Scientific Diving and Associated Gear

Hey guys, I don't really post at all, but until now I haven't really needed to ask any questions. So here is goes...

Are there any Sci Divers here that could give me suggestions on configuring my bc to hold all my necessary equipment?
I am currently taking the SciDive programme at HSU in California and we must carry the following:
1 torch
1 sci/data entry slate
1 30m tape reel
1 caliper (24" Jumbo Aluminum Caliper) we cut down the size to bout 15 in I think.

I have done a lot of diving with medium size gear bags clipped to me along with some long reels, but this new setups is significantly more difficult to deal with.

So far I have done the following to deal with the chaos:
My slate is tucked into my waist and chest straps when not in use (the wrist lanyard is clipped into the chest strap so I won't loose it should it become dislodged).
My tape reel is clipped at the side of my hip and to the first loop on my BC so it sits under my armpit, but I can de-tatch it from the BC clip so it hangs at my hip.
I haven't figured out a good place for my caliper.
I figured I will keep torch in BC pocket until needed, at which point I will have it on my wrist.

This whole mess of new gear is wrecking my buoyancy control; simply because I am so uncomfortable and I constantly feel like I am adjusting everything.

Anyways, I will take any tips or advice. I know a lot of it comes from experience and finding what works, but I would like to get this dialed in quickly.
Thanks guys!

I'm a Marine Science student at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo. Hope your scientific diver course is going well, that minor was a draw for me when I looked into Humbolt!
Since I am a transfer student, I havent yet officially finished my scientific diver training but I think I can help you out here.

First, what configuration do you dive in? Do you have a back plate and wing or a recreational set up? Since you are probably diving a normal rec BCD, take advantage of all your D-rings.
Oooo I have experience with the measuring reel, good times....good times... Find a way to put carabiners or bolt snaps on these guys. There is a little whole in the caliper pictured you showed, start with a basic key chain ring and add your snaps. If you are diving dry, take advantage of your drysuit pockets (if it has any). If not, get yourself some pockets. I know lots of guys that dive with these shorts on the outside of their wet suits to use the pockets. Here is just 1 brand some other manufacturers make some: SCUBAPRO - Hybrid Shorts

When I tec dive I have these attached to my waist strap in my harness: WTX Tek Pockets. You can clip off your big slate to your D-rings or maybe you could get by with this 3 page wrist slate that goes on your arm? I wear one on every dive Innovative Multi-Page Wrist Slate SL-1551/1553 with reviews at scuba.com.

I would avoid gear bags. They are bulky plus you have to dig through everything to find what you need. Plus if you forget to clip 1 thing, then you just loose that 1 item. With the gear bag you're pretty much out of luck if that gets lost.

Dont know what kind of torch you have but you can get some BRIGHT lights that go right around your hand giving you full access to it. I have a SOLA 2000 lumen with the wrist strap and its awesome! Light & Motion Sola Dive 500 L.E.D. Hands Free Light 850-0122 with reviews at scuba.com

If there is 1 piece of advice that I would like you to take away from this is, get comfortable and familiar to your configuration! If you can, hop into a pool with all your gear on. Just practice unclipping and reattaching everything until it becomes 2nd nature. When we are doing scientific dives, we are already task loaded by the mission of the dive. Not knowing where something is or feeling uncomfortable is an unnecessary cause of stress that you dont need on these dives. Hope this helps!

Hope I don't come across as sounding offensive or pedantic but if those few items can upset your buoyancy, you really need (much) more practice or take a course like the Peak Performance Buoyancy one where an instructor can help you with trim and weighting. Those items weigh close to nothing underwater so if you're normally ok with trim and buoyancy without them, then it's definitely all in your mind and consequently affecting you in the real world.

I know because I used to blame the 2.5mm shorty as being too floaty and affecting my trim and buoyancy whilst the 1mm full suit covered my body evenly which was why I had better trim. After another 10 dives, I found out that I was kidding and fooling myself. Nothing to do with those two exposure suits because when you're comfortable underwater, a lb or two too much or too little at one end shouldn't ruin a dive so much so that you have to keep your finger on the LPI all the time.

Hope my limited experience helps.

ps. One more reason to practice more is that you will be going underwater with a task loaded purpose unlike most underwater tourists so all the more, PRACTICE as much as you can! I got most of mine from offering to clean public pools and up next, scraping boat hulls. Since most of my practice dives were task loaded, when it came to purely leisure ones, I could afford to hover about and enjoy the underwater world and look out for other divers despite being a newbie myself.

I'm no Sci Diver but I suggest you try to find a large pocket you can put on the waist belt of your BC, or a pair of the neoprene shorts with pockets. The shorts can be worn over your suit. Pockets usually have various ways to secure the items within. I have several pieces of safety equipment I keep in a pocket all attached to a line secured to the inside of the pocket. When I need a piece of gear I remove and unclip it from the pocket/line. Everything stays where it belongs and doesn't get lost when removing another piece of gear. I have a light secured to the left harness strap attached to a retractor. The light stays there secured by a Velcro hose strap. I don't even need to undue the strap, just pull the light out use it and let it gently slide back in place. By the way the pocket can be secured to your waist strap with a plastic weight belt buckle, that way when you don't need it, it's easy to remove. Hope some of this helps.

How big is your slate? I carry a 9 1/2"x15" slate on Reef Check surveys; it's an awkward item, to be sure. I had a 2" D-ring added to the right shoulder strap of my BC, and I coil-clip the slate onto that (the clip is attached to the slate by a zip tie that's threaded through a small hole I drilled in one corner of the slate). I also have a small light and point-&-shoot camera on that same D-ring, also attached with coil clips. If I had to carry calipers I'd probably put it there, too, although I grant it'd be getting a little crowded at that point.

For my reel, I had another D-ring (2", low profile) added at the crotch of the BC. I have a bolt snap attached to the handle of the reel with a couple of zip ties, the snap goes directly to the D-ring; that way I'm able to deploy the reel hands-free.

As far as slates are concerned, if a large flat one is cumbersome to dive with, perhaps the one (or similar) which Tyler had mentioned will prove less disruptive to the dive.

Progen:

As far as slates are concerned, if a large flat one is cumbersome to dive with, perhaps the one (or similar) which Tyler had mentioned will prove less disruptive to the dive.

Click to expand...

That looks nifty, but it wouldn't work for our Reef Check surveys, as we use pre-printed forms on 8 1/2" x 11" sheets of u/w paper. Our slates are actually 3-piece sandwiches, a central slate with a frame on each side, held together with bolts and wingnuts. Datasheets get loaded on both sides between the center and the frames.





Not the sleekest piece of dive gear you'll ever see, admittedly. But they're functional.

IF allowed to, how about cutting the slate into 3 individual pieces which will then be held together by the paper so you won't need to worry about hinges or joints. You can fold and loop the whole thing up with a bungy cord to be clipped behind on your butt D-ring or even tucked into one of your BCD's pockets.

Progen:

IF allowed to, how about cutting the slate into 3 individual pieces which will then be held together by the paper so you won't need to worry about hinges or joints. You can fold and loop the whole thing up with a bungy cord to be clipped behind on your butt D-ring or even tucked into one of your BCD's pockets.

Click to expand...

The slates we use are awkward, but they're not unmanageable; you get used to them after a little while. Cutting one into 3 pieces might well create more problems than it would ostensibly solve.

So I've been with the UCSC Sci Dive program for about 3 years. Here's my take:
Keep it absolutely simple.

No pockets, don't cut your slate.
Stick to very basic attachements: Boltsnaps with caveline or heavy duty zipties.

Often you're not going to have the luxury of time or air to be taking 6 seconds to unclasp, access, then reclasp a pocket. You're also going to be task loaded and this is often where items are lost. You lose a scientific item, your entire dive and even trip may be shot. Remember the data is useless if it's not complete. And tongue-in-cheek, the priority of safety is data slate first, diver second.

You're going to want to look into DIR's method to securing a light. Tie a boltsnap onto your light and clip it off onto your D-ring. Loop it down with a hair tie around your shoulder strap; or if you're using a Bp/W => bicycle innertube.
When you need your light you can either keep it clipped or transfer it to your loose shoulder adjustment strap's D-ring for more play.

Slate: See my picture.
Two attachment points, each on one shoulder D-ring. If need be I can detach the doubler ender, but otherwise the slate stays clipped on those two points and I flip it up to write, tuck it down when I'm mobile.
If I need to write sideways, the double ender stays off.

If you haven't done so, replace your wooden pencil with an all graphite one you buy at an art store. You can make 3 pencils out of one.
The size should be roughly #2, tuck the blunt in the longer side of the surgical tubing, tuck the sharpened end in the shorter end of surgical tubing. Loop the entire thing over your slate when you're traveling.
Keeps your streamlines and keeps you from loosing your pencil or snapping your tip off.

Go to a skate shop and ask for scrap grip tape. Tape a small square onto your slate to act as a pencil sharpener. The less time you spend sharpening a pencil, the more time you spend collecting data.



The tape reel there are two ways:
Easiest. Tie a wire around the 0m mark. Then when you're traveling, undo your tape a bit, lock it, and loop the wire around your handle. On the handle have a bolt snap zipped tied so you can clip it onto you.
The wire @ the 0 mark serves to tie onto your anchor if need be: Kelp or what not.

More complex but more effective. Secure a bolt snap onto the 0m mark, tie a marine grade string on the handle. Undo a little bit and clip onto the string, then onto you when traveling.

Sorry don't have pictures. But you can look up PISCO or the UC Santa Cruz Sci dive program and they might be able to supply you with a picture of their setup.

The caliper you should just carry in your hand or tuck in your cumber bun when you must use two hands.

Feel free to PM me if you need any more help or clarification.
Above all, if it take more than 2 seconds to deploy an item calmly and slowly, you're making it too hard on yourself. All items should be easily accessible. You WANT to look like a christmas tree that has all it's ornaments tied down. That's the bane of being a sci diver. This should not wreck your bouyancy however once you get used to the setup, nor should it create an extreme likely hood of entanglement. Securing them out of sight just adds more problems; which I can't stress enough.