It's been a little slow around the board, so I thought I'd volunteer a report on the Nuvair SCUBA compressor (other than being a customer, I have no connection to the company).

Prior to our last cruise (SF to Baja then the S. Pacific and back to SF), we bought the Nuvair compressor. A photo is shown below (except we got the stainless steel frame option). It was then used extensively during the 2 years we were out.

The compressor is small enough that it fit into the storage box that you can see on our aft deck

Stored there, it takes only a minute to open the lids, pull the compressor out, close the lids and finally, set the compressor on the closed lids of the storage box and it's ready to go. It's not exactly light, but light enough that I can lift it in and out of the box unassisted. Being so easy to access, we didn't hesitate to use it. A LOT!! At one point while we were stopped in Mopelia, it was filling the tanks for half a dozen divers. most of them doing 2 dives a day. Had it been stored in a deep hold where it was a real pain to get out or put away, it just wouldn't have gotten any use. As it was, we didn't hesitate to use the tanks.

The unit is quite noisy, so much so that I always used hearing protection when filling tanks and if I'm at a dock or in a crowded anchorage with other boat owners aboard, I warn them that it's quite loud and ask their permission to run it for however long it's going to take (about 20 minutes per tank to fill it from 400psi up to 3000psi). It has a 1 gallon fuel tank and I've never kept track, but we can probably fill about eight tanks before it needs refuelling.

Bottom line, is that it's been very reliable, usually starting on the first pull of the rope. The only failures I've had is that I've twice had to replace the starting rope when it broke after much use.

Nuvair receives two thumbs up from me. Having the SCUBA gear along opened up a whole new aspect to our cruising life.