Hooka

[billn1956]

Has anyone heard good things about octopumps ? Or bad I am going to buy one unless some one has bad storys to tell.

 

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[frankie]

I never owned one, but if you wear a wet suit you need like over 100 pounds of lead to sink,the other thing ive heard is that even know they have swivels in the line that they still get twisted. i have over 4000 hours diving for shellfish and wanded to get one. theirs alot going for them.but like i said you need alot of weight. if you dont use a wet suit then you dont need as much weight frank

 

[DaChief]

They have a Honda Powered version for about 1,400 bucks for multiple divers or single deep diver. Looks pretty good and includes everything you need. The cheapo version is a one diver single hose with everything you need but an unnamed engine for about 750.

I would say if you go this way that you should go with the Honda Version like stated in a reply above. 1400 buck is not cheap but what is your life worth? Just 700 more than the cheapo version?

I am in freshwater now in TN as opposed to salt where I was in Florida. I am going to check out the possibilities of hunting sites here and if the purchase can be justified, I may go with the Octo for fresh water.

Here is the link to the Honda Version.

http://octopumps.com/HondaGC.htm

 

[Sandman]

I've used the ones by Keene Engineering and a couple time with the Jsink hookahs and perfer the jsink with the gas engine. http://www.airlinebyjsink.com/

The price also depends on the extras you get with it too don't forget. You may not need swivels and 100 pounds of weight as I got along good with 25 lbs. and if I wasn't wearing a full wet suit the weight would have been less. I highly recommend a 2.5 Gallon Accumulator Tank to keep the air cool and easy to use.

 

[Sundancer]

I have a HookaMax..love it. Has a Honda engine.. no idea about others. Not sure what Frankie is talking about. I've been SCUBA cert since 1968 and if anything, I've found the weights are exactly the same (more or less.. SCUBA bottles sink when full and float when empty) but that's what your BC is for.. . I use 30# with my 2 mil shortie and 37# with my 7 mil long.. that gives me about 5# neg so I can crawl the river bottoms in current.. (More in salt water of course because of more dense water)..
Anyway, I LOVE my hookah.. no drives to town for air fills, and I can get 2 divers down for 3 hours and use only 1.8 qts gasoline. The vibrations even keep gators away lol
Addendum: Forgot to mention.. the comparative ease getting out of the water without an AL80 on your back and also the fact there is nothing behind your head to crack your skull when looking up to clear your mask such as a regulator.. Heheh

~Mike

 

[frankie]

i wanted a hooka but here in mass the salt water is cold and you need a thick wetsuit.with a thick wet suit in salt water my friend needed 100lbs of weight to put him on the bottom,plus i even called and talked to a rep about the weights. thats what i got out of it.i would buy one right now if i knew that i could use it in cold water without alot of weight.your right about driving your tanks to get filled plus at least $3.00 a pop, traffic,lines at the shop,lugging tanks in and out of boat, car, shop ect.im sure you know more about it than i do because you own one. like i said i would love to get one.the rep told me that they fixed the swivel problem,but this was maybe 8 10 years ago.also you needed a long snorkel on the machine so you wouldnt breath any of the carbon minoxude on a calm day. this is what i was told.but these are questions he can ask the rep about before he buys one. i might look at them again,because ive allways have been interested in them.

 

[Sundancer]

I bought mine primarily for river use.. wide ranging (100' hoses) and maybe 20 - 30' depth. For open water, I prefer SCUBA.. many reasons for this but not the least waves.. I use the inflatable that came with mine for floating down the Ichetucknee River.. I use a 10' aluminum Jon-Boat for the Hookah.. it's light and can be towed while on the bottom.. They say 'One diver to 80' and 2 divers to 60'' in the ads.. okay.. but you'll have a 20' cone to work in.. BAH..
Mine does have a 4 gal res. tank which (tested by us) buys 10 mins.. however, I still would go SCUBA in open (deep) water..
Here is a post I made when I took my HookaMax on its maiden voyage.. notice how nicely the hoses are coiled.. trust me, they won't ever get that way ever again LOL
http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,244882.msg1928213.html#msg1928213

~Mike

 

[digum smacks]

want to look on the bright side with this,and have to bring up "SAFETY".people die every year using hookahs,and its mostly due to stupidity, not so much as lack of knoweledge or novice.not certified?buddy diving is the only way to go,even if you are certified when at all possible having someone there to help or watch your back is always a plus.keep is shallow, keep it easy ,keep is simple,

 

[billn1956]

For a hundred and ninty dollars i get a honda engine on it,so that is the way i am going.Brings the price to 924.00 to my door.Ordering it thursday i will get certified,and then tell every one how it goes.

 

[Sundancer]

Great! You'll love the Hookah diving.. and be sure to post pics of your finds! Here in FL, we dive for fossils.. I'm 'Jonesing' right now because the rivers are yet again swollen and tannin stained.. :-(
Hopefully the water will clear up soon.
~Mike

 

[White Feather]

I've been diving for about 50 years. I started in the Keys around 1959. Wetsuits came much later to us low budget divers. Our first tank was a converted fire extinguisher with a small neck regulator adapter and double hose rigs that were a real problem if you went upside down underwater. The early Crown regulator I had is in a friends museum along with one of my triangular masks from the early 60's. I also did some hard hat diving as a commercial diver. Now, having given you a bit of background I will tell you that even with my heavy dive suits I seldom need over 25 pounds of weight. Hardhat diving is something else completely. However, scuba is much eaiser and you don't require a deck crew for support. Scuba diving with my heavy, cold water suit and dive skin both on only requires 25 pounds. Usually 1/10 of your weight will suffice. ie; if you weigh 225 pounds a weight belt with between 22 and 25 pounds will work. It becomes harder to go neutrally boyant if you have to much weight on your belt. Hovering over a reef or dig site is much better than being so heavy that you have to walk home. Watch the dive videos about treasure salvage and you will see that the participants are hovering above the bottom or only lightly touching it. It's also eaiser on your equipment. Kneeling on coral, rocks and metal will take it's toll on some very expensive dive gear and your dive suit. Not to mention if you have to drop your belt to carry something to the surface. I usually do that when recovering small items such as anchors. I'd drop the belt in a heartbeat if I found something like a gold or silver bar. You really should practice in salt water if that is what you will be diving to get the proper weight belt ratio. Remember, even your detector is usually neutral or slightly heavier than water so it doesn't head for the surface if you set it down to dig a signal. Have fun and be careful. Get a bit of dive training before you go to the bottom even with a hooka rig. The rules are still the same and being wrong just once can get you killed. Think about it.

 

[White Feather]

Jonesing? Is that anything like what we call Brail Diving?

 

[Sundancer]

Hiya Whitefeather. Like you, I began diving around 1958 or 1959. My dad started a dive club when I was a kid in Japan. (Brady AFB/Camp Hakata) and my first set was a twin set made from 20 man life raft CO2 bottles with a 'J' valve set up. The guys (from my dads squadron) bought an old beat up PT boat and refurbed it for diving.. Oh BTW, they are not made from plywood.. they were mahogony.. I know.. I sanded for weeks.. All we had then were the old 2 hose 2 stage regs.. We made our own wetsuits.. neoprene and glue.. not so much for cold water but for jellyfish.. I sure miss the old oval single lens masks too..
The reason I use so much weight now is because of the currents.. I need to be able to be stationary on the bottom in swift current.. and have both hands available.
'Jonesing' means MISSING BADLY
Addendum: LOL I just got what you meant by 'Braile Diving'.. Ya, the water is again like coffee.. but I have recently purchased a UK C8 lamp LED and it seems to work fine.. but I sure like 50' vis better..
In any case, anyone hookah or SCUBA diving PLEASE get certified. You can get dead very quickly if you do not understand the dynamics of your body and compressed gas..
even in a few feet of water.. not to mention proper equipment like quick release weights and staying CALM.. NEVER HOLD YOUR BREATH
I still have that 'J' valve if you'd like to see a pic of it.

~Mike

 

[White Feather]

Ahoy Sundancer, Another old schooled senior? I also still have one or two of my J-Valve setups. Haven't used it in years. I'll have to stop by sometime. I travel up and down the west coast of Florida and often run through your little town on RT 27 I believe. I usually stop at Perry for the night because the wife can not take the long trip all in one day because of her heart condition and having had spinal sergury. I have to break the trip down into two days. There are several other MDer's along the coast. Did you make it to Aquanut's cookout last year? I had to miss it because the wife was in the hospital longer than we expected. We did go to have Thanksgiving dinner with him and his wife, Mom and some friends at his Mom's house not far from here. A lot of the MDer's like to get together once in a while. I was really looking forward to meeting a lot of them at Aquanut's cookout but the wife's health has to be first on my priority list.
Did anyone answer billin1956's question about the octopump? Sorry I got off track. I think someone set up a link. I hope that helps. Yep, I looked back, someone gave him some info.
Drop an email sometime Sundancer. Sounds like we are from the same neighborhood. I'm also former military, retired, and try to keep from working any more. I be a Pirate at heart but blow most of me plunders on wine , ladies and Grog. The rest I waste.

 

[grumpyolman]

I just looked at my NAUI card and it says I got it in Feb of 1970. I did take a college class before that, 1962 before cert cards, and that's where I learned to dive.

I had the Airline hookah and think it's the Cadillac of them all. However I didn't like the noise from the gas engine. I now have a Hookamax with the 12V DC motor. It's sweet. If you go to the Hookamax website you'll see a picture of my unit mounted on a high grade wagon that allows me to pull all the gear to the beach in one trip.

Give up on the 100 pounds of weight. It just ain't so. I use both a wet and a dry suit and I often have about 30 pounds as I like to be a bit on the negative side so I can fan the targets easier. I can always add a touch of air in the BC to get neutral if I want.
I went with the hookah as I have to travel too far to get air. And...as somebody already said, carrying that aluminum 80 to the water is no joy. I get about 3 hours out of the electric hookah before I need to do a battery charge.

I traded the weight of the batteries, which is about 125 pounds, for the quietness of operation. In the wagon they are not a problem. I have 100' hoses, now on hose reels, and park the wagon at the edge of the water and work from there.

They now have buoyancy compensators that integrate the weight with the BC. They also have nice weight belts with shoulder webbing, like a back pack, to make carrying the weight more comfortable. You dump the weight by releasing the bottom of a pocket in which the weights are carried. You don't take off the harness itself.

Get a hookah and enjoy. Jim

 

[FLauthor]

Re: Hookha

I started Hookha diving in 1983 with a suction dredge and a detector, those were the days but now only a dredge can be used in saltwater, bummer . I still have my T-80 pump and 5 hp B&S on a donut ring and truck tube.
Like Sandman said add a Air Reserve bottle between the air pump and regulator to cool the hot air down and it also gives you about a minute of air should the motor or pump quit. I was 15 feet down once when the pulley fell off and no air but that reserve was enough to hit the surface. A snorkle on the air pump so carbon monoxide isn't being sucked in. It happened once when the wind shifted and I got a lung full, gave me a headache. And most important, quick disconnect between your air hose and regulator. In case your hose gets snagged or some other emergency, you can disconnect and swim for the surface. Be sure your mask has a snorkle too.
best place to learn is in a shallow lake. Have fun and always have a partner go with you.

 

[minton7]

LOVE my Hookah.... I have the motor one... 3 3/4 hp Briggs and Stratton engine..... one man single 20' hose... and making it a 2 an this yr.....