Small Boat Diving: A Guide to Buying, Outfitting, and Using Small Boats for Diving

I bought this book to give me some tips about diving from a small boat. Specifically, I was interested in diving from a kayak, which is the boat that I dive from. The book doesn't get into diving from kayaks, but I am going to keep it just in case I ever decide to buy a powered boat. This is because the book covers so much about what to look for in buying, maintaining, and, to a smaller extent, diving from a powered boat. By the way, diving from a kayak is great, but it does take a lot of effort. You have to put it on your car, take it off the car at the dive site, load it, and haul it to the water. When you are done diving, at the time when you shouldn't be doing a lot of exercise because of the possibility of bringing on decompression illness, you will now have to haul the loaded kayak (either that or make multiple trips with the gear) to the car, unload it, and then put the kayak on top of the car. Then, when you get home, in addition of rinsing/soaking your gear and wetsuit, you will have to take the kayak off the car. This whole process adds at least two to three hours to my dive day. I just bought a dive scooter and that make it a lot easier to get the my favorite dive sites than using the kayak. I'll still use the kayak on days I'm not going to dive or when I feel like making the extra effort.

Absolutely EXCELLENT! A well organized reference any SCUBA diver should read before purchasing a boat. It points out the numerous pit-falls to avoid, the expenses and maintenance necessary, and what to look for based upon where and what type of diving you do. This book provides details on many issues the average diver would not consider prior to purchasing a boat, including whether it would be worthwhile to own a boat or consider rentals instead. Anyone planning to purchase a boat for diving should buy this book first!Wayne Sundmacher Co-Author "Whitewater Rescue Manual"