NuCanoe - Personal Dive Boat

nucnaoe · Post by **nucnaoe** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 1:35 pm

Greetings.

I'm with NuCanoe up in Bellingham, WA. The NuCanoe is a rotomolded watercraft, 12' in length, that combines elements of a canoe and sit-on-top kayak. It is very stable, spacious, easy to paddle, and quite versatile.

Last weekend at the Whatcom Outdoor Expo, we had a few test divers try diving out the NuCanoe. They thought it worked great - carried two divers plus gear, easy to climb in & out of the boat from the water, paddled well, etc. Check out our blog for some good photos: nucanoe.blogspot.com.

I'm looking to lend out some NuCanoes to divers in exchange for reviews and/or photos. If you interested, let me know. I also welcome all thoughts and feedback from our site and photos.

Cheers,
Blake Young
NuCanoe Inc.
blake@nucanoe.com
http://www.nucanoe.com

Jeff Kruse · Post by **Jeff Kruse** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 2:26 pm

If you use it for diving how much water gets in the boat? Are you then paddling around with an extra 100 - 200# of water in the boat?

With the Ocean Kayak Sit On Top it has scupper holes to drain the water but it also mean you are always sitting in water.

Your boat looks like a neat product.

I would force people to scroll down on each web page to see the content.

Good Luck

nucnaoe · Post by **nucnaoe** » Thu Apr 26, 2007 2:43 pm

The amount of water that gets in the boat depends on the user. In any case, the majority can be drained while in the water by just tipping the boat to one side. So you'll not have to paddle a 100lbs of water around. A simple bailer can get out whats left.

Regardless of how much water is in the boat, you'll not be sitting in the water b/c the seats of the NuCanoe are raised off the sidewalls and above the floor. This also provides a more upright seating posture.

Blake

bnboly · Post by **bnboly** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 12:27 am

Just looked at the 'SCUBA Diving boat' post. Very interesting. What's the learning curve to enter and exit the craft with full SCUBA gear on?

nucnaoe · Post by **nucnaoe** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 8:01 am

The technique used by our test divers didn't require them to enter/exit the boat with their gear on. They put their vests/tanks into the water, clipped them onto straps that secure them to the boat. Then they entered the water, put their gear on, and dove. Upon returning they did the same process in reverse, removing their gear, securing it to the NuCanoe, climbing back into the boat, then pulling up their gear. Worked quite well.

The photos posted at http://www.nucanoe.blogspot.com show this process.

blake

GillyWeed · Post by **GillyWeed** » Fri Apr 27, 2007 9:49 am

Ok, I will be the first to admit that I am NOT boat saavy.. But how the heck do you keep the nucanoe from drifting away whilst you dive. Do you need to by an anchor?!? Are these divers in fairly shallow water and they just tie off when they go down and then untie at the end of the dive? Realistically they shouldn't be dropping in deeper than 20' as they would need to untie at the end of the dive..

The pictures are really cool though. I might have to think about this. If anything it seems it would be easier than some shore dives with really really long swims. IE Edmonds Oil dock.

nucnaoe · Post by **nucnaoe** » Wed May 02, 2007 5:08 pm

If you're diving off shore and not near any tiedown points, then either an anchor or a line from the boat to the diver (this was a suggestion from a test diver, but wasn't tried yet). Either solution would be pretty simple to implement.

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Wed May 02, 2007 5:51 pm

Hmmm... I'm not sure I'd be comfortable having a line securing me to the boat. I don't want to be tied to anything while diving... we carry knives for that.

Rob Holman · Post by **Rob Holman** » Thu May 03, 2007 8:04 am

You attach it to a reel and carry the reel or clip it to a D ring. That allows you to pay out and retrieve line as your depth changes. It's a common practice to tow your kayak while diving. Makes for a great drift dive option.

Sounder · Post by **Sounder** » Thu May 03, 2007 8:11 am

Hmmm... sounds cumbersome to manage, but evidently it's not. I do like the idea of having a large personal dive flag above you.

rjarnold · Post by **rjarnold** » Sat May 12, 2007 7:24 pm

Sounder wrote:Hmmm... sounds cumbersome to manage, but evidently it's not. I do like the idea of having a large personal dive flag above you.

Some people I dove with in Australia had diving kayaks that they adored. I've been looking into them - can't afford right now but I wouldn't mind testing and writing reviews!

I also like the idea of a large personal dive flag above me...I can just imagine someone 'finding' it and hopping in and taking off with it (or even attaching it to their motor boat!)...there would need to be some 'quick-release' feature I think, just in case that or something else happened...

rjarnold · Post by **rjarnold** » Sat May 12, 2007 7:29 pm

I also don't know if any diving kayaks/canoes have this feature, but it would be nice if there was a hole intended for a dive pole and flag...this would help not only in that it's the required flag so that others know someone is diving (if they know the flag, at least), but the canoe would also provide better visibility of the flag since it would be higher off the water.

GillyWeed · Post by **GillyWeed** » Mon May 14, 2007 8:04 am

I still want one of these.. It's nice to want things... sigh