Novice assembling personal kit ......

[Ting Tong]

Hi all

I am a recently certified OW diver. I have a total of 12 dives so far.

After my certification I bought my own gear. Scubapro mask and snorkle, Aqualung fins, regulators, small knife and BCD, a torch, and a Sunnto D6i with wireless transmitter. I am currently utilising a Apeks SPG but will probably delete this soon. I have a Scubapro SMB, which I have attempted to use a few times with varying success. I think it needs a little modifying. One DM suggested a reel. I just hire my tank and weights.

Most of my diving so far, and in the near future has been off boats in Thailand (warm water, just boardshorts and rashie). I have done two shore dives in Australia, just to test my new gear out.

Anyway to my question.....

What other equipment would you suggest I purchase? I will admit that the tragic circumstances of the Japanese ladies in Indonesia really made me asses my gear requirements.

I was thinking of....

Whistle (It was on the list when I intially purchased my kit, unfortunately the store did not have any)
PLB and small waterproof container
CO tester
Compass ( My Sunnto has a compass. When I enquired about doing my AOW I was informed that this would not be suitable)

Considering what I already own, do you think I am on the right track? Do you have any suggestions for what I should consider as essential that is missing from my kit?

Thanks in advance

Dave

 

[ajduplessis]

Forget about buying or modifying more kit and rather dive more. New kit is not going to make more comfortable or proficient in the water. Get perfect control over horizontal buoyancy before learning other skills (smb etc). Master the basics before moving on.

"Great" idea to remove the SPG (being sarcastic), but want happens when the transmiter fails during a dive?

 

[sphyrnidus]

I'd get some light. If you want to do a night dive it is essential, but if you want to do a dive late in the afternoon, it is also advisable to have at least a back-up light with you (so if you're a bit far away from the boat, and it's getting darker, you can draw attention). And get a decent compass. Why loose the spg? The wireless transmitters aren't the most reliable, I have one and it never failed me, but I always habe the spg with me. For your SMB a spool is more efficiënt than a reel.
You didn't mention an exposure suit..
A snorkle is only a nuissance while diving.

 

[Ting Tong]

Forget about buying or modifying more kit and rather dive more. New kit is not going to make more comfortable or proficient in the water. Get perfect control over horizontal buoyancy before learning other skills (smb etc). Master the basics before moving on.

"Great" idea to remove the SPG (being sarcastic), but want happens when the transmiter fails during a dive?

Signal my buddy and commence our ascent. Once on the surface, remember this thread and your advice, chuckle to myself, and re-install my SPG. The only problem I have with deploying my SMB is the line (paracord?) is not on reel or spool and when I unwind it it tends to catch on parts of my kit and generally gets untidy before I fill my the SMB. I acknowledge your point I need to get better control of my bouyancy and improve my skills but I don't believe it is too early in my career to be competent at deploying an SMB at my safety stop rather than expecting the DM or dive guide to deploy theirs. I wish to be self sufficient, (not in a solo diving sense) but rather take responsibility for me and partner rather than relying on other people.

I'd get some light. If you want to do a night dive it is essential, but if you want to do a dive late in the afternoon, it is also advisable to have at least a back-up light with you (so if you're a bit far away from the boat, and it's getting darker, you can draw attention). And get a decent compass. Why loose the spg? The wireless transmitters aren't the most reliable, I have one and it never failed me, but I always habe the spg with me. For your SMB a spool is more efficiënt than a reel.
You didn't mention an exposure suit..
A snorkle is only a nuissance while diving.

sphyrnidus, I have purchased a torch but never dived with it yet. I have only dived early morning and after lunch, but you make a good point and I will dive with it in future . You are correct I did not mention an exposure suit. In my training I dived with a 3mm shorty and subsequent dives I dived in boardshorts and rashie. Possibly this is not the most prudent. If the boat leaves and or I get separated and need to spend extra time in the water, a wetsuit would be better. Consider it added to the list. Thanks for the advice on the spool. I will look into it.

Any advice on the compass? Brands? How much to pay?

 

[sphyrnidus]

The most commonly used compass is Suunto SK7. I got one on e-bay €30. My SO has been using one for over ten years. Hers is in her console, mine on a bungee. It depends on what you prefer. She has her spg, computer and compass in her console, while I have a wrist computer, the spg on a D ring on my left and the compass on the bungee. But SO does the navigating, I film...
Don't worry to much about being left behind, it actually is seldom that this happens. I have been on more than 1000 boat dives and while I did have to wait sometimes to be picked up, like 30 min. I was never left behind. The waiting was always in area's with current and people getting spread, like the Maldives.

 

[Ting Tong]

Hi

Just a quick update. I have purchased a wrist mounted SK-7 after sphyrnidus's suggestion and some internet research of my own. I find it really easy to read even if it's a little bulky.

I have also purchased a small finger spool (30m). I searched the internet for the correct way to use it and shot my smb on a couple of dives the other day. Infinitely easier than messing around with the unweighted cord that my SMB came with. I was tempted to buy the webbing deployment system but settled on the reel since it can be used from a greater depth, not just from the safety stop.

 

[TSandM]

I think you have a pretty good set of safety items. I'm not impressed with whistles -- they don't carry very well if the water is at all rough or the wind is blowing. I do use a DiveAlert when boat diving, and have had occasion to use it once. It seemed to work quite well.

I'm a big fan of SMBs. 3 footers are fine if you primarily dive fairly calm water, and they're easy to deploy from depth. I use a spool; reels are unnecessary for shallow depths (less than 100 feet) except in extremely strong currents, and reels can jam and are expensive to replace if you have to let one go.

We bought Nautilus Lifelines for our trip to the Socorros, where we were diving rock piles 100 miles offshore. We didn't have to use them, so I can't testify to how well they work, but they seemed like a good idea.

 

[Ting Tong]

I think you have a pretty good set of safety items. I'm not impressed with whistles -- they don't carry very well if the water is at all rough or the wind is blowing. I do use a DiveAlert when boat diving, and have had occasion to use it once. It seemed to work quite well.

I looked into the DiveAlert, but I don't think it will suit my purposes as my BCD uses the i3 system. So I ended up with a buying a whistle. :d I bought a Nitecore NWS20, which was quite expensive, but it's not a cheap plastic one that some dive shops sell. Hopefully it will last. I haven't tried it yet, but will keep in mind what you said regarding the sea and wind conditions. Thanks.

I also purchased a Trilobite, to compliment the little dive knife on my BCD. I was going to mount on my right hand shoulder strap as the knife is mounted on the left hand side above my BCD pockets. Where do people find the most convenient place to mount them on a jacket style BCD?