Boat List

ScubaDadMiami

Updated 03/25/2008

Please advise if you have information regarding any boat listed that is not accurate, new boats to add, or if you have had any experience aboard any listed boat so that we can add updated ratings accordingly.

Explanation of the rating system:

A "5" is a boat that is rebreather friendly, well laid out, has racks that are either built for, or will easily fit, most rebreathers. Boats like this will offer good sun protection (important down here in the Summer especially), have good ladders and make it easy to board and debark, offer docking that allows users to board and debark well. They will have the little perks like hoses/showers aboard, and they will have good areas for cleaning gear upon return to the dock. They will have a reasonable way to get gear from vehicles to the boat and back. They will offer trips to any reasonable destination requested by the group, will run tech trips, and will allow us to do one long, single dive or whatever suits our group schedule. We give extra points for having a DM or other such person aboard that can check on divers during deco and who can bring down extra tanks of deco gas if things are not going well. These boats will give us better pricing when we take the entire boat for our group. They are welcoming to our members rather than willing to put up with us and our needs. (Am I missing anything here? Feel free to make suggestions for other factors.)

A "4" is a near miss for a 5. No problems but not having everything. A number of boats fall here.

A "3" is probably where most boats fall. Adequate for a trip but not at the top of the list.

A "2" has some kind of problem such as not such a great ladder, tank racks work but take some doing, etc.

A "1" probably is cramped, doesn't offer sun protection, is a fairly bare boat, and is something we would probably not elect to use again unless it were the only boat in the area.

Any boat that does not allow rebreathers on board should rate some obvious figure, such as "0" or some other clear symbol that will let our users know that this is not a rebreather friendly boat. So, the lowest score for a rebreather friendly boat would be a "1."

Again, this is just a start and somewhat subjective. However, all of you instructors out there have had to rate students or instructor candidates before. So, we are looking to quantify in the same way.

Attached Images

Boats.pdf (473.1 KB, 39 views)

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Howard Packer
IANTD CCR Instructor
Miami Beach, Florida
CCRDiveTraining.com