So, this year I acquired a second, so to speak, guest device, the question arose about the underwater search methodology. Simplex Plus, the most budget-friendly underwater device capable of operating at a depth of up to 3 meters. Which, undoubtedly, is an additional advantage when choosing this particular device among analogues from competitors in the price category of 20 thousand +. So, from the moment of purchasing the MD, there was a desire to test the device at a place of mass bathing of people, standard for our latitudes. You need to understand that beach search in our latitudes of central Russia is not like Egypt and the UAE, we don’t have many beaches, and most of them, if not all, have already been knocked down several times to the level of environmental cleanliness standard.
So, the presence of such an additional feature as Simplex water resistance makes this MD interesting from the point of view of trying it in shallow water. Namely, in places where people have been actively bathing for many decades. This, of course, is not a full-fledged underwater MD, which will be bought by people who are ready to spend up to 150 thousand rubles on scuba gear and other equipment. But, nevertheless, 3 meters deep is an opportunity to try to find jewelry lost by someone, once, somehow through negligence.
And a question immediately arises. How to look for these same jewelry? Variants of how, in conditions of crystal clear sea water, treasure hunters walk along the bottom of the sea and wave their arms, eroding the sand at the signal point. This option will not work for us. The water is usually cloudy, the bottom is muddy, and there are all sorts of algae. So you have to find out everything yourself. I googled a little, watched a few videos on this topic and realized that I would need a scub. Again, a request, an Internet search and I see that the price tag for scuba starts from 6 thousand and this is without delivery. Thought about it. Six thousand is still six thousand. This is not a fiskar you bought for seven hundred rubles and that’s it, ready for a cop in the field.
And then a note caught my eye that people make these scubs themselves. “Why not?” I thought, I have the tool, I’ll find the material, I’ll make time on the weekend. By design? Made. Below is a step-by-step story with photographs.
Question one. What to make it from? You need hard galvanized or stainless steel with a large number of holes. At first I thought of using an old drum from a washing machine, but then in a pile of various “maybe it will come in handy” junk, I found a material that was interesting to me. What this is, I once did not know. Perhaps something from agricultural machinery. But this material suited me very well.
I have known how to work with galvanized sheet since childhood. I helped my uncle when he made very good money making buckets in the 90s. Now, if you tell anyone that the buckets were made from titanium sheet, they won’t believe it. And we did. A chemical plant in the area went bankrupt, so they dragged everything from there, whatever, whatever, whoever could take it away. So my uncle, I brought titanium casing sheets from the heat exchanger. So we had titanium buckets on our farm. Only galvanized buckets were for sale. But on my grandfather’s farm, the cows were milked by hand, but with titanium buckets. It was a wonderful time, though.
Since I don’t have a welding machine, and in general I initially planned to make a scuba without welding, I decided to use a hoe as a handle. I went and bought a new hoe, came home and looked at the new hoe and felt like a housewife. I rummaged through old household equipment, found an old unnecessary hoe, and decided to use it. But, a problem arose during work. Three holes were drilled easily, but in the fourth corner the drill refused to even make a scratch. Apparently there was a hot iron spot. But, oh well, it turned out well with three holes.
Two hours of work and the scuba is ready, all that remains is to sharpen the cutting part.
After the first test drive, I had to make a bevel in the front part. This, in general, made the design easier, and in my opinion should have improved the performance.
After the second trip, I thought about it, the experience gained showed that it will not always be possible to use the scuba and not everywhere. At a depth of about one and a half meters at the bottom of the lake it turned out to be a dense layer of white clay, and the scuba there was practically useless. So, the fact that I made it myself without buying it was a wise decision. Well, it’s quite likely that it could turn out that 6 thousand + delivery is a minus to the family budget.