Dacorum Sub Aqua Club

Club Boat Equipment

This page provides information about the boat's equipment.

Fixed equipment

• Mercury Optimax 135hp engine - download the manual here.
• A 2-stroke oil tank
• 2 x 45 litre petrol tanks :
  • pre-mixed at 100:1 with 2 stroke oil 
  • under the console
  • each has 3 windows to indicate the contents
• A diving cylinder rack 
• A console with  :
  • seat
  • steering wheel driving the hydraulic steering mechanism 
  • combined throttles and gear change
  • electronic equipment - see Instrument section below:
  • A lead acid battery
  • A magnetic compass
    • when positioned on the console there is considerable deviation due to electronics
    • can be removed from its housing
• An "A" frame supporting :
  • VHF and GPS aerials
  • O2 kit
  • Spares box
  • Flares box
  • navigation lights
  • "A" flag and radar reflector
• Automatic electric bilge pump - the the sump in front of the engine
• A paddle wheel log on the transom - measures the hull's speed through the water
• An echo sounder transducer on the transom

Emergency equipment

• Fixed VHF radio
• water proof flare box
  • only open in emergency
• tools/spares box including
  • boat's tool kit
  • puncture repair kit
  • fuel lines for the spare fuel tank
  • manual engine starter cord
  • jump leads - boat or car battery to boat battery
• anchor equipment
  • 5kg grapple anchor
  • anchor buoy
  • 43m and 30m of anchor line
  • two bailing buckets - also used to hold anchor lines
• two paddles
• spare propeller
• powder fire extinguisher under the seat

Diving equipment

• oxygen administration kit - only open in emergency
• shot weight
• international A flag - can blow out of the boat when towing
• BSAC 88 dive tables
• dive marshalling slate

Controls

Steering

• Propeller bias

The boat turns more easily to the right in forward gear, and to the left in reverse gear, because of the direction of rotation of the propellers. You can take advantage of this when doing slow manoeuvres. You must compensate for this when doing high speed turns.

• The steering does not self-centre like a car's steering - you need to steer out of turns

• High speed turns at high throttle are dangerous. 

The hull is a fairly deep V which causes the bows to dig in and the engines to push the stern out violently resulting in passengers falling off or worse. When doing high speed turns in an unloaded boat, reduce power before beginning the turn.

Engine controls at the console

Each engine has the following controls at the console:

• Throttle/gear lever and gear lock

  The lever has three positions:

  • Neutral - in the centre with no play - locks into neutral automatically
  • Forward - the up position - unlock by pulling the detent and moving the lever up - move the lever further up to increase speed
  • Reverse - the down position - unlock by pulling the detent and moving the lever down - move the lever further down to increase speed

• Detent

A lock on the gear lever that prevents the level moving from neutral unless the detent is squeezed at the same time. 

Take care when returning to neutral that the detent is not squeezed otherwise the lever may continue through the neutral position and into the opposite gear causing loss of control and engine damage.

• Engine tilt

The engine can be raised and lowered from the console and from the engine. The left hand instrument on the console show the angle of tilt. 

Never tilt the engine so far that the cooling water intake is raised out of the water while the engine is running; the engine will overheat and will be damaged.

Always raise the engine when approaching shallow water.

Always raise the engine fully when launching and recovering the boat.

Always chock the engine with a 4x2 wooden block before towing the engine on the road.

• Idle throttle

Used for starting. It can only be used in neutral. You cannot change gear out of neutral until the idle throttles are closed.

• Ignition key

The lock has three positions:

• Off - breaks the ignition circuit. When finished with the engines switch off the ignition to conserve battery charge
• On - completes the ignition circuit. Must be On during manual start and during normally running
• Start - operates the electric starter. It takes 10 seconds to start the engine - this is normal.

• Kill switch

The kill switch completes the ignition circuit's electrical connection. If it is disconnected the engine will not run - this affects both starting and normally running.

Engine controls on the engine

Each engine has the following controls:

• Main Fuel line and priming bulb

Connects the under seat tanks to the engine. Squeeze the bulb to pump fuel to the engine before a cold start. 

The starboard bulb never gets hard like the port bulb because it is upstream of it's water separator. 

• Electric Tilt

There are two controls for raising and lowering the engine - one on the engine and the other on the throttle/gear level.

• Steering arm

  The hydraulic ram of the remote console steering moves this arm. The ram should be lightly greased with silicon grease.

• Lid

The lid should not be opened. The engine cannot be manually started. 

• Engine flushing port

The engine can be flushed with fresh water by connecting a hosepipe to this port. The port has a threaded plastic cap, which should be removed gently. The engines does not need to be started when using the port. When the ear muffs are used to flush the engine it must be started.

• 2 stroke oil tank

This should only be filled with Mercury Optimax 2 stroke oil - the club keeps a supply.

The instruments

• Electronic equipment
  • GPS navigation system - download the manual here.
  • Echo sounder
  • Fixed VHF radio
• An engine tachometer and a speedometer - download the manual here.
• 3 switches (top to bottom) for :
  • Electronics
  • Bilge pump
  • Navigation lights

The hull

• The hull ...
  • Has a "deep V" cross section
    • Reduce power before attempting high speed turns
  • Is hollow
    • water may enter it when the boat is stationary to provide stability
• There is an opening into the hull at the bottom of the sump in front of the engines.
• This opening has a bung. Normally the bung should seal the opening to prevent water entering the hull.
• If the hull has filled with water, the bung should be removed and the water allowed to drain.
• There are two ways of removing water from the sump and hull:
• Electric bilge pump:
The bilge pump senses when there is water in the sump and pumps it out of the boat. Only use the bilge pump when the engines are running as it depletes the battery when the engines are not running.
• Elephant's trunk:
The trunk allows water to drain out of the boat when the boat is planing because the front of the hull tilts upwards. Normally the trunk is drawn in to prevent water entering the boat.

Other equipment

• boat tube pump
• bow line - painter
• 2 stroke oil measuring beaker
• chart holding pipe
• bungees to hold cylinders in rack

Left ashore:

• boat cover - advisable if equipment left is in the boat overnight
• propeller towing bag - needed if the trailer board not placed behind the engines
• VHF radio case and charger
• ear muffs for cooling the engine when running out of water
• 15m garden hose pipe

See the Hiring the Club boat page and the Using the Club boat.