How many times have you had to rush from a post dive gathering or had to cut early out of work the day before a dive to get tanks filled before the shop closes? We have heard a common rant that goes something like, “don’t these dive shop owners have any business sense, being closed just at the time when most divers need their services?!” You don’t see golf courses, or ski resorts closed on Sundays, but some dive shops do. But enough ranting. Here is a creative, dare I say, “win-win” solution that works with the current system.

This new product, Scuba Tank Night Drop, is a night drop-off box for air tanks and could relieve your stress and eliminate rushing to get to the shop on time. It is from the The Divers Platform, The company, named for it’s first product, is actually a division of Competitive Development and Manufacturing that develops products for physical therapy, aerospace and NASCAR racing.

Divers Platform owner/developer, Harry Wood (who answers the phone as Uncle Harry), said he came up with the idea not long before the North West Dive and Travel Expo and decided to debut it the show. We choose it as Best in Show because it is a simple, “why didn’t I think of that” creative solution for problem that has been around since the first dive shops. Besides creativity, we give this product the “Best in Show” award because it holds a strong potential to cause a significant change the way divers and dive businesses interact.

The box is extremely well built and easy for customers to use. It is sold directly by The Diver’s Platform for $625. This direct sales business model is one we are seeing more from small scuba equipment manufactures. They chose this business model because it allows them to maintain quality control and keep prices reasonable. Each modular Drop Box unit has three compartments that will each hold up to a 130 cubic foot high pressure steel tank. One shop owner pointed out that it fits every tank they have seen except a 120 cu ft low pressure tank (a bit short). The process is simple, you just slide in your tank and close the one-way self locking door. The units are designed such that multiple modules can be connected together.

We interviewed two shop owners who have purchased the Drop Box and both were very happy with it. Our first thought was to check with them if any pranksters had come by and just closed the doors on an empty box. Both shops said that this has not been an issue.

Aaron Moser of Evergreen Diver Service, LLC in Everett, WA said it took a few weeks before customers caught on to the new concept but now they find tanks in the box daily. They have a tape and marker on hand for divers to leave a note with their tanks.

Bud Gray of Bubbles Below in Woodinville, WA has two modules and said his customers started using the drop boxes right away. They mounted them one day and the next day they found 4 tanks had been left. This was likely because they posted information about the Drop Box in their newsletter ahead of time. Bud said “the boxes are solid, attractive and secure,” and that the boxes instantly became a “great convenience” for customers and shop staff. The shop provides a note pad and pencil in each box for customers to use for identification and special instructions. Bud said that a few customers have ask about the security of the system. He points out that the boxes are as secure as the store and much less of a target of opportunity. He said some rental customers have even used the boxes for dropping of other gear besides tanks. He was quick to comment, though, that he discourages this, because they want to inspect rental gear when it is returned by customers.

We suspect the Scuba Tank Night Drop box would pay for itself with happy customers and staff in a short time and give it 5 stars on top of the Best in show award. Dive shops, or divers that want to encourage their local dive shops to get the Scuba Tank Night Drop, can contact Diver’s Platform at (866) 691-7816 or http://www.thediversplatform.com (The direct link is here http://www.thediversplatform.com/proddetail.php?prod=Scubanightdrop. We provide this because we found that the website was very confusing and it was hard to find this product on the site.)

What we saw was a big poster and a plastic mock-up of a wrist banded platform with some fake buttons and a paper map. The booth guys admitted it was a prototype, but it would be out next year, they claimed. Here is the back peddle message from the team leader, Dr. Barry Megdal. He writes, “We never intended anyone to think that the units we showed at DEMA were production units, or were waterproof …We have been developing algorithms and hardware with prototype units which have given excellent results, but are not “pretty” enough for a show.” 

Since GPS signals will not travel through water, the idea behind Navimate is to have a floating buoy or transponder hung from a boat ($300 msrp) that picks up the signal. The wrist units ($700msrp) are suppose to use multi beam rf to determine range and bearing from the buoy and accurately show the position of each wrist unit. Soon after the initial release of Navimate, Shb (the Navimate company) says

they will be offering a “no display” unit at reduced price (not yet set), which are supposed attached to the tanks of students or on divers being led by a divemaster. The instructor or divemaster will be able to keep track of the location of the other divers in his or her group, but those divers will not have the distraction (or the cost) of a wrist-mounted unit. They also plan to offer free buoy units with the purchase of multiple wrist units.

We interviewed other experts in the field including a DARPA researcher who works with underwater communications and a GPS engineer/entrepreneur that sold his GPS company for millions. We asked them what they thought about this product. Both independently disagreed with Megdal’s approach. They said that if Navimate makes it to market, it would not be reliable or accurate. They pointed to the most obvious and significant challenges of communicating with the wrist units through various water environments and at angles relative to the buoy and the problems with triangulating from a such a small platform (the buoy). Also there are currently not many accurate and/or detailed maps for most dive sites. They both believed that when a practical working underwater GPS is developed it will like be based on inertial sensing and not this model. With that type of unit, you would lock in a GPS location before the dive and the unit would use sensors to track your progress during the dive. You would only need the wrist unit and not the buoy. Much of the inertial sensing hardware and software needed is currently available.

The discussion on the web certain indicates that divers are hungry for a practical and affordable underwater GPS. We can only hope our gut and experts are wrong and wish Navimate success. We will keep the rating stars in the star pouch until we see one in the silicone.

Not only have we found this cart to be amazingly practical and a time saver, it also serves as a memory tool. A full use cycle goes as follows:

1. We roll the cart to the back of the car, lock the wheels and load in all of our gear.
2. There is no need to go over the dive gear checklist because when the cart is empty we have everything we need.
3. After the dive, we empty the gear from the car onto the cart.
4. Roll it over to the hose for an easy fresh water rinse. If we dunk it goes right back on the rack.
5. Roll it to a shady area or warm indoor area for drying.
6. Roll it back to the storage area, ready for the next dive.
7. We also have a DryGuy dryer for hoods that we plug in after the rinse cycle and leave it on the rack so we do not forget the hoods.

This inexpensive “off the shelf” rack has cut our packing, unpacking, and cleaning time by more than half, and helped us never leave a piece of gear at home.

The official launch of the team will be in conjuction with the 2009 Long Beach Scuba Show on Saturday, May 30th. Both Rod Roddenberry & Greg Martin will present an in-depth presentation, they will discussing the origins and philosophies behind the RDT as well as explaining the numerous facets to the organization and benefits of membership. The “Roddenberry Dive Team” will be stationed at booth #355 for both days of the show.

(ScubaGadget review articles on the Whites Fusion at: PRIZE FIGHT – WHITES FUSION DRYSUIT vs. the DUI CF200 DRYSUIT and A Fluid, Sensuous Dive Experience in the White’s Fusion Tech Dry Suit )

The terrible explosion of TWA Flight 800 off of Long Island on July 17, 1996 caused investigators to realized that they needed a way to make the air/fuel mixture in fuel tanks inert to prevent similar explosions. The answer was a system strikingly similar to the nitrox membrane system dive shops and boats use to fill SCUBA tanks. This system is now in use on large jets and being implemented on all commercial US airliners. Both the scuba and airliner systems use a membrane that allows nitrogen molecules to pass through but holds the oxygen molecules back. This creates a reservoir of oxygen enriched air on one side and nitrogen on the other side. The difference between the scuba and the jet membrane systems is that the jet system draws gas from the nitrogen side of the system and pumps the inert nitrogen into the fuel tanks to minimize the chance of explosion. Now all that good Enriched Air Nitrox (EAN)  on the other side is just wasted when it could be used to fill SCUBA tanks.

Gizmodo, one of the premier tech gadet blog (click for full article), calls Liquid Image’s new Scuba Series HD320 “DUMBTASTIC.” Just reading the specs this model sounds like a great leap in technology over last years toy-like snokeling version. This one is good to 115 feet, does HD video and 5 megapixel photos. But there is often miles between “sounds good” and is a great idea.

I had to spend a bit of ROTFL time when I saw they hyped the reduced visability as a feature: “A darker silicon skirt helps to shield the peripheral vision from distraction.” Then there are those photos that only work when you stick the camera into a hole that will not fit your head or at angle beyond neck range. What do you do, remove your mask to get the shot? I would not be surpised to see them add a heads up display legal disclaimer when you turn the unit on. “Blink twice if you agree not to sue us if you run out of air with your head hoplessly entangled in giant kelp.”  

If you are shooting for Nat Geo or IMAX, a helmut came makes sense. But, we see a much safer choice in compact hand-held HD video cameras like the Bonica Snapper HD. If you have what it takes to test this contraption,  let us know what you think.

The Port Townsend Leader (photo credit also) reports that “Jeff said he hasn’t been able to find any records on how many submarines the Curtiss company may have built. On the Web, however, Jeff read about a very similar craft that belongs to the Iranian Navy, called a “swimmer delivery vehicle.” To Jeff’s knowledge, the sub as never been in the water before he purchased it. Out of the water the sub weighs about 400 pounds.

After not-a-diver-Jeff added an air relief valve and new batteries he hired is-a-diver Grant Ausk of Townsend Bay Dive, in Port Angeles to take the sub on a shakedown cruise. At last report, the sub seem to be functional but still needs some work on ballast.

The craigslist posting  for the sub indicates that Jeff may “consider offer or trade.” With his history that trade could encompass a wide range of possibilities.

The sculptures are sited in clear shallow waters to afford easy access by divers, snorkellers and those in glass-bottomed boats. Viewers are invited to discover the beauty of our underwater planet and to appreciate the processes of reef evolution.

You can check out the a video interview of the artist on our favorite dive TV channel at the Underwater channel.tv, other video on YouTube and see the artist full gallery at http://www.underwatersculpture.com/