Perfect Dive Vehicle

[Seth T.]

My first dive vehicle was an '86 Isuzu I-Mark. Think 2-door Geo Metro only smaller and less rounded. I painted two black rally stripes (with spray paint) down the car and bolted on 4 rally lights (which I never hooked up). It had a 5 speed manual and 62 horsepower.

Once I took up diving, I took out the passenger seat and two tanks fit perfectly on the floor between the seat tracks. That solved the problem of wear to put them.

Best of all, when I took my girlfriend (now my wife!) out to dinner, she sat in the backseat and had full limo legroom. Does it get any better than that?

Sadly, I totalled the car by driving it into a ditch at 70 MPH, flipping it 3 times. Darn near killed myself.

[lurch]

Perfect dive vehicle?

One of these with:
1) Alum compartments for gear bins/bags on each side behind the cab.
2) A locker for tanks behind it, stored vertically with retention.
3) Dual-level platforms on the back (built into the bed, not fold out which might break) for both tall and short divers.
4) water tank mounted on top of the compartments with a shower head that swings out plus a hand-held spray hose. Small generator for added pressure.
5) Hitch bar for the ultimate dive boat.

Best thing about this rig is it's customizable.
1) You can do up the compartments however you want. Make the shower tank as large as you want. As many shower heads as you want. As many tank slots for singles or doubles as you want.
2) Regular cab and short bed for ease of parking and/or for 2-3 divers.
3) Quad-cab and long bed for 4-6 divers
4) F150-F650 depending on size of dive boat and/or size/amount of tanks.

F 650???? What the heck are you towing with that?

QE2

[texdiveguy]

I have a 03' Ford Focus Station Wagon that works great for kitting up and transporting dive gear.

[Seth T.]

I have a 03' Ford Focus Station Wagon that works great for kitting up and transporting dive gear.

Good gas mileage to boot!

[cold_diver]

Our current vehicle is a mitsubishi outlander good mpg but only enough room for two and their gear.
If I was going to buy again I would go with the Honda Ridgeline with a covered bed that locks and the four door cab I think it would be the ideal dive rig. Honda claims it will tow 6K with the tow package, I wonder if it has the brakes to stop that much though.

[Sea of Green]

It might be a big step up from a Metro, but if you are looking at diving in comfort, this has to be the way to go...
http://www.terrawind.com/terrawind.htm
How many dive vehicles do you know that you can actually dive from? I mean really...it has it own swim step.

I just now looked closely at the pics, I'm not so sure about this vehicle for use in the Puget Sound. The pics are all taken at a calm lake. Plus with that high profile, I'd be hesitant to take it out in the often windy Sound. Not to mention the havoc that sea water would do to the body, even with thorough maintenance. And I don't trust that platform held up by four skinny ropes. They may be cables, but they appear to be ropes. If they are cables, are they salt-water compliant?

I would be more comfortable with a similar but land-only vehicle that was customized for cleaning and stowing dive gear. If I could afford something like that, then I probably could well afford a boat too.

[Sea of Green]

I'm pretty happy with my dive vehicle.

Now is that really you standing in the back of the vehicle, or is it one of those painted-on murals?

[Solitude Diver]

Well, for those of us who already have their trucks, and just can’t seem to justify trading them in for the boat (too hard to commute with, although its worth thinking about ) there are still options to make them usable.

I have a hard tonneau cover on my truck (not a canopy) and really like it. The problem as some have stated is that it is hard to reach the front because it is hinged there. I don’t want a full canopy (tilting or otherwise) and have found a few options that I have looked at.

The primary one is a bed that slides out if you want. I have looked at them in a shop/mock-up and they work pretty slick. They hold over 1,200 lbs fully extended. There are a few other items to make it more user friendly that I am looking at as well.

http://www.bedslide.com/products/st_contractor.html

http://www.4are.com/product/topup/

http://www.pickupspecialties.com/Tailga ... awning.htm

[mattwave]

Well, for those of us who already have their trucks, and just can’t seem to justify trading them in for the boat (too hard to commute with, although its worth thinking about ) there are still options to make them usable.

I have a hard tonneau cover on my truck (not a canopy) and really like it. The problem as some have stated is that it is hard to reach the front because it is hinged there. I don’t want a full canopy (tilting or otherwise) and have found a few options that I have looked at.

Next Truck I want the tonneau that lift completely vertical from the bed, I heard there are conversions for any tonneau. I will try and find the link, they are slick.

[Solitude Diver]

Next Truck I want the tonneau that lift completely vertical from the bed, I heard there are conversions for any tonneau. I will try and find the link, they are slick.

The 2nd link I posted is for one of them.

I have checked into them, and could not find the lift kit separately for my Tonneau. They sell the whole thing (colored to match stock truck colors). I think the price was around $3-4,000.