Another, hopefully related, question: If the AC power in a marina is
wired incorrectly, and/or a boat is wired incorrectly, one can become
electrocuted by just getting in the water. How can one tell, short of
throwing in their cat/dog/ex-spouse/parent-in-law?

Tom
of the Swee****er Sea

wrote:

I'd like to clean the bottom of my boat, while it's
in the water. Is there a fairly easy and economical
way of breathing while a few feet below the surface?
A snorkle won't work because I'll be going under
a houseboat, but am wondering if a hose could
be made to work, or maybe a larger piece of tubing
with a hose attached so it's small enough to be held
in your mouth. Or something...?

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:35:00 GMT, wrote:

I'd like to clean the bottom of my boat, while it's
in the water. Is there a fairly easy and economical
way of breathing while a few feet below the surface?
A snorkle won't work because I'll be going under
a houseboat, but am wondering if a hose could
be made to work, or maybe a larger piece of tubing
with a hose attached so it's small enough to be held
in your mouth. Or something...?

How long can you hold your breath?

Ok, I'm not suggesting to clean the bottom this way but seriously
though, If I'm not in a position to haul the boat and the shaft zinc
needs to be changed, I change it by just holding my breath for a little
bit at a time. It takes a few trips though. To make the trips faster I
tie a loop in the end of a rope and the first trip down is looping it
over the prop. The other end is either tied to the dock or a stanchion.
So I can pull myself up and down with the rope quickly.

Then I take the zinc down and put a screw in by hand. That takes a
trip. Then the other screw, another trip. Then tighten one then the
other, two more trips. Then I take a hammer down and pound the contacts
in, another trip. Then 2 more trips to tighten the screws again. Then
one last trip to unloop the rope.

So it takes maybe 10 trips down to do the whole thing and each trip is
like 6 or 7 feet long (around 4 feet over and 4 feet down). But it's
not as bad as it sounds. One word of advice though, keep a good knife
handy.

One time I was changing the zinc and the loop of thin line I used to
keep the allen wrench from dropping (I tie a loop around my wrist and
let the allen key hang from that so it's not in the way in transit and I
don't drop it when fumbling to get it in the screw) got snagged on
something. I think it wrapped around the shaft or prop, I don't
remember. Well, when it was time to come up for air I couldn't get it
untangled. So I just grabbed the knife and sliced the line and came up.
I lost the allen key but that's better than the alternative. From
then on I just use thin monofilament or thread or something that's
easily snapped in case I have to. But I still carry the knife just in
case.

Steve

Gene Kearns wrote:

ROFL..... when I learned to dive, now, about 40 years ago, the
instructors had us try breathing with our snorkels detached and held
in a manner similar to those movies where a reed is cut and employed
as a "snorkel."

Trust me, anything over a few inches and the water pressure will make
it impossible for you to do anything but exhale....

Yep... the human chest is a magnificent piece of engineering, but it is not built for that.



My advices is not all that different from suggestions from others....

1) Take Lessons
2) Employ a small tank or, perhaps, budget permitting, a small
floating compressor....

If you use a compressor, make sure to run the air discharge through a good filter/seperator before
breathing it. Most non dive certified compressors discharge an oil vapor that will ruin your lungs.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

I am a certified scuba diver with 250 dives and Padi advanced ticket I
have used both methods. My boat is a 33 ft Newport sailboat in San
Francisco Bay. For attaching a zinc, holding your breath and dipping
under the baot in maybe 10 small dips works great. I have done it.
For longer jobs I have made up some gear: Bought an oilfree compressor
with 2 HP electric drive so no fumes from and engine and hocked up to
50 ft hose. The compressor puts out 100 psi which allows you to go
fairly deep. To the hose I attached my second stage regulator from my
scuba gear.
There is no danger of electrical shock because the compressor is
plugged ditrectly into the outlet at the marina, the only thing in the
water is the hose.
If a person has no scuba training I would not go deeper than maybe 10
to 15 ft. I think there are several things to know, one is to clear
your ears same as when you are in an airplane, but this may not be
necessary 6 ft. Second is to have a diving mask to be able to see and
breathe out through your nose to equalize the pressure. Again at 6 ft
this may not be a problem, and third is to keep breathing in and out
while you come up so that the air in your lungs can expand. So I think
to go to very shallow depth like 6 ft it is not a problem even for an
untrained person. The cost of the compressor was $100 at Sears and the
hose another $15. The advantage is now I can clean bottom and stay
under the boat and do work as long as I like. The 2 HP compressor
supplies lots of air. The second stage regulator works fine with 100
psi. I have used this to inst6all a new rudder while the boat was in
the water. This saved me a $400 haul out. Plus I now can clean the
bottom anytime I like at no additional cost.

Tom Shilson wrote in message ...
Chuck Tribolet wrote:
100 PSI isn't enough. The intermediate pressure in a typical SCUBA
system is set at 140-160 PSI.



IIRC, from ages ago, every 30 feet of water is 1 atmosphere of pressure
(15 lb. / sq. in.) If he is going down, say 6 feet, 15 lb/sq.in. should
be fine. If he tries to go deeper, he will suck air, get none, and come
up to where he can breath.

Tom
of the Swee****er Sea

Ace-high wrote:
You can get an oilless compressor NOTE OILLESS and 50-60 ft of air
breathing hose and a regular scuba regulator. You need about 100 psi
to run a low pressure - mouth regulator. A friend just did this with a
small 120 vac compressor - it is just a little too small and it gets
hard to breath down at the 6' bottom of his keel. The comp was about
$100, the mouth reg will be maybe $100+ - look for all this stuff on
eBay.

I have a 50' hose that I use on my regular scuba tank, hi pressure and
lo pressure regulators - the extension hose goes between the hi press
reg on the tank and the lo pres regulator in the mouth.

Biggest issue for any of these is getting the connections to work -
threads - sizes, etc. Make sure that they all fit together before you
buy anything.

Apparently this is right & works pretty well, no tank fills & no rip
off BS from the dive fraternity:-). The advantage being you can't get
too deep because the little oiless compressors just can't supply the air.

The only caution is make sure you install a one way valve in the supply
line, as close as reasonable to the mouth reg. or use a specific hooker
unit mouth reg (they have an extra valve built in). The risk is that if
there's a hose failure at the surface your lungs will be exposed to atm
pressure while your chest is subject to some psi, apparently your tongue
can suffer if no valve is fitted.

K




On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:35:00 GMT, wrote:


I'd like to clean the bottom of my boat, while it's
in the water. Is there a fairly easy and economical
way of breathing while a few feet below the surface?
A snorkle won't work because I'll be going under
a houseboat, but am wondering if a hose could
be made to work, or maybe a larger piece of tubing
with a hose attached so it's small enough to be held
in your mouth. Or something...?

"Steven Shelikoff" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:35:00 GMT, wrote:

I'd like to clean the bottom of my boat, while it's
in the water. Is there a fairly easy and economical
way of breathing while a few feet below the surface?
A snorkle won't work because I'll be going under
a houseboat, but am wondering if a hose could
be made to work, or maybe a larger piece of tubing
with a hose attached so it's small enough to be held
in your mouth. Or something...?

Cheap and dirty way; Borrow or possibly you own a non-oil lubricated air
pump (teflon). Set air pressure at about 10 lbs and tape or clamp hose to a
snorkel that has a blowout reed near the mouthpiece.

Caution! the blowout reed is important to insure you don't embolism your
lungs.
Caution! never use oil lubricated air pump to breathe from.

"Jeff Rigby" wrote in message ...
"Steven Shelikoff" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:35:00 GMT, wrote:

I'd like to clean the bottom of my boat, while it's
in the water. Is there a fairly easy and economical
way of breathing while a few feet below the surface?
A snorkle won't work because I'll be going under
a houseboat, but am wondering if a hose could
be made to work, or maybe a larger piece of tubing
with a hose attached so it's small enough to be held
in your mouth. Or something...?

Cheap and dirty way; Borrow or possibly you own a non-oil lubricated air
pump (teflon). Set air pressure at about 10 lbs and tape or clamp hose to a
snorkel that has a blowout reed near the mouthpiece.

Caution! the blowout reed is important to insure you don't embolism your
lungs.
Caution! never use oil lubricated air pump to breathe from.

Get a diving ticket and use SCUBA !
Life is to short without endangering it by attempting to do things the
'cheap' way.
And with SCUBA you can use the positive bouyancy of your wetsuit to
stand upside down on the hull of the vessel and use a yard broom to
'sweep' it down....
Also: Attempting to breath air at atmosphere pressure underwater
through a pipe does not work
:-)

"Steven Shelikoff" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 17:35:00 GMT, wrote:

I'd like to clean the bottom of my boat, while it's
in the water. Is there a fairly easy and economical
way of breathing while a few feet below the surface?
A snorkle won't work because I'll be going under

I have used a "Dri-Diver" for cleanng the bottom of my Catalina 30. It is
done from the deck and you don't even have to get wet. It does a nice job
on the bottom, but unfortunately, it does not clean the prop. For that, I
just dive over the side a few times, and using an old oyster knife, I scrape
off the barnacles. I usually have to do this twice a year, since my slip is
in quiet water that promotes a fair amount of growth.

My first mate always holds on to the bitter end of a line that I have
looped under my arms loosely. Hope that this helps.


Kevin

"Tom Shilson" wrote in message
...

IIRC, from ages ago, every 30 feet of water is 1 atmosphere of pressure
(15 lb. / sq. in.) If he is going down, say 6 feet, 15 lb/sq.in. should
be fine. If he tries to go deeper, he will suck air, get none, and come
up to where he can breath.

I can tell that you have never actually tried this.

Run a little experiement. Get a vacuume gauge. Stick the hose in your
mouth and try to inhale. I bet that the gauge will barely budge.

If you close the airway into your lungs and then suck with your mouth you
may be able to suck a few PSI, but that is using the muscles of your jaw,
tongue, cheeks, etc. To get the air into your lungs you need the diaphragm
to be strong enough to pull a vacuume, and it just isn't that strong.

Rod

If you are the Steve Shelikoff who is at Penns Landing {in Philly}, drop me
a line.

If you can make it up river, the club I belong to has a seawall and pretty
good beach, at low tide. Because of the tide swing, possibly you could do
the job 'standing up'. 'Ducking under' with only a dive mask.

Regards,
Ron Magen
Backyard Boatshop

" "Steven Shelikoff" wrote in message


I'd like to clean the bottom of my boat, while it's
in the water. Is there a fairly easy and economical
way of breathing while a few feet below the surface?
A snorkle won't work because I'll be going under
a houseboat, but am wondering if a hose could
be made to work, or maybe a larger piece of tubing
with a hose attached so it's small enough to be held
in your mouth. Or something...?