Underwater Hunters, is this possible or is there an alternative to Scuba?

[TheHitMan]

Ok, is this possible and has anyone ever done anything like this before.

I would like to do some underwater MD with my AT Pro, but no deeper than 8-10 feet, which is its limit... I do not scuba dive, but have snorkeled... Would it be possible to rig up an airline to the water surface from a snorkel and stay under water for a small amount of time without surfacing for air, or using your snorkel as usual?

I was thinking of using a Deluxe Inflatable Dive Flag and Float Buoy to float on the surface over where I would be working and have the end of an air line attached to the buoy so air could come down the air line to the snorkel in my mouth. I would have to tweak the snorkel so it could have the attached air line that would connect with the buoy.

That way I could stay down longer without having to hold my breath or have to resurface to get more air... Of course you would have to be very cautious and aware of what is going on at all times...

Would this work? For those who do underwater hunting, what is your take on this? Is there something already out there that one can buy for prolonged underwater work, other than scuba gear?

Thanks,
Dennis

 

[mudpuppy]

NOPE...on account of water pressure being what it is...your diaphram aint strong enough to breath underwater through a hose any longer than a snorkel tube...so a guy needs some sort of pressurized system to force the air into your lungs......DO NOT EVEN TRY this, It DONT work!
..(.Although, its something we have all thought about, and a few have attempted and learned first hand, same as making wings out of cardboard and jumping off the barn)
Mud

 

[pistolpete]

Mudpuppy's right. You will end up poisoning yourself with your own CO....

 

[GeorgeinSC]

As they said NOPE. Two reasons. 1. You can not pull enough air thru the tube into your lungs to keep you from passing out due to water pressure and number 2. You can not get rid of the Carbon Dioxide that you breathe into the tube. You just keep bringing the CO2 back into your lungs and not getting any oxygen.

There are only two ways that one can breathe under water. Either Scuba Gear or a Hooka Rig that puts air available to you under pressure.

Try using a tube and you could very well pass out and drown.

DO NOT ATTEMPT.

 

[mudpuppy]

Alternative instead of scuba or hookah you asked? Hey! Heres an idea! Diving bells have been used for centuries!

I suppose you could make yourself a diving bell, take one of those big gray trashcans, hang a lot of weight like old brake rotors or bricks or something from the top edge, pull it over your head and jump off the end of the dock!! You will be fine! The 'bell' will trap all sorts of air, and I bet you can hunt out in 8-10' of water like a charm! Make sure you attach a bicycle flag to the top so a boat dont run over you, and also to make it easier for your loved ones to find you if they wish. Also, take a lot of pictures and leave your camera on the dock with written instructions as to this Forum, your password, etc. so somebody can log in here and down load the status of your final adventure!

Make sure you drink plenty of beer before hand though, it seems to help a fellow proceed with adventures such as this, its especially good to drink a lot of beer when you are doing anything adventurous around water, plus, the carbonation bubbles in the beer will assist with your personal flotation, assuming you make it out of the bell to begin with, making your recovery an easy surface operation. Also, I would recommend smoking inside the bell as you hunt, it will help settle your nerves and the dim glow of the cherry will provide enough ambient light allowing you to read TIDS. If you go out too deep and the bell implodes on you, the great burst of smoke rising off the lake coupled with the bicycle flag should give any potential rescuers a decent idea of where to begin the search, so they dont have to go through that tedious grid pattern they like to deploy....

Anyway, I think its a swell plan, and as soon as the liquor store opens this am, I will give it a go! While I'm waiting for that crucial ingredient, I suppose I can hose out the trash can and take the brake rotors off the Wifes car, she can always ride her bicycle (minus the flag) down to the store if she needs anything....I should be back here by noon with at least a pound of gold!..If I'm not, keep an eye on the "detectors for Sale" forum, somebodies gonna get a hell of a deal on all my gear to help finance a poor widow buy some new brake rotors!..
Mud

 

[TheHitMan]

The Diving bell was going to be my next question, thanks for the better method update... LOL... OK, it looks like I better just get a certified Scuba license. The Hookah rig sounds cool, but is expensive from what I have researched. I've seen this method of air supply used in an under water Alaskan Gold dredging program on TV. It also channeled warm water down to the diver to offset the freezing water. I wondered what that system was called.

Also, I found this warning about using a Hookah rig system...

Thanks everyone for the heads up.. I suspect I would have found out the hard way, what everyone has said if I tried to gerryrigging a hose and inner tube system.

I was just curious... Better to be red faced than dead faced. Glad I asked.

Dennis

 

[Rainyday101]

Scuba or bust. I have been down the hookah road and ruled it out. You might as well just bite the bullet and get scuba certified. Even buying used equipment there will be a fair expense. I was gonna go with used equipment and get in the water this fall. I have decided to wait until spring and buy new equipment. This will give me more time to bear the expense of purchasing equipment over the winter. The last thing I want to do is fight equipment problems when I want to go detecting. Assuming you will be diving alone while metal detecting, you really don't need an octopus regulator as this is typically for your diving buddy. I would however recommend a spare air bottle in case things go wrong. When all is said and done, the scuba equipment will cost more than your detecting equipment.

 

[mudpuppy]

Ya gotta ask right? Good thing there Brother...never fear to ask here, most of these guys have been tinkering and figuring out this for a while now, both scuba diving as well as metal detecting are relatively new concepts to humans, so we are still all on a learning curve in that regard..sounds like scuba is the way to go, its physically easy to get the cert, but like Rainy said, theres a decent expense to the whole process including the gear, and of course, you will have to get a deeper rig than the Pro is capable of, so theres another grand...probably 3-4 grand invested in the whole process...but hey, if your young or at least relatively spry, this type of hunting is pretty productive for those that have done it.. Its good winter conversation here for sure, and the topic generally comes up when we are all snowed in and preparing for the thaw...we even discussed diving through the ice last winter here..which I thought held some merit, since a boat is not involved!
Mud

 

[TheHitMan]

Well, at this point I think I will stick with wading and occasional snorkeling. I just have to buy a decent mask and snorkel. Going the scuba route is not at the top of my priorities right now. I just bought a new MH and bought my detector for hunting our in the boonies and old towns.

My funds will be adding a solar panel system to my MH. I plan on boon docking a lot this next summer and doing some gold panning, river hunting and ghost town hunting.

Thanks for all your feedback. It may help others who are thinking of using the divers bell method, to think a little more about it.

 

[scubadetector]

First of all it depends on where you are hunting to have a current that will pull you away. A hose coming off? Not likely. They are built by professionals USUALLY unless they built their own. Hookamax in Michigan, and Brownie 3rd Lung are good suppliers. TWO PROBLEMS. First is a gas powered one is NOISY. You will not make any friends or gain brownie points with a noisy hookah on the surface of a crowded beach or on a lake surrounded by houses. Second is sooner or later you will drown your AT-Pro. Made to go 10 foot but impossible to gauge if you are 10 or 11 foot deep and you will find yourself wanting to go deeper if you are an avid hunter.

And even though you do not need certification, There are many tricks divers learn to stay safe while underwater. What if your mask strap breaks, what if your hookah breaks down, how much weight do you need with a full wetsuit, without a wetsuit, what is a BC and how do you use it, and the list goes on and on.

Water is UNFORGIVING. One of my best friends drowned a few years ago wading with a detector in lake Huron. Nobody knows to this day what happened. Another acquaintance died in an inland lake wading who might have had a heart problem. I heard of another person in Wisconsin. I got certified as a diver in 1980. I dive by myself most the time and I am completely comfortable in the water. Anybody diving without proper training or safety gear is not smart in my opinion.

Everyone was right about a snorkel. They are short because they have to be. You do not have enough lung capacity to breath out all the air in the snorkel and inhale new fresh air if it was longer. It has been tried and people have died. It would be the same as eating toadstools. They killed people in the past but maybe they won't kill me?

Anyway, STAY SAFE out there. NO amount of gold or silver is worth your life. Know your surroundings, capabilities, limitations and don't push the envelope.

 

[Cupajo]

First of all it depends on where you are hunting to have a current that will pull you away. A hose coming off? Not likely. They are built by professionals USUALLY unless they built their own. Hookamax in Michigan, and Brownie 3rd Lung are good suppliers. TWO PROBLEMS. First is a gas powered one is NOISY. You will not make any friends or gain brownie points with a noisy hookah on the surface of a crowded beach or on a lake surrounded by houses. Second is sooner or later you will drown your AT-Pro. Made to go 10 foot but impossible to gauge if you are 10 or 11 foot deep and you will find yourself wanting to go deeper if you are an avid hunter.

And even though you do not need certification, There are many tricks divers learn to stay safe while underwater. What if your mask strap breaks, what if your hookah breaks down, how much weight do you need with a full wetsuit, without a wetsuit, what is a BC and how do you use it, and the list goes on and on.

Water is UNFORGIVING. One of my best friends drowned a few years ago wading with a detector in lake Huron. Nobody knows to this day what happened. Another acquaintance died in an inland lake wading who might have had a heart problem. I heard of another person in Wisconsin. I got certified as a diver in 1980. I dive by myself most the time and I am completely comfortable in the water. Anybody diving without proper training or safety gear is not smart in my opinion.

Everyone was right about a snorkel. They are short because they have to be. You do not have enough lung capacity to breath out all the air in the snorkel and inhale new fresh air if it was longer. It has been tried and people have died. It would be the same as eating toadstools. They killed people in the past but maybe they won't kill me?

Anyway, STAY SAFE out there. NO amount of gold or silver is worth your life. Know your surroundings, capabilities, limitations and don't push the envelope.

Says it all!!!

CJ

 

[TheHitMan]

First of all it depends on where you are hunting to have a current that will pull you away. A hose coming off? Not likely. They are built by professionals USUALLY unless they built their own. Hookamax in Michigan, and Brownie 3rd Lung are good suppliers. TWO PROBLEMS. First is a gas powered one is NOISY. You will not make any friends or gain brownie points with a noisy hookah on the surface of a crowded beach or on a lake surrounded by houses. Second is sooner or later you will drown your AT-Pro. Made to go 10 foot but impossible to gauge if you are 10 or 11 foot deep and you will find yourself wanting to go deeper if you are an avid hunter.

And even though you do not need certification, There are many tricks divers learn to stay safe while underwater. What if your mask strap breaks, what if your hookah breaks down, how much weight do you need with a full wetsuit, without a wetsuit, what is a BC and how do you use it, and the list goes on and on.

Water is UNFORGIVING. One of my best friends drowned a few years ago wading with a detector in lake Huron. Nobody knows to this day what happened. Another acquaintance died in an inland lake wading who might have had a heart problem. I heard of another person in Wisconsin. I got certified as a diver in 1980. I dive by myself most the time and I am completely comfortable in the water. Anybody diving without proper training or safety gear is not smart in my opinion.

Everyone was right about a snorkel. They are short because they have to be. You do not have enough lung capacity to breath out all the air in the snorkel and inhale new fresh air if it was longer. It has been tried and people have died. It would be the same as eating toadstools. They killed people in the past but maybe they won't kill me?

Anyway, STAY SAFE out there. NO amount of gold or silver is worth your life. Know your surroundings, capabilities, limitations and don't push the envelope.

Says it all!!!

CJ

.. and I agree. Thanks all for the replies. I plan on taking Scuba lessons before undertaking any underwater hunting.

Dennis

 

[Rainyday101]

I was gonna get an electric hookah. Then I was gonna setup for surface scuba. After reading and asking here, I am gonna bite the bullet and get scuba certified and just go full scuba. Scubadetector gave me great advice and told me the problems with surface and hookahs. My problem was I was looking for a quick and easy answer to doing this. At first I wanted to just go hookah so I could skip all that certification stuff. I am glad I got some expert advice, because my actions could have been fatal.

 

[diverdrew]

Im not goiung to get all smart and sh!t on ya buddy. As a scuba instructor to a non-diver. Dont do it. Easy as that. Take an open water diver class and you will learn a little bit of the why.

 

[landman]

Don't quote me but I believe 3 foot is the max to be able to breath in and out.
I used an electric hooka for 2 years. I got certified before I did anything.
The hooka was awesome. I could dive in 10ft -20ft water for hours
I had 2 batteries and switched them out after 2-3 hours. They are clean, quiet
and efficient. If I was to get back in the water. Electric hooka would be my preference
again this is in fresh water lakes.