Diving From Your Vehicle - Prepping Your Car or Truck to be Your Mobile Scuba Platform | S3E08

Sarah (00:00)
So I have one of those accessory hangers, you know, the ones with like the long prongs. That's the only scuba hanger.

Jay (00:05)
Mm -hmm.

Sarah (00:08)
I have, because again, I have to be very like minimalist about the stuff that I have in the van. But what I found is with that hanger, I can put my side mount harness on it, place the dry suit feet like over it and hang my dry suit. Obviously my dry suit is way too long to just like hang from my van, because sometimes I do have to dry my gear inside. That's just a necessity for me. So I take that collapsible bin.

and I put it directly under the gears so that it can drip and not make a total mess out of my van. And also I don't have the best setup, like don't judge me. Like all of my electrical stuff is right where all my stuff drives. Like it is not a good setup, but with the collapsible bin, it keeps everything in its place. So it works out actually really well. And then...

Jay (00:40)
smart.

Hahaha!

Yeah.

Sarah (01:04)
when like that'll happen, like I'll leave it overnight, it might still be a little bit damp and then I can get everything outside again earlier in the morning so that it's not getting like direct sunlight, because I try to protect my gear from direct sunlight as well, which is hard when you like live outside basically. But that's how I set it up. It works for me. It's a super compact kind of drying situation instead of having like, you know, a big setup in your...

Jay (01:20)
Right.

Sarah (01:33)
in your rig or in your house. Because I know a lot of people would struggle to do that. I've heard of people putting load -bearing bars in their bathroom, you know, like over their tub. Yeah, that's super smart.

Jay (01:44)
The shower, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Buddy of mine, um, rented a new apartment and he had two bathrooms. I mean, I don't, I, maybe it was purposeful or not, but one bathroom was just a scuba locker and he did the same thing. He put a little bar across and he'd hang everything up and just stick everything in there, which was smart. Um, I thought, yeah, I think with my gear, the, the drying of the, of the, uh, both the undergarments and the.

Sarah (01:59)
Nice.

That's super smart.

Jay (02:16)
Dry suit are the critical ones, right? And so sometimes you got to turn your dry suit inside out and I have hard boots on mine. So it's a thing, but you can do it. You can push the heel in, pull it through. If you need the inside dry overnight, you can do that. But yeah, the hangers make a big difference. The other thing you can use too is on travel. I think it's like 10 bucks on Amazon. You can get these nylon clippable gaiter hangers.

Sarah (02:18)
Yeah.

Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm.

Mmm.

Jay (02:47)
And there are essentially these two loops of nylon that have clips and another piece of nylon that then has a hanger and it weighs nothing. It's not a hanger itself that's coming bulky in your gear, but it works really well for being able to hang your gear up in a hotel and in a pinch and things like that or outside. But typically I think, yeah, the turning it inside out is when I need it dry by the morning. And that seems to be a good idea.

But the other thing I've seen that I thought was really smart was actually at the overhead environment in Florida. Amazing place. Shout out to Dean and his crew there. Had a great time staying with them. But he had these little X fans that you could tip up. They're just little, they're meant for drying floors, but they're tippable without affecting anything. And he had them right in his dry suit drying station. And you could take them, flip on the fan, flip it up.

Sarah (03:40)
Mm.

Jay (03:44)
because in Florida, you know, it's, it's also very muggy. And so you could flip it up and into the inside from the floor, going up into your suit overnight, it would dry your suit like amazingly. And so I haven't bought one of those fans yet, but it was a nice little thing that he had. And, and I looked at them, you can't get them on, on the red, the red fans. I don't remember the exact name of them. Um, but it was, it was a really cool little hack. I thought.

Sarah (03:46)
Yeah.

Totally.

I think, yeah, I think having any kind of fan would be helpful in that if you're doing a lot of consecutive diving, like I have a permanent, and this is actually like what, oh, you can't see it, but it's a marine grade, like a lot of sailboats have this kind of fan where like you can tilt it and spin it, like it can literally hit any part of my van. And it's hooked into the electrical system and I will do that as well, where I'll just like turn it on and point it directly at my gear.

and that helps with the whole situation. As far as undergarments, I just hang that stuff wherever I can, even if it's like over the freaking steering wheel when I sleep at night. Yeah, because that's really key. But yeah, that's, I'm trying to think what else makes the day happen. I think that's most of it.

Jay (04:47)
Yep, exactly.

Yeah. The only other thing I'll mention is if you are doing kind of multiple days of diving with lots of divers, um, how you repack the van or sorry, not the van, the truck in my case, um, but the van in other people's cases, uh, with thinking through, we need to go get fills. And so again, that's a really important repacking situation. It's a little bit of the Tetris, but some fill stations are really like, are able to bring a, um,

Sarah (05:21)
Yeah, yeah.

Jay (05:31)
a whip out to the truck, which is awesome. That's like the best case scenario because you just pull up and boom and it's done. But if you need to take tanks in, yet you're diving in the morning, one of the little hacks is leave everything assembled and then just take the back plate and wing lift the whole thing off of off of the set and keep it like a taco and put it back in the truck. Take the tanks in, get them filled. Then when you put the

Sarah (05:34)
That's sick. Wow.

Jay (06:00)
doubles back in the truck, you just put the whole taco back on top and find the holes and secure back down. And that way you don't have to break down all of your gear and reassemble all of your gear every time. It saves you a lot of time in terms of how you again pack for the fills or pack for, you know, whatever the next day of diving might look like. So just another consideration. It's taken years to figure it out, but it's, it works well.

Sarah (06:23)
No, it's smart. No, it's a good point. It's a good point because I don't have a lot of experience with that because whenever I'm diving with other people, they bring their own vehicle, right? So like we're all kind of transporting our own tanks and that's smart. And like it's better if we can carpool places and like all dive together because it's not only gonna be better, you know, you're not having a bunch of extra fumes in the environment that we don't need.

But also it's going to save your life if you're going somewhere that's actually more popular and parking is a situation, right? Like if you guys all work together in carpool, then it's going to be a lot easier.

Jay (06:59)
Parking, exactly.

Yeah. Yeah. And the, and what's great about that too, the, the other things that I throw in the truck for those scenarios, I'll throw my little, I have a, in a Pelican case, my analyzer and my pressure gauge checker with a roll of tape and a Sharpie in there. Um,

Sarah (07:18)
Ah yeah, safety stuff too, your O2 kit. Yep, first aid.

Jay (07:22)
throw my O2 kit in there. I have a hard case for my save a dive kit, but it's got extra hoses and tools, all that. And then yeah, of course the first aid kit is part of my O2 kit as well. And then I always throw some clip bars and some snack stuff that's just kind of hidden around the truck that if we need it, it'll last the Armageddon. So, you know, someone really needs something I can reach into the glove box or a

Sarah (07:29)
Yeah. Tools. Yep.

next.

Jay (07:51)
and reach into the center console and here's a peanut butter cliff bar for you and no worries, it works out well. So.

Sarah (07:58)
It may not be that perfect nutritional meal like we talked about in a previous video, but it'll get the job done so that you don't go, you know, woozy.

Jay (08:06)
It'll get the job done. Yeah. Yeah. But you want to think about that stuff in your packing, especially if you're the one that's driving. You know, I like to really try to make sure my, my, my vehicle is a platform for diving. And so therefore I need to take responsibility over having those things in, in the truck, in the vehicle accessible. And then I also, you know, one other thing too, is I also, even if it's new people,

Sarah (08:30)
Totally.

Jay (08:35)
or old people I'm diving with, I always just give a little like briefing, like 30 seconds, like, Hey guys, the O2 is right here behind the driver's seat in the back and the fire extinguisher is here and the first aid kit is here and there's water here. So in case anyone needs something and the key is going to be here. Exactly. And that way everyone knows I've never had, thank God never had to use it in that way. But if something happens to me, I'm not going to be there to be able to tell people where things are.

Sarah (08:39)
Yeah.

and the key is gonna be here. Yeah, yeah.

Mm -hmm.

Right, yeah.

Jay (09:04)
So now at least it's been said and I also say, you know, 911 or whatever the local department is. And usually if I'm diving with someone like we were up in Laguna, he knew where the local chamber was so that we just have that information in our heads right before the dive, which is good.

Sarah (09:18)
Yeah, you share it. Yeah, it's good to have, even if it's not written out or whatever, kind of go through your emergency action plan, right? Like, what are the steps that need to happen? So that's a good point. That's great. Very exciting. I am finally, so I have not been a good example in shore diving and doing the things that I've been doing, because I've been so broke. But I'm not as broke anymore, and I am officially going to have emergency oxygen.

Jay (09:27)
Mm -hmm.

Sarah (09:48)
in my van, which is like a really big deal because I've been very, very careful. Like if anybody has watched my videos, like the Dive Dry Road Trip, I was so conservative and nervous about doing a lot of those dives and I kept them really shallow and like checked all the conditions, made sure that it was gonna be good because I didn't have, I didn't have that stuff. And that's not a good idea. Anyone that is doing shore diving, like definitely have.

Jay (09:48)
Oooooh!

Sarah (10:15)
emergency oxygen, first aid, like those are key pieces. And I'm not proud of the fact that I wasn't doing those things, but like, you know, I share it because I'm sure other people don't. Like I know a lot of people that don't go shore diving with oxygen, like tons. I mean, I've even seen when I was in Playa del Carmen, people going out to the caverns and stuff and they wouldn't have O2. Of course, somebody in the parking lot probably does.

Jay (10:32)
Mm -hmm.

Sarah (10:44)
right, because there's a lot of people, but it's like, my goodness, you know, like we all need to have that stuff in case, like we never want to think about being in an accident, but it happens. So it's an exciting time. I'm stepping into more safe practices and I'm very pleased.

Jay (10:44)
Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Good, no, good, exactly. I mean, because O2 is a treatment for whatever DCS it is, whether it's lung over expansion or bubbles or any of those things. And so, you know, the ways that, again, if you're not CPR O2 provider trained yet, I'd encourage you to do that. But if you're not, they're really easy and they're really informative. I can do that as well or work through Dan. Dan has an incredible course, really enjoyed the thoroughness of.

Sarah (11:22)
Yeah, they're easy.

Mm -hmm.

Jay (11:33)
of their courses, why I became a Dan instructor, because of how amazing I thought their course was. But the other thing that, um, that some people do is, is, you know, a deco bottle. Um, so if you've got a 40 of O2, if you're tech trained, um, and you, you happen to have that thrown in the truck, if you don't happen to have a, an O2 provider kit, even breathing off of that rag without the mask and all that stuff is going to be better than nothing. Um, so that's another way to throw it in.

Sarah (11:38)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah.

As long as the person can breathe from it, yeah. No, totally.

Jay (12:00)
Exactly. As long as they can breathe from it. Right. Sometimes that's not the case. Yeah. So having that, that backup safety gear is, is I feel important if you're going to turn your vehicle into a, you know, platform for diving. Yeah. Just think of yourself as a mobile dive center, right? Like our mobile dive boat, but you don't need the, uh, the emergency, uh, you know, in case we sink, this raft will automatically deploy. You don't need that. Uh, you know, you don't need the, uh, the, the locator beacon in the middle of the ocean. That's all good, but.

Sarah (12:09)
100%.

100%. Totally. Yeah.

Jay (12:30)
but everything else you kind of do.

Sarah (12:30)
You might need a flag though. That is one thing that we didn't talk about because we haven't been using them. I don't think they're regulated like you don't need them in California or at least in the parts where we've been. But like in the Puget Sound, there are certain areas where you need to have a dive flag. So having some sort of float with a flag is also good to have in your vehicle gear. But I think that's kind of it. I think that was pretty thorough, different.

Jay (12:58)
Yeah.

Sarah (12:59)
viewpoints and experience, you know, the setups that we have. Because I think a lot of what you said and what I said can be, you know, transformed into people diving from Subarus and like my Toyota Corolla, that was my Scuba Mobile first. You know, so it's, I think that's cool. And I hope more people are going to get out and do this kind of stuff because it's cheaper and it's a lot of fun. It becomes an adventure.

Jay (13:28)
It does ensure diving. I mean, look, don't get me wrong. I love all forms of diving, but the only thing I haven't done, and we talked about this before, I have not done a liver board yet, surprisingly, um, which I will have to plan for it. They are, they're pricey. I, I, Hey, liver boards that want us to come and podcast from your, uh, uh, give us a shout out, but no, I haven't done that, but all sorts of diving. I love boats, love shore. I love, um, you know, going off of a, of a dock or whatever it might be, but I will say it's, it's nice when you can load everything up.

Sarah (13:38)
They're pricey. Yeah. Yeah.

Hahaha!

Jay (13:59)
and really think it through and use your vehicle as that platform. It just makes the diving, whether you're on an expedition dive or you're somewhere remote, or you're just going to, you know, La Jolla shores where there's a nice parking lot and showers and bathrooms and everything else. I kind of approach it all the same, unless there's a specific thing I need to just, this is my platform, I get ready the same, I get in the routines the same, and it makes it easy to go and dive, which is the whole point of going to do it.

Sarah (14:16)
Yeah.

Well, and it's, yeah, and it becomes like the day adventure and activity and you can have your home base, which is always nice. So cool. I would love to hear what other people are diving from, using to do these adventures, what kinds of things like tools they use. Maybe we can link some of the items that we mentioned in the podcast description. We can talk to Daniel about that and see if we can work some magic.

Jay (14:54)
producer Daniel. You gotta earn your paycheck buddy.

Sarah (14:55)
Yeah. Yeah. But we'll see if we can do that. But I would love to hear from people on, you know, what they're using and what they think is like non -negotiable, like they have to have it, you know. So you can reach out to us on the Facebook group. We're being more active there. So DiveTable Facebook group. You can also email us, Sarah with an H at thedivetable .com or JJAY at the DiveTable.

Jay (15:23)
Yeah. And if you have one of those cool like PVC setups you've built in the back of your SUV or scuba roost, send us a photo. I want to see it. I mean, I've seen some cool, elaborate setups with trays that pull out and all this kind of stuff. I think all that stuff's really cool. And other people can, can benefit from your engineering of it in their own vehicle or in their own situation. So since post the videos up on Facebook, um, have a good discussion about how you put yours together and why you have it the way it is. And I just love walking around the parking lot.

Sarah (15:29)
Send us a photo. Yeah.

Mm -hmm.

Jay (15:52)
of a dive site and seeing how everybody kind of does their thing. And that's where you'd steal a little bit of this and steal a little bit of that for your own. And that's how you kind of figure it out as you go. So send us some photos on the Facebook group and looking forward to that conversation.

Sarah (15:55)
Mm -hmm.

Yeah.

Totally.

Cool. Thanks. Talk to you later.

Jay (16:08)
Yeah, see you on the next episode of the Dive Table.