Your dream dive deck????

Hi damp-pixelers...

I am in the process of redesigning the dive deck of a well known liveaboard and am interested to hear from the wealth of experience out there.

If you were designing, or remodeling, a liveaboard dive deck what would you design in? What natty little features have you seen or thought of that no dive deck should be without? What should we have two of and what should we forget about?

Looking forward to hearing your ideas, the practical, the impractical and the downright inane... its just for fun, but you never know! Oh and building an E6 lab probably wont be an option!!

I will kick off:

How about a warm air vent to dry your wetsuit between dives!

Wishing you warm waters and good vis...

Simon

• enough space to not feel like packed sardines
  
• 3 separate rinse buckets for wetsuits, gear and cameras
  
• dry body and camera towels after every dive
  
• hot drinks ready if you want them
  
• safe spot to stow camera gear between dives
  
• warm air vent to dry wet gear
  
• plenty of space to hang wet gear
  
• a dive platform on the dive deck for open-deck diving days
  
• nitrox for everyone
  
• enough spare kit to help out almost everyone with a problem
  
• GPS logger to keep track of the whole trip, which everyone can get to tag photos
  
• fresh water on the dive deck so it's easy to stay hydrated
  

But equally important, what do you NOT want on a dive deck.

• exhaust pipes near the dive deck
  
• anything needing power, like charge stations
  
• place to work on camera gear, should be away from dive deck and dry
  
• suitcases, pelican cases, shipping containers, and all other packing gear photographers bring (ideally there's a photo room with space for a small case)
  

For me it would be:

Space for divers.

fresh water showers and fresh water for drinking.

somewhere to store fins.

good ladders fit for purpose.

non slip floor coating.

Stew

A boot drier would be great. By the end of a week of diving, my booties are not the nicest smelling!

Simon

If it is the boat I think it is, then you should consider convertible workstations for full photog charters that can be broken down and stowed away when normal people are onboard. You don't need to have an airhose over every camera work area (and using high pressure to blow out water could do the opposite and force water in anyhow). I've helped design a few boats with convertible workstations for photog trips and they've been pretty happy with it.

I suggest you try to find the deck layout of the Paradise Sport. Their tank layout and table on top is a nice design. You can do last minute camera stuff without dropping anything and everyone gets their own space to place the cameras as they kit up.

I agree to have a water cooler or something around the dive deck but disagree on the hot drinks. That should be in the galley unless you have a serving area on the deck. Hmmm getting crowded there

Good luck with the rebuild.

Ive been on a few boats where they bring you a hot cocoa after a dive (usually only when the weather or water is cold, think Horseshoe Bay). It really helps to stay on the deck a bit and chat with people about the dive. I like that social aspect. Instead of seeing people disappear into their cabins and stay there Im not talking about some self-service station with hot drinks like a machine or something. That should of course be in the galley. I guess it's not so much a case of how to build your deck, but how to run it as well. Something as simple as providing dry towels after every dive is just that bit of extra service that's very much appreciated. (bilikiki does that for instance, they warm the towels in the engine room).

I agree with Drew, dont make the dive deck too busy. Hence no bags there!

1. Ditto freshwater shower on the deck (for rinsing 1st/2nd stage on egress, and wetsuits later). Also useful for a bit of wet to help slick into a suit after the first day.

2. Wetsuit hanging somewhere it's secure (hangars won't fall or blow off), will catch the wind, but NOT be over the seating for gearing up. Nothing worse than the 'car wash' feeling of being between cold, dripping wetsuits when you're trying to get your own on! Also wetsuit and towel hanging should somehow be separated, but this isn't always going to be possible or obeyed.

3. Easily accessible head just off dive deck for those last-minute potty runs (for boats that don't allow neoprene inside)

4. Bootie rack! This could just be a pegboard with angled pegs to slip your booties over, off to one side, perhaps one per 'row' of divers.

5. No-fog dip and mask rinse tank (or saltwater 'fountain' would be fine) right where you hop off

6. Some sort of dive 'locker' for small stuff (spare gloves, weights, etc) that otherwise just gets scattered around the decking or seating area. The 'seat' could be a small locker, vented below so it doesn't hold water.

7. Camera rinse station (bucket or trough) with a 'wet' table or rack to place it after. External 'dry' tables aren't really going to stay that way no matter what the rules (at the least they're still outside in high salt humidity) but without somewhere to put them they end up underfoot or staying in the tanks - one or two big rigs means no one else has room to even dip, aside from small PnS.

8. SHADE. I will sunscreen my bare noggin to keep from getting scorched, but the second that wetsuit's unzipped I'm certainly not about to start slathering up all over. Of course if the shade is optional that's all the better - a bit of sun on cooler days could really be nice. So this is a bit climate dependent I spose.

9. Small maintenance table and toolkit for tank o-rings, computer battery replacement, loose hose to 1st stage connex, etc.

10. Space the tanks out a bit so divers aren't shoulder to shoulder. Maybe a fin loop to one side of the tanks to space them out - so you gear up sans fins, stand, fins are right there at hand height to snag and not 'under' the bench so you brain the poor guy next to you as you bend at the waist and swing around to reach for them.

What should NOT be there:

1. Dive bags should not be just 'crammed' up under the dive seating. Mine is always half full of salt muck after every flower gardens trip from everyone and their brother and their brother's aunt's wetsuit dripping into it the whole time. (The S/V Juliet www.sailjuliet.com) did this nicely in a way: they had everyone 'unpack' dive gear to their stations before they left, and empty bags were folded up and went belowdeck, stored in an 'attic' area so they were neither in your cabin in your way, nor in the way on the dive deck. Probably not a solution that would work in all cases.)

2. Dry table - it won't be for long. Needs to be somehow separate from dive deck for a bit more safety.

3. Low overheads, or anything that can catch feet or ankles easily either.

4. Ideally, any compressor whips shouldn't be running overhead either where loops can hang down and catch you when you walk (stagger) by with a heavy set of doubles on.

Hi Simon,

Just go checkout the big Peter Hughes boats. Best dive decks I've ever seen. The coke/drink dispenser on the Shearwater is also a nice handy touch.

Cheers,

Steve

Wow, some great responses, thanks.

The main area most agree on seems to be the amount of space available and this is unfortunately one of the things I cannot change, it is what it is. I am just trying to maximize the use of the available space. I am looking at the personal space that each diver gets to store their gear, a personal dive locker, maybe with clothes hanging space above (wetsuits would be in a separate wet area to drip dry).

Already factored in:

- two fresh water rinse tanks just for cameras, another for kit and a fourth for wetsuits

- dive deck head

- three hot water showers

- drinking water on dive deck

- cocoa after night dives and on nasty rainy days (few and far between)

- shade

- Storage for camera bags

- Clothes dryer on the dive deck for dry towels after every dive

I like the drip rack for cameras to sit on before making their way to the dry table...

Keep em coming! Thanks for the input...

Simon

Most of mine have been mentioned.

1. The mask and suit rinse tanks should be circulating sea water to prevent bacterial infections.

Only need fresh water at the trip end.

2. Net over camera table to secure rigs night for unexpected rough waves.

3. Prohibit lard as*ed divers from spraying soap solution in their suits while on the deck

4. No smoking allowed here.

And in the end everybody is complaining that live-aboards are so expensive...

cool...

...and what about a great big sign over the freshwater rinse tank in several languages that says "No snotty masks - ONLY CAMERAS IN HERE!"

...and what about a great big sign over the freshwater rinse tank in several languages that says "No snotty masks - ONLY CAMERAS IN HERE!"

But that stuff is good for preparing your dome port for under/overs...

The coke/drink dispenser on the Shearwater is also a nice handy touch.

 

Cheers,

Steve

And lets not forget the bait boxes on the other end of the boat.