Solo Kit setup: the required, redundant, optional, and hell-no items

[rfwoodvt]

With winter and few options for hitting the water right now I'm reviewing my kit for my independent diving to see what I might want to add and what I might want to leave behind. This applies to both in-water kit and support kit I leave onboard the boat, or in my truck.

My independent diving parameters are pretty tame, 45-foot max dive and bottom depths, mostly shore based though I do sometimes use a boat. May do up to three consecutive dives per trip but more likely two or less.

Kind of curious what you folks consider to be essential items and what items you can do without. Also curious which items you absolutely want more than one of.

And, as usual, I'm very much interested in your reasoning behind your decisions

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Needed:
Redundant air supply - stage bottle (19cuft min for those depths but a 30 is better) or sidemount set up.
Primary and two backup lights.
DSMB (small) w/spool and large DSMB or SMB.
Mirror for self-checks underwater.
Two cutting devices accessible with either hand.
Backup mask.
Written checklist and dive plan.
Computer and backup or bottom timer and tables.
That's pretty much a general gear list.
Surface signaling devices.
Cell phone with a charged battery where you can get to it fast. On the boat or in your car of course. Unless you have a housing for it.
Other essentials are a written plan left with someone you trust with the expected return time and how long to wait before calling someone.
A frank discussion with your loved ones about what you are doing and that if something happens, your body may never be recovered. And if it is, unless right away, it's not going to be pretty.
I'm a retired solo, recreational, and technical instructor.

 

[Bowers]

45’ is conservative enough that I personally would be less hard core. I usually dive sidemount but for that profile would be fine with a small pony tank such as an al19 as my redundant air. Some would argue that shallow dives don’t need ponies because you could just cesa, but a 19 is so easy and hassle free to bring along that i would rather have it. If there is potential for entanglement hazards i still like 2 cutting devices. Always keep some kind of communication device in a drybox on the boat or near your exit. A first aid kit on the boat or in the car is important as well (whether or not you’re solo). A pocket snorkel is nice in case you have some surface time but doesn’t need to be on your mask the whole time. A compass in most cases can save some headache and keep you from long surface swims.
Above all making sure you are proficient with your gear and streamlined. Loose gear getting tangled on things or not staying where you think it should be when you need it is a huge problem. I have seen guys wear knives for years and not be able to reach them during a dive or use a pony bottle and have never practiced deploying it, etc…

 

[jadairiii]

45' and recreational dive (no overhead environment), DIN valve on the tank and reg 1st stage DIN compatible. Monitor your air. Have fun!

As to boat diving solo, that is a no. Someone should be on the boat.

 

[gbirch]

Computer and backup or bottom timer and tables.

Seems a bit excessive for a 45min / 45ft dive - Just an opinion.

 

[Cthippo]

Steel 72 on the back
AL40 strapped in front
1 BFK and several pair of trauma shears
1 computer mounted to my harness (acts as SPG)

 

[Bigbella]

Personally -- YMMV -- I don't even bother with pony bottles, unless I am going to spend quality time below, say, 20 meters; then it's with either 19 or 23 c.f. tanks -- and often paired with a gas-switching block, should a FFM be in use.

Many local dives mirror those planned by the OP, and I have no issue with controlled ascents from that general depth, should it ever be necessary; and typically carry 100 c.f. tanks, for those solo romps, which last a damn long time, in the shallows.

That said, I do believe in all redundant knives, shears, what-have-you -- which I have put to far more use than any DSMBs, extra masks, or even ponies, for that matter. I currently carry three -- EMT shears on a lanyard; a nasty Spyderco serrated boat knife, and a dedicated line-cutter, attached to the BC.

I additionally carry an spg / depth gauge, along with the computer at hand, as well as one of my beater dive watches, for elapsed time. My analogue gear has never failed; computers, on the other hand, a qualified eh.

Too much extraneous gear can also pose a hazard; and I've pulled more than a few turtled solo divers out of the water off Carmel, who looked like they had been preparing for an amphibious assault of Pebble Beach . . .

​

 

[rx7diver]

... Kind of curious what you folks consider to be essential items and what items you can do without. Also curious which items you absolutely want more than one of. ...

I have three recreational solo configurations:

1. For recreational solo no deeper than ~30 ffw, I use a single cylinder and a J-valve. (I just sourced a new-ish NOS U.S. Divers J-valve yesterday, in fact. It's on its way!) For these dives, I use my DH regulator (a U.S. Divers DAAM that is upgraded with a 1st gen VDH Phoenix nozzle).

2. For recreational solo between ~30 and ~60 ffw, I use a single cylinder with a Y-valve. So, two complete single-hose regulators.

3. For recreational solo between ~60 ffw and ~130 ffw, I use isolation-manifolded baby doubles (Faber LP50's).

The first two configurations lend themselves nicely to long-ish surface swims under snorkel power when I am using either my OMS LP 66 (with config #1, usually) or my old-school PST 72 (with config #2, usually) and diving in either a thin or medium-thick wetsuit.

Oh, and I use analog gauges and a self-winding divers watch. (No PDC.)

rx7diver

 

[Waterwulf]

For forty five foot, I would probably want a pony tank rig but it doesn't have to be much. No, a free ascent from that depth is no big deal unless your primary quit right after an exhale. I carry three cutters, a line cutter on my vest, a small knife also on my vest and a RBFK on the inside of my calf. (That's R for "Really") My tanks are equipped with J valves which are great for never draining a tank and also for those aww cr@p moments. My BC is a Horse Collar style so I can float on my back if I want to. My snorkel and a marker beacon of course. Analog instruments with a bottom timer and my watch and brain as back ups.

As far as solo boat diving: I did a lot of diving years ago with nobody left in the boat, sometimes solo, sometimes not. Some tips. Always use a really really really tall dive flag. Even a slight swell with some chop can block your view of the boat. Tall flags help find it. Always use a drag line, about a hundred yards long with floats every thirty feet. Milk jugs work but bleach bottles last longer. There were several times when that drag line saved me from a hard up-current swim or worse. Follow the anchor line down and makes sure it's dug in good. Always file a flight plan.

Personally, I do and will continue to solo dive. However, I won't leave my boat alone on the surface anymore. Back then, if some other boater saw a Diver Down flag, they stayed away. Not anymore. Nowadays, you might surface to find your boat stripped and sinking.

 

[2airishuman]

45' is an odd depth, sort of in the interregnum between shallow and deep, as it were. Where I dive usually the viz limits practical depth to around 30' at most locations, and 100' is feasible otherwise. Clearly your situation is different.

I start bringing redundant air at 60'. Above that, the surface is my redundant air.

Gear. Beyond the basics, much depends upon the body of water where I'm diving. In "safer" lakes where the shore is nearby and boats are not a significant hazard I don't bring much, though my kit always includes an inflatable safety-orange baton, a storm whistle, and a mirror. I also carry a safety linecutter, a light, and a compass on all dives.

On larger lakes I carry a large (6') SMB in a zippered web pocket on the bottom of my backplate, and a spool of line. If there are boats I sometimes use a dive flag, though less often in recent years. Not convinced it helps. If I am diving from a boat I use a flag on the boat except maybe if I'm going to be right under the boat the whole time.

Solo diving from the boat, I will evaluate the situation. Typically when I am doing this the boat is a matter of lawful access. From the dive site the shore may be nearby but privately owned, so I cannot plan the dive around it, but it is there in the event of an emergency. On larger bodies of water where I am diving beyond a reasonable swimming distance to shore, I will not dive without someone in the boat.

For shore dives a long way from shore, and deeper shore dives, I sometimes use a milk crate with an inner tube lashed to it, and a dive flag. If it's a deeper dive I have a hang tank of 40% nitrox under it with a reg bungeed to it like a stage.

In terms of surface support there's always someone who knows where I am and what my schedule is. I will have emergency oxygen where deeper dives are planned (100') or if there are other people besides me diving, particularly new divers. I have a first-aid kit in my car. If I have traveled far for the dive I have a spare regset, a save-a-dive kit, and an extra cylinder in the car too.

Below 60' I bring an AL19 rigged as a stage, under my left arm.

I like to use larger dive cylinders on longer dives (i.e. where the destination is a good distance from shore) and deeper dives. I have a bunch of HP100 and HP120 cylinders and use those on anything beyond a lake dive along the weed line (20').

On longer dives where I need the air, or if I'm going to be at 100' or below, I switch to a twinset.