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Hookah question- what is the cheapest 12 volt model you know of that will take 1 man 10'

C

ChuckDiggin'it in Florida

New member
I want straight 12 volt, not an inverter / 110 ac model.
I just want to go down 10' for about 2-3 hours at a time and I want to buy a complete, ready to use system, that I won't need to buy extra stuff for. This won't be used more than a few hours a month, so I don't need anything heavy duty. :)
I have suit,fins and weight belt already.
Thanks!!
 
I don't really understand WHY you would want the cheapest instead of a QUALITY one since your life could depend on it. I have no idea of the cheapest. Good luck in your quest.
 
Think again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ANYTHING could happen underwater.AND,your life may depend on a good air supply.
Waterbug
 
I bought mine off eBay for 335.00. It is a used Brwonie but it has a 4 hp Honda engine. You might find a good used one. Mine has been checked and it is in perfect condition. This is probably the wrong time of year to buy one. Probably the best time to sell one. I bought mine in Janurary.
 
Chuck,
Do some shopping around.There is probably a good used one with your name on it,just waiting for you to find it a new home.We just do not want you to be using some piece of junk.Sometimes people buy stuff then decide they are not into it that much and want sell the equipment.Be patient and good luck.
Waterbug
 
Wow..I also thought a hookah was a wise investment and thought there was Little risk from breathing compressed air. I ended up getting scuba certified and have since gone for more certifications including advanced open water and nitrox certifications. Are you aware that the last 12 feet to the surface you are at the greatest risk for an embolism. There is a reason for becoming certified...your life depends on it!!! Hookah sellers should be held responsible for anything that happens to uncertified users that they sell to.
 
Thank you for the warning!
If I don't go any deeper than 8-10 feet, is there any of those dangers?
I'm just gonna use it for metal detecting underwater at certain spots from just over my head down to 8-10'
In the meantime, i'll look into a diver safety course locally.
 
If your only going that deep the only danger is making sure you don't panic if you run out of air and you can get to the surface. BUT BUT BUT, I also dive a lot with my tanks and in one lake I found metal barrels full of cement which held swim platforms in the 20's and 30's. They were on a dropoff. I was finding coins down to 25'. Are you saying that you will not go deeper than 10' no matter what? I have been to 190' deep. I went there for a purpose also.

Really, you should be fine but you might want to save a bit more so you can buy quality that will last you more than one season and NOT made in China. Shelling out 800.00 for a cheap one and another 800.00 in a year or two would also be the pits!!

Whatever you do, try to take a class or at least learn from an experienced diver things we know only too well. How to clear a mask underwater, Dropping your weights in an emergency and other safety measures just so your more comfortable.


Small story. I have been diving alone since 1980. I am very comfortable and knowledgable. I dive in the most dangerous waterway in the USA. Here you do not need a dive flag. It wouldn't do you anygood anyway. The water goes between 8 - 12 MPH. You can't swim against it if you wanted to. The fishermen use 2lb lead sinkers to keep their bait on the bottom. I collect them because they bring me a dollar a piece. One time collecting them in about 35' of water it was getting hard to breathe. My guage said I had almost half a tank left. well it was getting harder and so I hit the guage. It went down to nothing. I had over 80lbs of lead along with my weights on. I had to drop everything and I just barely made it to the surface. I was NEVER more scared in my life.
I now trust only my breathing ability. If it gets even a bit hard to take a breath I come up. I trashed that guage anyway and haven't had a problem since.

Here is a picture of the place I dive a lot, two to three times a week, and what the sinkers look like.


bluewater.jpg




stclair.jpg


The gernade fuses were turned into the Port Huron police department. (Still very much alive!!)
 
Wow! That's interesting!
It seems like with lead prices being up so high, they would be worth even more than $1.00 each?
Why were there grenade fuses in that waterway???
I'll take your advice on hookahs-I don't need to buy 1 a year! :)
 
Jeez!! No thanks on the grenades...I'll take a pass on finding those. I can see it now "Oh look a silver ring!" (insert exploding dig sound here) :rofl:
 
Dig, too funny. They were laying on the bottom. Myself NOR the police department have any idea why they were down there. It is obvious that somebody took apart 2 gernades and threw the fuses in the river. This is right in the city. Kind os scary. That is why I contacted the police.
 
Great story Scubadetector!

I've experienced diving in strong currents in the Rip area of Port Phillip Bay collecting the huge Greenlip Abalone that thrive in these strong current areas. We would do drifts in the boat.
I would remove the anchor from the end of the anchor rope, tie a loop in the end and thread the weightbelt through the loop and then put all the achor rope{250'} in the water.
Once on the bottom you would pull the rope in till you were directly under the boat with approx 200' of rope drifting next to you in the form of a large loop.
On coming across the abs you would let go of the rope, grab the bottom with one hand and with the other desperately chip off as many abs as you could before all the slack rope took up and tore you off the bottom. This was easier if you were on hookah, using the same principle with the slack hose.
Along with the abs we would find old bottles, heaps of anchors lost in the current, weight belts, fishing gear etc. It was exciting diving and we had a lot of fun back then.
The fisheries were always hassling us, concerned that we might be exceeding bag limits. We would stir them mercilessly, always behaving in a suspicious manner, when we saw them trying to sneak up on us we would tear off and have them chase us around the bay, only to find on pulling us over that all was legal and above board. We would fall about laughing. These guys would get so upset.... they take themselves far to seriously....

Looking at the photo you've posted there it appears this area has reasonable visibility?
Am I correct in assuming your diving from the shore?
How are you finding the sinkers, eyeballing or detecting? Must admit I love picking up sinkers also.

Cheers Lou.
 
...taking unnecessary risk with your LIFE! I would never dive with cheap equipment. I want to live a long time and watch my children and grow up. Save your money and buy a quality unit.

Ten feet? nah. I've gone down many times saying "I'm stayin' shallow today," only to get engrossed and look at my gage and be at 25 or 30 feet! When the good stuff is deeper, you'll want to go there.

Once I was diving in cutoffs at 27 feet, right on the thermocline of a freshwater Corps lake here in Arkansas. I looked down (about 10 foot vis) and saw the distinctive glint of gold in the form of a healthy lookin' 18:" chain. I was diving below a bunch of cliffs where the college kids get drunked up and grab-azz around jumping/falling in the water from 20 feet or so. So.. I took off, and didn't make it five feet and got hit by a wall of the most FRIGID water. I went back up to the thermocline and at neutral buoyancy, just hovered there and shivered until I warmed up. Mate, I did that THREE more times before finally just biting the bullet and getting the treasure.

Man I was dyin! I put it in my goodie bag. and kept up the hunt--in warmer water, of course. When I got to the surface, upon viewing my treasure, I found that the chain was FAKE! I was one pizzed off diver.

The moral of the story is: if the loot is deeper you will want to go deeper within reason. So just save a little more and buy a good 280 Brownie gas unit or something equivilent. Keene makes a 12V unit that will support one diver to GOOD depths. They say it will support two divers but most do not believe it is feasible. On a good Group 24 battery, you will be good for 2-3 hours. They are about 1100 bucks for the hookah alone. Once you buy the hoses and the regulator etc, etc, etc. you are looking at $1700.00

For $1,700.00 I can buy a good used Brownie on Ebay if I look long enough. Dive SAFE and don't take chances. Your family will appreciate you thinking of them and spending the extra cash to be a safe diver. If you're not certified, please get the basic course...about $150 at your local dive store. In diving, it's not what you know that's dangerous, but what you DONT know that will kill you dead.

Sorry for sounding a bit preachy, but some folks have the idea the hookah is somehow not so risky as scuba. It just is not true. Whenever you subject yourself to a hostile environment, you must do all you can to be a safe as possible.

Now...go get you a good hookah and get with the program. You're gonna have a blast.

aj
certified 1982
 
Thanks AJ.
That was an interesting story too!
I guess I just can't afford to get into metal detecting with a Hooka at this time then.
I ain't got no $1700.00 to spend!
I'll just have to wait until I do I guess?
 
I just eyeball the sinkers. There is so much metal down there it would be IMPOSSIBLE to use a machine. And since you can only stop when you find something to hold onto you only get one chance unless you get out, walk up the seawall and go back down. The water is 25' deep at the seawall and drops to 76'. There are a few shipwrecks in that picture. The biggest is the M.E. Tremble that sank in 1890. There is also the Fontana and the Ben Hur. The vis is between 0 and 30' depending on the day. Some days its absolutely beautiful. You go down by the seawall and come up by the seawall. If you come up any place else you are in HUGE trouble. Lake Huron is on the other side of the bridge and the boat traffic is tremendous.

You can come up with 50 - 200 lbs of sinkers easily. I pile a bunch by the seawall and go back down with a bucket, having the rope tied on the railing at the seawall. I fill it up and have 2 or three fishermen help me bring it up. I give them a few sinkers. It is a great dive.

Anyway I think we hijacked a thread.

Chuck, Just wait. You might not be able to get one right now but I am sure you will find a good one. As you can see most here are concerned for your safety and if it will last you. If you do by a new one make sure it isn't from China and that parts are redily available for it.
 
The gernades have blue spoons (handels), that means that they were from traning gernades (hallow- no explosives besides the fuses that you found). We used to keep the hulls after we blew up the blastting cap (in the USMC). They would blowup like an large cherry bomb. I would of just left them on the bottom. but cool finds, what prolly happened was that some army or marine kept them from a traning excersise and didn't want to get in trouble so they tossed them in the river.
 
So the fuses were live but what they were in was blank? So somebody could have used these to make some wicked pipe bombs?

Sounds like too much fun!! Glad I turned them in!!
 
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