The Razor said...
Hi
I am interested in a 'scubapumps' electric hookah which is made in the US and sold for about AUS $430 (plus $200 postage to Aus). I want it for cleaning my yacht's hull.
They are advertised on eBay.
Does anyone have one of these units or know anything about them?
They are a fraction of the price of the Australian made version.
Also wondering how big an inverter would need to be to run the unit off the batteries.
Cheers
This is a subject I was going to raise. I have that item saved in my Ebay as well. I have been going to get a hookah together for some time and have done a fair amount of research. There is plenty of info out there if you Google. Most of the units I have seen are actually made/put together in the USA and are suitably expensive for what you get. You will notice with the 12 volt units that the pictures of the 12v compressor are hard to see and specs are a little lite on. The ones I have actually had my hands on are identical to those twin cylinder pump units on eBay for $99.
Basically you need 100psi and at least 45litres per minute, oil less compressor, this is for one person to 60 feet. 50 feet of food quality hose and a regulator designed for a hookah. The rest of the stuff is unnecessary. You have to have at least 50 foot of hose even though you are just doing the hull. The hose floating in the water cools the air and gives some reserve.
This is a bit from the Cruising forum I saved;
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I clean hulls for a living and have done for 15 years. I speak from experience.
Tell your son that the $100 compressor from Home Depot is perfectly safe to use, providing that it is an oil-less compressor. There are no compressors designed specifically to provide breathing air, at least not at the consumer level. Commercial dive companies will use surface supplied air, but we are not talking about small, portable hookahs, we are talking about large units that cost many thousands of dollars and have multiple diver and communication capabilities etc. Not suitable for the hull diver.
The only difference between the compressors found on the shelf at Home Depot and the ones sold in hookah rigs are overall quality of design and some bells and whistles. For instance, many compressors come with reserve tanks, which are generally unsuitable for use in a marine environment and basically unnecessary for this application anyway. Also, the cheaper compressors (like the $100 unit your son is considering) are much less durable than compressors costing only $200.
The most common compressor used in the hull cleaning industry is the Thomas 1020. They cost about $225 or less. They are small, extremely rugged and easy to repair. Can't buy them off-the-shelf (at least I've never found them) but Amazon.com and Toolbarn.com have them all the time.
Regarding breathing hose and regulators; it is critical that your son only use hose rated to provide breathing air. Pneumatic tool-style hoses are unsuitable and dangerous to use. 2nd stage SCUBA regs may or may not work in a low-pressure hookah application. Some do, some don't. To avoid any issues in this regard, I use regs that have been modified for use in a hookah setup.
BTW, here's a link to the other hookah thread previously mentioned:
http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-m...ers-hooka.html__________________
"Clean bottoms are FastBottoms"
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Last week I bought a hookah regulator off eBay for $43,[new] exactly the same as the unit in the item you referred to, hookah hose on eBay $49. Filter unit is about $20. Next weeks special at Aldi is a 2 cylinder compressor for $99. I'm waiting till then to ensure its an oilless system, all the other specs exceed requirements. As you can see its not expensive to assemble the stuff yourself.
Regards,
Graham
. we had the proper compressor in the yard for over a year without a hire 
