Granny bars with dive tank holders

We had to clear our decks for some serious maintenance and repair and I thought you would like to see the clever idea of granny bars (safety bars around the mast) with built in dive tank holders.

We can not take credit for the idea.  We found it on the internet.  We just modified it to our own needs.  At the time we needed granny bars, to make the top deck safer during reefing (reducing the sails), we also needed someplace  to store the dive tanks safely.

Unfortunately we had limited storage space inside the boat.  All the large lockers were on the port (left) side of the boat, and dive tanks are heavy when full.  This would seriously throw off the balance of the boat.

We were already a ‘little’ stern heavy with the dingy, radar arch and our stern storage box.  We fitted the stern storage box to house our dive compressor, flammable liquids and the emergency drogue.

Fitted with a nylon top the box has also become the ‘slaughter’ area for many an unsuspecting fish.  It keeps all the blood and mess at the back of the boat and easier to clean up.

So back to the granny bars.  This seemed like a very clever idea to move the weight of the dive tanks to the centre of the boat and balanced.

As we are a centre cockpit boat, this means the tanks are readily available for diving.

The metal rings are sufficient to hold the tanks in place in sheltered anchorages, but tank straps (available on the net) hold the tanks much more securely at sea.

Now, you may have thought I had imparted all my great knowledge upon you, but there is one more ‘je ne sais quoi’.  Again I can not take credit for this one.

Ian, from back in Brighton, England, gets all the credit for this great idea.

I knew I needed to make covers for the tanks, to protect them from the elements, but I was also looking for some way to lock the tanks to avoid theft.  Ian came up with a simple solution to both.

Just cover them up with old fenders.  Out of sight is out of mind!