Scooter Diving

A Scooter (or Diver Propulsion Vehicle or DPV or Underwater Propulsion Vehicle or UPV) is used by divers to increase their range while underwater where their endurance is restricted due to limited availability of breathing gas and need to avoid decompression sickness.

A scooter generally consists of a battery-powered electric motor which drives a propeller. The machine should be designed to avoid some predictable operating problems. It should be neutrally buoyant in the water. The diver should not be able to accidentally start the motor. The propeller should be shielded so that it does not damage the diver, the diver's equipment or marine life.

The most common sort of DPV is where a diver is towed behind it holding onto one of its two handles on its stern or bow. These types of scooters are efficient because the divers rides in the slip stream of the scooter as opposed to a "ride-on-top" which must be ridden and increases drag, which affects scooter battery burn time. Even more efficient are the tow-behind scooters where the diver could wear a harness and backplate or BC with a front crotch-strap D-ring where the scooter is clipped by means of a bolt snap and tow leash with proper length. This way the diver rides above the slip stream of the scooter while remaining horizontal thereby minimizing the energy used to move water (bollard pull).

DPVs are useful for long journeys at constant depth where navigation is easy. Some divers engaged in Cave diving and Technical diving use DPVs. For cave divers a scooter is essential. Many of the deep penetration cave dives would simply be impossible without a scooter. The distances are just too far to swim. In these situations the scooter is an essential part of the diver’s life support system, they would not be able to swim out without it and so spare scooters and scooters staged at certain points are just as important as spare and staged gas. Cave diving scooters require very long burn times and can trade-off increased weight for increased burn time.

For wreck divers a scooter is not part of their life support system but it can still be an essential tool. Deeper wrecks are often larger and more intact than those in shallower water and so there is more wreck to see. At the same time, for deeper dives the available bottom time becomes a critical resource and a scooter allows the diver to see more of the wreck within that bottom time.