If you are cruising in remote locales, cleaning the bottom yourself may be your only option. In a pinch, you can do it by snorkeling and free diving, but it is absolutely exhausting.
Staying Underwater
One option is to use SCUBA tanks — either on your back or on deck with a long hose — but then you have to get the tanks refilled. You may not find a dive shop to do so in remote locations, and most boats don’t have the space necessary for a dive compressor. If you’re a diving fanatic and plan to do a lot of diving, the space for a compressor may be worthwhile. But for the rest of us, a hookah takes up a lot less space and is actually easier to use for bottom cleaning as there are no tanks to hit against the hull.

Never heard of a hookah? Or only heard of the ones you smoke from? A dive hookah is “surface-supplied air” — basically a compressor that is at the surface with a long hose to your regulator.
We had a gas powered hookah on our previous boat and now have an electric one aboard Barefoot Gal. The gas powered ones come with an inner tube to float the hookah if you want to dive with it — you tow it with you. We thought this sounded wonderful when we bought it, but we found that we greatly preferred the simplicity of snorkeling for a daily activity. We used the hookah almost exclusively for bottom cleaning. The only place that we could store it was on the foredeck . . .

We hadn’t planned to buy a hookah for Barefoot Gal. We had thought that since it is a very shallow draft boat (hull is only 18″), I could keep it clean by free diving when we were in the Bahamas. Yes, I could . . . but an hour of cleaning just wiped me out (and I’m a strong swimmer and very comfortable free diving). I spent more time going up and down to breathe than I did cleaning. That hour got less than a quarter of the bottom done!
Our current hookah is powered by our Honda 2000 generator. It can’t really be used off the boat (yes, it would be possible to put both the generator and hookah in the dinghy and tow it as we swim . . . but it’s unlikely to actually happen).
Since we already had the Honda generator, it’s a much less expensive solution . . . but still not cheap. However, if you’re in places where bottom cleaning is expensive or hard to find, it can pay for itself in a year.
The generator-powered hookah weighs 29 pounds and the compressor and hoses can be stored separately — we keep the compressor inside the boat and the hoses in the sail locker. Since the compressor can walk a bit as it runs, we tie a line from it to a hand rail so it can’t go overboard.
Both our hookahs have been made by AirLine by J. Sink. There are other brands available and you can even find plans to make one yourself on the internet.
The AirLine hookahs aren’t the cheapest, but they use Honda compressors which are easy to service and parts can be found almost anywhere. AirLine also had great customer service when we had a question about our previous hookah.
If you are going to have a hookah, it’s important to have a fairly high-quality hookah as this is literally providing the air you breathe — you cannot use a “regular” air compressor as it will put oil in the air (very bad for your lungs) and you need to have the proper regulators to bring it to the proper pressure for breathing at the surface and underwater. (Brownie’s is the other major brand of dive hookah; they are slightly more expensive.)
There also are some 12v hookahs (and AirLine makes one) but they are designed for the hookah to have a dedicated battery . . . and are more expensive than the ones powered by the generator.
You can get hookahs for one, two, three or even four divers — generally, the more divers you have the less depth they can reach. For bottom cleaning, it’s not really an issue as even with four divers most will let you dive at least 25 feet deep (it takes more pressure to push air deeper, hence the shallower depths with more divers).
NOTE: You need to be SCUBA certified to use a hookah, even at shallow depths. No, probably no one will check. But it’s your life you’re gambling with — SCUBA skills are important in case there is ever a problem (we found that we were much more comfortable/competent snorkelers after being SCUBA certified, too).
We got the hookah from Leisure Pro — the base price everywhere is the same, but free shipping and no sales tax in Florida made it a better deal. This is a basic hookah for one person only and requires at least a 2000 watt generator:
For the electric hookah you’ll need a can of CorrosionX, too:
If you don’t have a generator (and don’t want to get one), the gas powered models are good and are more powerful if you want to have more divers:
- AirLine R260-4 gas-powered hookah for 2 from Leisure Pro (they also have models and add-ons for more divers)
For a gas-powered hookah, AirLine recommends spraying it with Boeshield:
You can see all the hookahs at Leisure Pro here (AirLine also sells them directly, but shipping adds over $100 to the cost, so I prefer Leisure Pro):
Other Tools for Cleaning the Bottom
If you are going to clean the bottom yourself, in addition to your regular snorkel gear, dive weights and a hookah or tanks, you will also need a few other things. No, it’s not cheap to clean your own bottom — but thinking that you can do without gloves, a suit and hair protection is just kidding yourself. It’s a nasty job. Protect yourself from the crud.
- A good pair of gloves so that you don’t cut yourself on barnacles. I’ve been using these from Home Depot for a couple of years and have been really happy — they’ve held up much better than others I’ve tried and are extremely cheap (less than $5 as I write this):
- Women’s Latex-coated work gloves (note: women’s sizes)
- Similar men’s Latex-coated work gloves
2. A couple of scrapers — 1-1/2″ and 3″ are our favorite sizes and we go back and forth as to whether we prefer metal or plastic.
3. Flat-blade screwdriver to get inside through hulls.
4. Wetsuit or Lycra (depending on water temp) and a hood to keep the crud you’re scraping out of your hair
- Neosport Lycras at Leisure Pro (these are the ones we got — measure to select your size, Lycras are sized small); they have held up really well — read more about them in Sunscreen that Doesn’t Kill Coral
- TYR Lycra swim cap from Amazon — yes, I deliberately chose this obnoxious bright pink so that boats could see me!
5. Dive flag to alert other boaters that you are in the water. In some places, it’s the law to fly one; it’s smart everywhere.
OPTIONAL: We have also found a chain-mail glove to be very helpful to get soft growth off. I simply rub the bottom with my hand encased in the chain mail glove. I wear the Latex-coated glove underneath to keep the nasties off my hand and also to ensure that my hand isn’t cut by barnacles bits coming through the chain mail. Chain mail gloves aren’t cheap and if I had to give up one piece of gear to save money, this is what I’d give up. I only have one of these, not two.
Whether it makes sense to get the gear and plan to clean the bottom yourself depends on where you’re planning to cruise, how comfortable you are in the water and how strong a swimmer you are. I’ve cleaned the bottom of both our boats countless times, and frankly, I’m thrilled when I can hire it out at an affordable rate.
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Carolyn Shearlock has lived aboard full-time for 17 years, splitting her time between a Tayana 37 monohull and a Gemini 105 catamaran. She’s cruised over 14,000 miles, from Pacific Mexico and Central America to Florida and the Bahamas, gaining firsthand experience with the joys and challenges of life on the water.
Through The Boat Galley, Carolyn has helped thousands of people explore, prepare for, and enjoy life afloat. She shares her expertise as an instructor at Cruisers University, in leading boating publications, and through her bestselling book, The Boat Galley Cookbook. She is passionate about helping others embark on their liveaboard journey—making life on the water simpler, safer, and more enjoyable.
John Olar says
and silicone ear plugs or anything that will protect your ear canals from tiny little particles that will get dislodged…people ended up in hospitals because of this, not a joke
The Boat Galley says
Great suggestion. I’d never thought of it, just rinsed my ears out well. Definitely getting some!
Connor says
DO NOT USE EAR PLUGS. They leave air between your ear drum and the plug. When diving down the change in pressure of that air can damage your ears.
Carolyn Shearlock says
If diving deep, that could be a problem. But with most boat bottoms being less than 6 feet, there’s not enough change in pressure to be a problem.
Karl Bass says
What do you feel / have experienced is an “affordable rate”
Carolyn Shearlock says
Right now we’re paying $2 per foot overall. Affordability depends on your budget . . .
I wrote a long article about hiring divers to clean the bottom here: Hiring a Diver to Clean the Bottom
Bonnie Gibson-Cunningham says
I use a plastic ice scraper. I prefer a little current and I keep moving to stay out of the ickies (we have a catamaran so it takes several laps to get it all that way). Vinegar/rubbing alcohol solution in my ears after.
Ferdie Burger says
Some good info on bottom cleaning. I’m not sure about your flag. Most of the world use flag Alpha which is blue and white. Offshore everywhere in the commercial diving world it is definitely flag Alpha.
Carolyn Shearlock says
The US, Mexico and Caribbean all use the red dive flag that I showed. We’ve dove in other places where the Alpha flag is used.
Paul says
For your hookah – does it have a T to supply both the regulator and a BC?
Carolyn Shearlock says
You don’t use a BC with a hookah, so there is no need.
Chuck B says
This looks like a really convenient option for diving: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/divingeasier/airbuddy-explore-the-underwater-with-tankless-dive
Carolyn Shearlock says
It’s a battery-powered hookah, which makes it interesting. Downsides are that its target availability date is June 2018 (and many first-time Kickstarter projects run late or never come to fruition), the battery only lasts 45 minutes (it takes over an hour for us to clean our bottom) and that it costs just about as much as one that runs off the generator. Not saying it’s bad, just that it may not be right for everyone.
Chuck B says
Agreed, good points Carolyn. How does its size look to you? I have no experience with hookas and don’t have a frame of reference.
Carolyn Shearlock says
Overall size looks good — fairly similar to other (non-gasoline) hookahs. The other big thing to consider is recharging the battery — it’s going to need a pure sine wave inverter capable of the load or a generator that puts out pure sine wave (I couldn’t find on the site what the draw is — check if you’d need a 1000 watt inverter or 2000 watt). I know from previous experience that lithium batteries do NOT like modified sine wave!
I’d say that I like the concept for someone who either doesn’t have a generator or who wants to be able to do shallow diving with air (40 feet for one person; 20 for two). I’d like to see it in action and see how it holds up after a year or two of use.
Paul says
Does the airline Y to supply the regulator and also support a BC?
Carolyn Shearlock says
You do not use a BC with a hookah since there is no tank with a varying amount of air in it. You just use weights to achieve neutral buoyancy.
Matthew Peterson says
There is no certification of any kind needed to use a hookah. Just as there is no certification required to use SCUBA. It’s not a matter of, “Probably no one will check to see if you have certification.” It’s just simply not required.
Carolyn Shearlock says
True, but I have encountered stores that will not sell equipment without seeing certification, for their own liability reasons. Others don’t require you to show your credentials, but to sign a statement that you are certified or — in the case of a gift item — will be used by someone who is certified.
Florian Wolf says
The stainless steel gloves are a great suggestion – very handy. We will clean and repaint the hull of our boat in a shallow tidal area where for hours on end the boat will be on the dry; with quick-drying paint it should work well, and there is no harm if the old lady refloats in between. As we have an ‘internal keel’ (aka a fairly round bottom) the old girl will gently lean on its side and give us good visibility and access to her belows.
Carolyn, I am trying to find the button to convert your files into PDFs; have you deleted it or am I just too dumb ?
Carolyn Shearlock says
When the site was redesigned last winter, the PDF button went away. But you can easily make them yourself — just go to this site: https://www.printfriendly.com/ and then enter the URL from the post that you want to make into a PDF (it’s the same service I was using with the button).
elwei says
Or just print from your browser into a file.
Wayne Berry7 says
When you get a chance check out (WISH) type in stainless steel gloves. I have bought a few items off this site and have been happy with quality