What Did You Self-Teach Yourself?

[telemonster]

I dove a drysuit once or twice, but sold it. I was going to repair it (replace hand seals) but decided I'd rather have a different one in the future. Read up on it, practiced the roll and air bubbles at feet, watched out for buoyancy issues. Would like to get a used but good condition DUI TLS 350 in the future.

Picked up a vintage double hose regulator. Read up on clearing it, it's a fun quarry toy (Royal Aquamaster). A friend let me borrow his pony for the dive, I rolled without a SPG (got an adapter that sandwiches in there but it's not very good). Need to get it serviced, just cause. She's a piece of art though.

Full face mask. Just for fun. Someone on here said a certain one was good, so I set my sights on it to try it out. S'okay. Can clear it, ditch it, don it, no big deal. If I get the chance to get an AGA or EXO 26 for a song I'd probably do it, just for quarry and to try them out.

I'm pretty comfortable in the water, so to me the OW course wasn't a big deal. Especially after seeing some of the other students, and how not a single one of them cracked the book that everyone was supposed to read and fill out the questions on. I did the classroom part of AOW last year. There were a few things that I learned from it, but really, I felt the course was a huge rip off. Gotta do my dives this year.

I need to finish AOW as I understand that boats require it. I plan to follow that up with an advanced nitrox (I've already done SSI Nitrox, and liked the course).

After I do advanced nitrox I plan to take a course for an Inspiration eCCR I picked up. I will not ever attempt to dive it without a full course (won't bother buying the o2 sensors until I'm in the course). I have read Mastering Rebreathers though, which is a most educational book (Bozniak?). The Inspo course runs $1300 on top of the advanced Nitrox pre-req, which makes the cost of the AOW peanuts. Not sure if I'll make it to that this summer.

Oh yes, and I've looked into the OC regulator service stuff. I understand how it works, IP, crack pressure, etc. I still have the shop do mine though. For some reason many people seem to treat it as taboo, that the end user isn't supposed to know how they work. This seems silly. I want to know every detail as to how it works.

Still lots to learn! Still lots to do. I'm in zero rush to go deep and don't care about macho stuff. Just like to swim around underwater and check out fish and whatever!

 

[Diver0001]

I don't think I self-taught myself anything. Even on things like drysuit, solo, various kicks, wreck-diving and penetration, boat diving, drift diving, various equipment related skills etc etc, which are all things I learned by doing, I had some "instruction" in the form either by being mentored, reading something, finding information on the internet etc etc.

There are few wheels that I invented myself completely from scratch.

R..

 

[Deefstes]

I shouldn't be surprised. Is there a class that teaches one how to fart underwater?

Well that's one thing I taught myself. Also peeing in my wetsuit, I just decided the C-Card for that isn't worth the money.

 

[Walter]

Also peeing in my wetsuit, I just decided the C-Card for that isn't worth the money.

Actually, that is a learned skill, although it doesn't take a class. When you pee in your wet suit (or right after, doesn't matter much), put yourself in a head down/feet up position, stick your octo in the neck of your wet suit and hit the purge button. It turns your wet suit into an air lift and cleans the urine right out. Make sure your suit is not tucked into your boots.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Yeah, even though I'm still a rank noob, even I thought the scooter class seemed like a diving equivalent of Elementary Nose Picking 101. Um; you read the instruction book on how to turn on and control the throttle on the scooter, and then just point it where you want to go. My guess is, the biggest part of the class is stressing things like, "Watch your depth gage so you don't go too deep or surface too fast" and "pay attention to your air and your scooter charge so you don't end up OOA and with a dead battery far, far away from the boat".

You know; stuff that should be common sense.

So what would you do if your trigger got stuck?

How would you prevent getting separated from your dive buddy (who is also, presumably, on a scooter)?

How would you even communicate with your buddy?

What would you do if you or your buddy ran out of air or experienced a reg freeflow?

What would you do if your scooter died suddenly and you were in a stiff current or overhead or ... as you say ... far from the boat?

Everything about diving is simple and common sense as long as everything goes right. The purpose of most classes is to teach you how to keep from turning yourself into a casualty on those occasions when something goes wrong.

You don't necessarily need a class to learn those things. A well-run class will shorten the learning curve ... but so will a well-chosen mentor and a reasonable amount of bottom time.

But unless all you ever aspire to is diving shallow tropical reefs under the guidance of a divemaster, it behooves you to learn them.

Like a number of other people have mentioned, though, I'm finding that I'm learning a heck of a lot more right here on Scubaboard than I would anywhere else besides actual dives.

The longer you dive ... and the more you learn ... the more you will come to realize that a great deal of the advice on ScubaBoard either doesn't apply to how you dive, or it's completely bogus. Sometimes it's difficult to know what's knowledge and what's opinion.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I learned scuba regulator maintenance out of necessity- warranties gone because of a missed year and no one is gonna' teach an individual how to service Apeks regulators. That, and LDS service charges and parts are through the roof! I have no regrets, I had most tools, I made some, I have a strong mechanical inclination, I can read, and who can you trust more than you? Hearing and reading horror stories, and then the someone talking about a nice bath of muriatic acid to clean parts? No thanks. I'll do it myself.

Other things, I'll take classes if I haven't already.

Kind regards,
Thomas

My tech instructor showed me how to service my ScubaPro regs. And I have another instructor friend who's coming over on Sunday to show me how to service my Apeks regs. Neither is exactly what I'd call a class ... but it beats taking them apart and figuring it out on my own.

The Vance Harlow book is good ... but I didn't come away from it with enough confidence to do my own work without more guidance.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[b1gcountry]

Actually, that is a learned skill, although it doesn't take a class. When you pee in your wet suit (or right after, doesn't matter much), put yourself in a head down/feet up position, stick your octo in the neck of your wet suit and hit the purge button. It turns your wet suit into an air lift and cleans the urine right out. Make sure your suit is not tucked into your boots.

I taught myself how to pee in my drysuit. Something that I wish I hadn't learned After that I taught myself how to properly select and install the catheters...tighter does not mean more secure.

Tom

 

[Hoomi]

What would I do if my trigger got stuck?

Release the magazine, clear the chamber, and disassemble the weapon for diagnosis of the problem.



Seriously, though; all good questions, and ones that could arise in real situations. Common sense, though, should still prevail in most situations. Even with a scooter, I would think the standard rule would be to always head against the current at the start of the dive, so whether it's the legs that pooter out, or the battery, the current is pushing back towards the starting point. Overhead environment? Technically, unless I've had the training for overhead environments, I shouldn't be entering one whether I'm using a scooter or not.

I understand your point, and fully acknowledge that common sense just really isn't that common these days. Still, some of the classes just seem silly, and I'm someone who enjoys taking classes in things.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

What would I do if my trigger got stuck?

Release the magazine, clear the chamber, and disassemble the weapon for diagnosis of the problem.



Seriously, though; all good questions, and ones that could arise in real situations. Common sense, though, should still prevail in most situations. Even with a scooter, I would think the standard rule would be to always head against the current at the start of the dive, so whether it's the legs that pooter out, or the battery, the current is pushing back towards the starting point. Overhead environment? Technically, unless I've had the training for overhead environments, I shouldn't be entering one whether I'm using a scooter or not.

I understand your point, and fully acknowledge that common sense just really isn't that common these days. Still, some of the classes just seem silly, and I'm someone who enjoys taking classes in things.

The problem with relying on common sense is that you can only relate it to things you have experienced. With scootering ... as with many things diving-related ... there can be problems that you won't have the experience to anticipate, so a common-sense solution simply won't be available at a time when you need it the most.

Also, any good class will not just teach you how to deal with these problems, but how to anticipate them and take appropriate steps to avoid them in the first place. Common sense won't give you that information, because you won't have any context around which to base it.

As an instructor, there are a great many specialty classes I won't teach ... because I think they're silly. A good scooter workshop, however, is worth the time, effort, and cost if scootering is something you want to do. All the problems you can encounter in diving will still exist when scootering ... but many of them can catch you way faster than they would if you were kicking. It's a good idea to have some idea in advance what those problems may be, how to avoid them, and how to resolve them before you encounter them in the water. Applying common sense could, in many cases, require time you won't have when the feces hit the propellor blades ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Kevrumbo]

Double AL80's in metric are rated as 22 liters/bar.
My nominal cold water SAC rate (aka SCR, RMV) in metric is 22 liters/min*ATA.

Divide 22 liters/min*ATA by 22 liters/bar, and you have a bar SPG rate of 1 bar/min*ATA

All I need to know then is my depth in meters (which converts easily to ATA) and my time at depth --and instantly I know what my SPG should be reading before even checking it. . .