You may have seen someone on a local dive being towed underwater by a torpedo or you may have heard the word dive propulsion vehicle or scooter.
Well if you didn’t know the best mode of transportation underwater, be it if you want to get to a dive site or if you just want to have fun, there isn’t anything better than a dive propulsion vehicle often abbreviated as DPV or referred to as an underwater scooter.
What is a Dive Propulsion Vehicle (DPV) or scooter?
Just like the name suggests, a dive propulsion vehicle is a piece of equipment, normally shaped like a torpedo and powered by a battery, that propels you through the water while diving. A DPV can tow you behind it or, in some cases, there will be a little cockpit area so that you can get on top of it and ride it. Another form of a DPV can attach to your tanks and propel you through the waters in a way that makes you look like superman.
Different Types of Dive Propulsion Vehicles/ Scooters
DPVs have been around since the ’80s but with the development of battery technology and modern electrical motor outputs, not all DPVs are equal. There are three general classes they will fall into.
Compact DPVs
These are small and lightweight. Compact scooters are normally significantly cheaper than recreational or technical scooters. However, these scooters tend to sacrifice performance and battery life for their lightweight and small size. These scooters usually don’t travel much faster than the average swimmer. If you’re a cold-water diver in a full cold water kit, this scooter may not cut it for a true scootering experience.
Recreational DPVs
Recreational DPVs are more mainstream and you will often see them on magazine covers and in videos. The recreational DPV is bigger than the compact version, which does make it harder to carry if you have a long walk to a dive site. However, with that added weight there is added performance and fun. These scooters are a blast and they’re designed to be maneuverable and to have decent battery life. They normally have two handles for one to hang on to while piloting the scooter. There are several different versions of recreational DPVs and they can have top speeds of 1-4kpm/1-3mph. This of course will depend on how much equipment you have for your particular dive.
Technical DPVs
Technical dive propulsion vehicles are constantly evolving. I have been interested in them for the past 10 years, and in that time technical DPVs went from having top speeds of 100 feet per minute with a max run time of 120 mins to now some of the current models having a top speed of over 300 feet per minute, which works out to in excess of 5km/h with over 5 hour run times. If you have deep pockets and shell out some money for all the bells and whistles one can get scooters with a digital display with all the scooter metrics. The scooter’s digital display will include things like current speed and battery life and it will also map your scooter run which is an amazing tool to relive your dive, but also very useful for exploring caves or finding new dive sites.
Technical scooters are the cutting edge of underwater dive propulsion vehicles. These units are normally very robustly built with aluminum bodies and environmentally sealed motors in case of flooding. They typically have removable and interchangeable propellers with depth ratings deeper than most non-commercial divers will ever dive, which kind of makes you wonder who they are making these things for. One word…. the military.
Course/safety
With all the fun one can have dived with a DPV, being able to travel and see more on the same tank of air, why would anyone not want to go diving with a scooter? Well as fun as it is, there are some safety factors to be aware of as with everything diving, due to the nature of the underwater world. That is why many dive agencies provided dive propulsion vehicle courses. I personally did the course through Dan’s Dive Shop and the PADI Dive Propulsion Vehicle course was combined with two other courses, Intro to Technical Diving and a Cavern Diver Course. I felt that doing it along with these courses over a week-long training, made the DPV course a good complement to the other two courses and the kind of diving I was advancing to do. The course will cover such things as components of the DPV, maintenance of a DPV (different makes have different maintenance requirements for the prop shaft), battery conditioning, and maintenance of seals to prevent leaks.
There are also safety skills which you will be shown and then required to perform including such things as:
-Towing another diver with the scooter
-Communicating with another diver while towing
-Dealing with a dead battery while scootering
-Dealing with a runaway scooter
These are just some of the skills you will be shown and be required to perform. I personally feel like the runaway scooter skill is invaluable. In spite of being fairly logical, it may not be apparent or intuitive in the heat of the moment when a scooter takes off uncontrollably with you attached to it, so that alone is a good reason to take the course, in my opinion.
Recommended DPVs
Recreational
45 min run time
4k/h
Depth rating 100ft
Yamaha
Features
1.5 hours run time
4.8k/h wow fast
Depth rating 100ft
Technical
Suex Xjs
https://www.suex.it/en/product/xj-s/
Run time 8 hours
5.1 km/hr
Depth rating 300 ft
Digital console
Speed and compass options
Seacraft
Speed 5.76km/hr
5.8 hour run time
Depth rating 820ft
Digital console
Speed and compass options
Variety of battery configuration
Conclusion
Just like flying a plane is great because you get to glide through the environment freely and see more than you could be walking or swimming, and boating is great because you’re on the water and able to get to where you want to go, or better yet it’s just fun to cruise, that is what makes a DPV or dive scooter the ultimate in fun. You get to see more than you could if you swam, you get the sensation of flying through the water, you get longer bottom times because you’re not exerting yourself by letting the scooter do the work. Those reasons are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how much fun a scooter is. The only downside to scooters is the faster and better they get the more fun they are underwater. So I guess what I mean to say is…there is no downside!