Dive Boat
Use
of Instruments
The
three main instruments carried on the average dive boat are:
-
Radio
-
Echo Sounder
-
Sat Nav
Probably
the most important instrument to have on a boat is a radio.
The
majority of incidents at sea could be avoided if crew were to take early and
substantial actions as soon as an emergency or potential emergency arose.
To
inform the coastguard of a potential emergency, then to call him back and say
all is now well is not a problem.
Without
a good quality working radio, it can be!
The
golden rule is to keep the radio clean and if possible dry, and most important
to check that it works every time you use the boat. IT IS NOT PERMISSIBLE TO CALL THE COASTGUARD FROM LAND OR
FROM WITHIN HARBOUR.
Mobile
phones can be useful but battery life is limited and access via channel 16 is
more certain and attracts much more attention than a ringing phone.
Next
favourite would be navigation equipment.
Primarily
a compass, -no use for knowing
where you are, but great for knowing which way you’ve come from and which way
you’re going.
Also
really good for posing when steering on the compass, but really you can see the
Ailsa building through the mist!
Ideal
navigation equipment would be Sat Nav, initially built for guiding cruise
missiles into Sadism’s bog window it also comes in handy for telling you where
on the planet you are to an accuracy of 100 feet. You can program waypoints into
the machine, and it can tell you the distance, and time at current speed to any
given point,, great for knowing if the pub will still be open when you’re on
the way home.
Next
on the list of yuppie boat equipment is an echo sounder, unfortunately, these do
not make the pinging sound as advertised on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, but
they can be handy for showing you a pretty picture of the rock that’s just
destroyed your boat hull and engine.
Other
uses can be to warn of shallow water, by a pre-set audible alarm, to show a
profile of the bottom and a depth readout of water below the hull and to show a
good impression of a pile of building rubble should you be lucky enough to ever
park over a wreck.
Contrary
to popular belief, they cannot show the anchor falling into the middle hold of
the Wallachia thrown in by a blindfolded first class diver who’s been primed
with six pints of Bellhaven!
Having
been lucky enough to have used all these instruments, I would not like to go to
sea without any one of them, but at the end of the day I would have to pick
number one, the radio, as my all time most important piece of equipment.
Golden
Rule If you’ve got it --Use It!