Go try it in a swimming pool with a garden hose before you get yourself
hung up under your keel and get nominated for a Darwin Award. You will
find that it is impossible to breath if your lungs get more than about
3' deep.

Your prop is probably a foot or two deep minimum and if you are upright
your lungs will be a foot or two below that. You might be able to do it
upside down and sort of lay against the hull so your lungs are not as
deep. Hang your belly button on a barnicle to keep in place. Better
use red bottom paint so the blood stains won't show as bad. :-)

Movie cowboys hid from the indians with a reed by laying on their backs
so their body is just below the surface. About the same as normal
snorkling depth. It also helped to be solid muscle. Beer guts float. :-)


Lloyd Sumpter wrote:
Good point.

So you need to "in through the mouth out through the nose" or else get
a "proper" mouthpiece that expels the "out-breath" directly.

As for the pressure, that's a big question mark. At the prop, I'm only
under maybe a foot (depending on body position). I don't know if the
pressure would be too much for me to take a breath or not (it's easy for
me to create suction in my mouth at this depth, so...I donno.)

After all, look at all the Bad Movies that have Our Heros hiding
underwater with a reed in their mouths...

Lloyd


On Mon, 03 Nov 2003 20:37:27 +0000, Paul wrote:


That is a very dangerous idea but the reason why isn't immediately obvious.

When you exhale you will fill the long tube with your expelled air and then
breathe it all back in. I believe this would result in hypoxia (oxygen
deficiency) in which case you could drown without realizing what's
happening.

Snorkel tubes are short so most of the exhausted air is expelled and there
is enough of an influx of fresh air to avoid this problem.



"Lloyd Sumpter" wrote in message
news
Hi,

Whenever I need to work on my prop, etc. underwater, I've just slapped
on the mask and fins and held my breath. But I've always wondered: why not
rig up a hose arrangement to be able to breathe? We're not talking 50-ft
depths here, so I'd think it would be pretty safe. Perhaps some kind of
non-collapsable hose on the end of a snorkel?

Does anyone do this? Why or why not?

Lloyd Sumpter
"Far Cove" Catalina 36




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