Portable air source for air nozzle for removing water

During a recent trip to Palau the boat we were sailing did not have much in the way for photographers other than a small rinse bucket. Though I brought an air nozzle tip that I could hook up to the LP hose of my bcd to blow water off my housing using it was a pain cause often my rig was being filled. Instead I would leave the housing under a fan to dry off completely before opening it.

Then I got thinking why not use my dry suit argon bottle as portable source for air. A 6cuft bottle is small enough that I can easily tuck inside my kit when flying (just remember to remove the valve), I already have a reg and LP inflator hose set up. Any cheap first stage will work just add a OP valve to it to avoid potential problems. Most dive ops will a bottle that small for free.

The other nice part with my portable system is that even on boats with a camera station and air nozzle I am not forced to wait for others or I can go back to my berth or other local and work.

I already had the argon bottle rig from years back but would imagine that if I built another from scratch it would cost under $200 ($100 bottle, $50 used reg, $25 OPV, $25 hose and tip). Although there are complete systems out there for over $300 which is over kill.

mmmm kay.

gotta admit, this seems a touch overkill to me.

post dive, i soak the rig, shake & blow most water away (lung power), then if i need to, dry the rig with a towel and shyte wipe. not caused any probs in the last 15 years and i'm still on my first roll of bog paper (well maybe not, but you get the idea ).

that said most of my stuff involves plane journeys (and the stingy uk baggage allowances) and lugging an extra cylinder & reg to blow water off the camera factors heavily in my comments.

An LP hose blow gun seems a better idea and is one I use too. But I do use small 'suicide bottles' and short length of 1/2" hose to flood my housings with clean, dry breathing gas immediately prior to final closing. In cold water diving this expedient completely removes the possibility of fogging.

You guys are both right. It is a bit overkill and extra weight (Which is I always bring the wife - more baggage allowance). But given that I had the bottle and reg sitting around it was a cheap solution. Also on the sail boat I really did not have a camera table or a place to easily work except in my berth and even with a towel I never got the finial drop of water under a few of the dials.

You guys are both right. It is a bit overkill and extra weight (Which is I always bring the wife - more baggage allowance). But given that I had the bottle and reg sitting around it was a cheap solution. Also on the sail boat I really did not have a camera table or a place to easily work except in my berth and even with a towel I never got the finial drop of water under a few of the dials.

I use a rocket bulb lens blower. It is manual but works fine to get the water out of the controls.