Leaving bottles

[DevonDiver]

If you're willing to lay down line and have the skills / procedures to guarantee that you can get back to where you left the cylinders securely attached outside, I see no harm in doing so. If you're instead going to rely on fickle memory to guide your exit (or don't really care where you come out), then best to either keep all bottles attached or simply not bother with any penetrations.

Anything less isn't really 'technical wreck' diving IMHO. The same would apply to a generic OW 'tech diver' heading into a cave system...

Bad skillz is bad skillz....

 

[Centrals]

I carry all the deco tanks on ow dive.
For wreck diving then it is different. It depends on the depth and familiarity of the wreck. I might carry all the tanks. I might leave all the deco tanks beside the tie off of the main shot line. I might leave them just outside/inside of the point of penetration.

 

[GrimSleeper]

Most of my OW ascents are either up a reef wall or blue water under a bag, so there's no way my deco gas is going to be anywhere but with me. For wreck penetration, as Devon Diver says, it's situation-dependent as to whether I'll stage tanks off or not, but if I am leaving my decos then they're getting clipped to the line I lay and I'm coming out the way I went in.

We don't really have to worry about other divers interfering with our gear here... One of the advantages of being just past the middle of nowhere!

 

[diverdoug1]

Someone took at tank at EN??? That is shocking to me. I expect it at places like Ginnie, but EN? Just damn!

Yah, if I had caught them, there would have been more than a little "splainin" to do! I made a police report, but did not have much info other than a regulator serial number to give them. My name is painted on all my tanks, but I am sure it got painted or dumped. Ancient history (almost 15 years ago).

 

[Rainer]

Lol, yeah, but try telling that to all the guys on the East Coast of the USA.

Anything less isn't really 'technical wreck' diving IMHO. The same would apply to a generic OW 'tech diver' heading into a cave system...

Bad skillz is bad skillz....

 

[TSandM]

If somebody has to take one of my cylinders to survive, more power to them, and may they never make the error again that they made that ended up with them needing my gas. If I've done my gas planning properly, I've prepared for the loss of any one cylinder, anyway.

 

[boulderjohn]

Cave divers stage deco on the basis of returning along the same path. So why shouldn't technical wreck divers?


Yes, a wreck may present alternative exit points - but. to me, those would generally be for contingency/emergency/escape egress only.

In almost all cases, if something happens and the cave diver does not exit on the same path, it's all over, and missing deco bottles are the least of their problems. There is usually only once choice.

In the incidents recorded in The Last Dive, all three of the victims fully intended to go back on the same path. It seems to me to be all too easy for caca on the fan to make a planned egress impossible. On the case of the Rouse's, they were evidently confused by narcosis upon their exit and did not have the ability to find their tanks. Chowdhury, also incapacitated by narcosis, knew where his deco gas was, but he did not have enough gas to get to it.

Yes, I think there will be situations where such an act makes sense, and I might do it myself under those circumstances, but it will only be after long consideration.

 

[DevonDiver]

In almost all cases, if something happens and the cave diver does not exit on the same path, it's all over, and missing deco bottles are the least of their problems. There is usually only once choice.

Yep, that's one of the big differences: wreck versus cave. Wrecks often (but not always) present alternative exit routes. There's plenty that can happen in a wreck that'd make a return along the penetration line impossible - I'd hazard to say that collapse of structure was generally a higher risk in wrecks, than caves?

In the incidents recorded in The Last Dive, all three of the victims fully intended to go back on the same path. It seems to me to be all too easy for caca on the fan to make a planned egress impossible. On the case of the Rouse's, they were evidently confused by narcosis upon their exit and did not have the ability to find their tanks. Chowdhury, also incapacitated by narcosis, knew where his deco gas was, but he did not have enough gas to get to it.

I also think that narcosis management was the primary issue - but with that in mind, the staging of tanks may not be the most reasonable option - if high narcotic stress is predicted.

The answer (obviously) being to mitigate the narcosis and/or adopt procedures that ensure divers can return to the tanks should they be unable to return along their initial penetration route.

Yes, I think there will be situations where such an act makes sense, and I might do it myself under those circumstances, but it will only be after long consideration.

When conducting penetrations on wrecks, I tend to have a specific goal - that being to reach X, Y or Z area inside the wreck. As such, the goal tends to dictate the approach. If reaching that area requires passing through restrictions and/or other areas where a deco tank would be unsuitable, then the deco tank would be staged. That is, more often than not, the case. Hence, my typical approach would be to stage tanks at the primary tie-off. Wherever possible, I'll have investigated other access/egress points... and ensure I am familiar with the wreck layout, so that reaching that tie-off/staging point can be accomplished. If there was doubt about that capability, then I'd consider running an external line on the wreck (from which my penetration line would run).

 

[ajduplessis]

.......

Leaving them in a cave can be problematic, too. There have been a number of thefts of deco bottles left at 20 feet in Ginnie Springs;

.......

I will personally drown someone if I find them stealing bottles. If someone touches other divers "life-lines" that's what is coming their way

 

[cavedivefl.com]

I will personally drown someone if I find them stealing bottles. If someone touches other divers "life-lines" that's what is coming their way

Take Em to the sign or at least 1/2 to the lips,,,